{{Short description|Music genre}} {{about|a genre of music|the music streaming service|Gaana (music streaming service)}} {{distinguish|Ganna (disambiguation){{!}}Ganna|Ghana}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}} {{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}} {{Infobox music genre | name = Gaana | stylistic_origins = Tamil Sufi songs, ''siddhars'' of ancient Tamilakam, music of rural Tamil Nadu | cultural_origins = North Chennai | derivatives = | subgenres = | fusiongenres = | local_scenes = | other_topics = Tamil film music }} '''Gaana''' (or Gānā) is a genre of Tamil music, which is sung in the Madras Bashai dialect of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2006-04-02 |title='Gaana' Ulaganathan bags 3 more film offers |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/gaana-ulaganathan-bags-3-more-film-offers/article3141626.ece |access-date=2019-10-23}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Valan |first=Antony Arul |title=Keywords for India : A Conceptual Lexicon for the 21st Century. |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-350-03927-8 |location=London |pages=83–84 |chapter=Gana (Gānā) |oclc=1134074309}}</ref> It is rap-like "collection of rhythms, beats and sensibilities native to the Madras people."<ref name=":02" /> It evolved over the past two centuries, with influences ranging from the ''siddhars'' (tantric adepts) of ancient Tamilakam to rural Tamil folk music to Tamil Sufi mystics.<ref name=":02" /> Its popularity rose when it was brought to the music of the mainstream Tamil film industry.<ref name=":02" /> Contemporary gaana bands are bringing the genre to new audiences while using it for social activism, especially against caste discrimination.<ref name=":02" />
== History == The term "gaanaa" is the colloquial word in Madras for "music", which is of Hindostani origin. In literary Tamil, the word ''Gaanam'' (கானம்) means "tune", and in modern Hindi–Urdu gānā means "song".<ref name=":02" />
The genre arose in the slums and burial grounds of Madras.<ref name=":02" /> Gaana singers have performed in the city for the past two centuries.<ref name=":02" /> The art form can trace its descent from the ''siddhars'' (tantric adepts) of ancient Tamilakam, to the compositions of early nineteenth-century Tamil Muslim Sufi mystic Kunangudi Masthan Sahib, to Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai, popularly known as the first Tamil novelist.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Kumari |first=J. Vijay Ratna |date=2018 |title=The Influence of Sufism in Gaana Songs |journal=International Journal of Current Humanities and Social Science Researches |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=22–26 |issn=2456-7205}}</ref> Kunangudi Masthan Sahib's songs are still sung by gaana singers today.<ref name=":02" /> Other strands of influence come from migrants from rural Tamil Nadu.<ref name=":02" />
With the arrival of recording technology, gaana artists have been able to record their songs for posterity and earn income from them.<ref name=":02" /> In the 1990s, Composer Thenisai Thendral Deva brought Gaana-inspired songs to the Tamil film industry and was instrumental in introducing them to blockbusters like ''Kadhal Kottai.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ramanujam |first=Srinivasa |date=2020-05-18 |title=Deva interview: 'Kushi' proved that I could do more than just 'gaana' |url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/20-years-of-kushi-how-deva-used-the-vijay-film-to-prove-that-he-was-more-than-a-gaana-composer/article31615468.ece |access-date=2021-03-27 |work=The Hindu}}</ref>'' His Gaana tunes, which ruled the Tamil cinema space, earned him the recognition as the monarch of Gaana music.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Saravanan |first=T. |date=2017-07-20 |title=Composer Deva: the monarch of Gaana music |url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/music-composer-deva-talks-about-tweaking-ragas-and-understanding-film-music-in-his-journey-from-composer-to-singer/article19316698.ece |access-date=2021-03-27 |work=The Hindu}}</ref> His Gaana songs encompassed all dimensions of music, blending religious and humanistic touches with themes of moral values, struggles, relationships, life principles, situational emotions, and philosophies on living. Even today, his songs remain popular and serve as reference material for many new composers and singers.<ref name=":2" /> This newfound exposure helped the genre gain popularity across college campuses and reach the lives of millennials.<ref name=":02" /> However, its spread beyond its traditional roots has drawn criticism from Gaana singers, who argue that the genre's original essence—its “angst and melancholy” born from everyday struggles—has been overshadowed by lighter themes of “fun and romance.”<ref name=":02" />
Types of gaana songs include:
