"It is difficult to believe that there is any creature in existence, whose heart cannot be moved and whose soul cannot be nourished by the sound of music. Since the beginning of time there has been music in the world, being first founded in the sounds of nature. There is music in waterfalls, the waves of the ocean, the call of songbirds, the peals of thunder and innumerable other little wonders that we stumble across everyday but actually ignore and walk away from as if nothing had happened! However this hardly means we haven't got a place for music in our souls. There is yet to be a man who cannot be stirred by music to the depths of his soul. Every human at some point in his or her life is definitely brought under the spell of music and lives to remember and pursue such experiences."

-Vir Amar Das Mahapatra

Music has been with man since the very beginning of his existence and through time has changed and evolved. Different nations and people have developed their own forms of music. As global communication facilities came up, an exchange of ideas in the sphere of music was an inevitable idea. Today, the sheer diversity in the music of the world is staggering, with every nation home to its own styles of music. India, which is one of the oldest civilizations in the world has a rich and diverse tradition of music, both classical and folk. Indian classical music has evolved over thousands of years and is today a highly refined form of music. It has gained international recognition and has followers from all parts of the world. During our research for this article we were able to gather information from people in countries like Germany, the United States, and Japan amongst several others.

India's classical music tradition is flourishing even today and there are several artists who have dedicated their lives to the art. The sheer variety of classical music in India is amazing, with both vocal and instrumental music available. Indian classical music goes back thousands of years in history to the Vedic age. Shashtriya Sangeet is the earliest form of classical music and the art of combining the seven notes (Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni) was mastered. The earliest forms of music in India was religious music based on the philosophy of the time. Initially this was performed only by the priests, but eventually music was performed in temples by non-priests. The temples were great patrons of music and as a result the early development of Indian classical music took place in the temples. In time music expanded outside the boundaries of temples and this resulted in various unique styles coming up. Music was no longer restricted to the Sanskrit language and was now written in many of the local languages. The old temple style still exists as the Dhrupad style as does Khayal which was one of the earliest styles to move away from Dhrupad . There are several lighter classical forms like Thumri, Dadra Hori, Kajri, Chaiti . Indian classical music can be broadly classified into two main segments, Hindustani Classical and Carnatic. The former is a more prominent form and in our Music section were are mainly dealing with Hindustani classical. Our music section covers aspects common to both of them, while laying a greater emphasis on Hindustani classical. The two are not anti-thesises of each other, in fact they both preserve the essential traditions. Their differences are in areas like ragas (there are some ragas which are only sung by one section) or in the importance given to the instruments, as well as the way they are played. The singing styles also differ. However as mentioned above, they are essentially similar. This essential similarity has resulted in some extremely successful duets between the two forms. One of the most spectacular of these was the joint performances of two superb artistes, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi (Hindustani classical) and Dr. Balamurali Krishna (Carnatic). This performance exquisitely brought together the two and displayed the similarities and the differences.