Eastern influenced music

The Indian sub-continent, now India and Pakistan, has given many things to the world's culture: Hinduism, Buddhism, the Taj Mahal, and tea, to name but a few. The region has also given the world some of the most accomplished celebrations of human love. One of these is the Kama Sutra, an epic description of physical love, named after the Hindu god of love- Kama. Another is the poetic song form known as the ghazal. Ghazals are like polished diamonds - a single stone with many facets. Each ghazal is a single poem containing within itself a myriad of passionate smaller poems.
Ghazals came to the Indian sub-continent from Persia in the 14th century. Unlike the physical love depicted in Indian erotic art, ghazals operate on the plane of poetic imagery and metaphor. They explore the many moods of love, from the ecstatic to the despondent. Ghazals also use human love as a mask to address many other aspects of the human condition. For over six hundred years the finest poets of what is now India and Pakistan turned their talents to writing them and the finest singers and musicians used all their skill and training to interpret them.