* ''attu gaana'' – popular film tunes adapted with original lyrics<ref name=":02" /> * ''all gaana'' – songs with the major elements – tune, beats, lyrics – all created by the same artist<ref name=":02" /> * ''jigil gaana'' – songs focused on intoxication and intoxicants<ref name=":02" /> * ''deepa gaana'' – compositions from the past, some of which are ballads that run for hours<ref name=":02" /> * ''marana gaana'' – an elegy exploring the philosophy of death<ref name=":02" />
Scholars like V. Ramakrishnan of the Government Arts College, Ponneri, map twenty types of gaana songs.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Srivathsan |first=A. |date=2012-08-25 |title=A struggle to elevate the subaltern Chennai Gana |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/a-struggle-to-elevate-the-subaltern-chennai-gana/article3817592.ece |access-date=2021-03-27}}</ref> Other song types include those that glorify local heroes.<ref name=":4" /> The most famous of those is about Alththota Bhupathi, a poor worker.<ref name=":4" /> At times, the genre has been known to have sexual innuendo and misogyny, but many popular gaana singers reject these themes.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=2016-08-04 |title=Association for Gaana singers in South India |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/Association-for-Gaana-singers-in-South-India/article14550474.ece |access-date=2021-03-27}}</ref>
In gaana competitions, one singer questions another with a lyric, and the other answers with a lyric of their own.<ref name=":1" /> Participants aim to creatively "insist on life's instability".<ref name=":1" />
Gaana songs are performed at weddings, stage shows, political rallies, and funerals.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Ratna Kumar J |first=Vijay |title=A Culture in Transition: A Study of Gaana Singers in Chennai |date=2016 |degree=PhD |publisher=Manonmaniam Sundaranar University |hdl=10603/175924 |url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/175924}}</ref> There are more than 500 performers in Chennai who earn their living from these events.<ref name=":4" /> In 2016, around one hundred gaana performers formed the South Indian Gana Singers Association to promote the art form, earn respect for their art, and prevent their work from being stolen.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":2" /> An earlier association, the Tamil Nadu Gana Artists Association was formed in 2007 and had 750 members as of 2012.<ref name=":4" />
Gaana has been a vehicle for social activism. In 2018, a band of gaana artists was brought together by Pa. Ranjith, an Ambedkarite film-maker, to form The Casteless Collective.<ref name=":02" /> They sing against caste discrimination, about Ambedkar, the small joys of living in poverty in Chennai, and even have a lesbian song in their repertoire.<ref name=":02" /> Artists have also used gaana songs to transmit information like COVID-19 health guidelines in an easily-accessible form.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ramanujam |first=Srinivasa |date=August 8, 2020 |title=Corona crooners: Tamil 'gaana' and folk performers spread COVID-19 awareness with music |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/spreading-awareness-through-gaana-and-folk-songs/article32304463.ece |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=The Hindu}}</ref>
Though the major gaana artists are men, and gaana songs are usually written from a male viewpoint, women gaana artists are seeing increasing recognition.<ref name=":4" /> Isaivani, a member of The Casteless Collective, was recognised for her pioneering women's involvement in the genre with one of the BBC 100 Women Awards.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=2020-11-23 |title=BBC 100 Women 2020: Who is on the list this year? |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-55042935 |access-date=2020-12-19}}</ref>
== Notable people == * Thenisai Thendral Deva * Sabesh of Sabesh-Murali Duo<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fb |last2=Tw |last3=Linkdin |last4=Whatsapp |last5=Us |first5=GNFollow |title=‘உதயம் தியேட்டருல’ முதல் ‘காத்தடிக்குது’ வரை... சபேஷ் இத்தனை வைரல் ஹிட் கானா பாடல்களை பாடியிருக்காரா? |url=https://tamil.asianetnews.com/gallery/cinema/list-of-super-hit-gana-songs-sung-by-music-director-sabesh-3sep46s |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=Asianet News Tamil |language=ta}}</ref> * Gana Punniyar * Gana Palani * [https://www.jiosaavn.com/artist/gana-ulaganathan-songs/xR5J1CSd7Xo_ Gana Ulaganathan] * Gana Bala * [https://open.spotify.com/artist/53EDprcauSeF2W2aiMXet5 Gana Sudhakar] * Isaivani * The Casteless Collective *[https://open.spotify.com/artist/49Wry38kE5CrnzGGaRtT8q?si=qecoZcdOTpqWO0trA1cpqg Gana Vinoth]
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Music of Chennai Category:Dalit culture Category:Film music Category:Indian styles of music Category:Tamil music