An important facet of the post-Independence Hindustani music has been the eclipse of vocal music by instrumental music in terms of popularity. The boom in instrumental music has brought to the forefront many instruments which were, until recently, not accepted on the mainstream concert platform. And performers of traditional instruments have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to develop new musical languages and idioms in order to cater to a new generation of audiences.

Flute and sarangi players are now following the sitar anga (literally: limb; metaphorically: glimpse/ facet/idiom). The santoor vadak is playing a combination of sitar and tabla idioms. The sitarist is moving towards the gayaki anga (vocalism). Clearly, instrumental music is in a state of flux, and demands an assessment of its endeavours and the resultant tendencies.