Week 14 – The Music of India

Film on Raga in Library n  Reginal and Jamila Massey, The Music of n  India (London, 1988) n  Gerry Farrell, Indian Music and the West

(Oxford, 1999) n  Peter Fletcher, World Musics in Context (Oxford,

2001) n  Also Oxford Music online on India n  Listen to start of Rag Lilat

Indian Music

1.  Vedic Period (2nd Millenium BC- 2 cent AD – chanting

2.  Classical Period (C2-13) – divided the ragas into male/female and allotted them fixed times and moods (rasas).

3.  Medieval (C13-16) – distinction between North and South appears

4.  Modern (C16 onwards) recognisable as applying to modern practice. Mogul courts and princes.

5.  British dominion (until 1947)

Muslim Influence

n  Responsible for the separation of north and south tradition.

n  Maintains its own traditional music - ustads (masters).

n  Pakistan has comparable classical music traditions.

n  Connected with Sufi traditions and sufi poetry. E.g. Nustrat fateh ali khan

Nusrat fateh ali khan

Sufi Songs

Indian Origins

n  Veena n  The oldest type of stringed instrument. n  Both fretted and unfretted forms. n  Can also be played with a slide. n  Origins in temple and court music. n  Instrument of courtesans. n  Temple prostitutes.

Veena

Raga and Tala System

n  Basis of classical Indian music is a melodic vocal or instrumental line governed by a complex system of modes (ragas) and time cycles (talas).

n  Guru system governs all teaching activities. n  Performance always a blend of learnt and

practised patterns and improvised ideas added to the mix.

Raga Yaman – tabla and bansuri

Music and Hindu Philosophy

n  Raga system has parallel with social structure of caste system.

n  Object of Hindu philosophy is the belief that all forms of creation must eventually merge with Brahman – the indivisible Supreme Being. Music as an act of creation cannot be absolute – all forms are regarded as one with the world process of continuous creation and dissolution

General Characteristics

n  The emphasis on plucked strings is like W. Asia, though the virtuoso drumming is unique.

n  Great Tradition to qualify for which the music must be:

n  1. Governed by a authentic doctrine. n  2. Learned through an authentic aural tradition. n  The formal term for classical music is `sastriya-

sangrit’ (scientific music), but it is commonly known as `ragdar’, I.e. based on raga.

raga

n  The basic mode of reference in modern Hindustani practice (known commonly as the shuddha - basic - form) is a set which is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode (i.e.. major scale) — this is called Bilawal thaat in Hindustani music (the Carnatic analogue would be Sankarabharanam).

More

n  In Hindustani and Carnatic systems, the ground (or tonic), Shadja, Sa, and a pure fifth above, Pancham, Pa, are fixed and essentially sacrosanct tones, making up the twelve notes in the Western equal tempered chromatic scale

Hindustani System

n  In the Hindustani system, in a given seven-tone mode, the second, third, sixth, and seventh notes can be natural (shuddha, lit. 'pure') or flat (komal, 'soft') but never sharp, and the fourth note can be natural or sharp (tivra) but never flat.

n  Sa Re Ga Pa Dha, Ni, Sa Re – the basic unaltered set.

n  There are 8 basic ragas in Bilaval Thaat

Rag Bilawal

Raga Jog n  Raga Jog omits both the second interval,

Re, and the sixth interval, Dha, making it pentatonic, or Audav in nature. In ascending, it uses Shuddha Ga, and in descending, it uses both Shuddha and Komal Ga

n  Arohana: Sa Ga Ma Pa ni' Sa Avarohana: Sa ni' Pa Ma Ga Ma Ga' Sa

North and South India

n  Hindustani (Northern provinces, inc. Pakistan, Bangladesh)

n  Carnatic (Southern peninsula) n  Both use drones and have three separate

constituent roles.

Elements

n  1. Main melody (either sung, or played on a plucked string or reed instrument).

n  2. Accompanying melody (either played on a bowed string instrument if with a voice, or a reed instrument). This is optional.

n  3. Independent percussion. Which has a tuned element.

n  Both North and South use raga and tala

Fixed Forms in Indian Music n  Drupad (vocal) - Alap, Nom-tom Alap, DRUPAD,

IMPROVISATION n  Gat (instrumental) – Alap, Jor, Jhala, GAT (slow),

IMPROVISATION, GAT (Fast), IMPROVISATION. n  Khayal (specific composition based on romantic poetry)

– KHYAL CHIZ (slow), ALAP, IMPROVISATION, KHYAL CHIZ (fast), IMPROVISATION

n  (capital letters = metered rhythm; lower case = free) n  Listen to slow alap from Drupad

Indian Terms

n  Alap is the improvisatory prelude with drone that explores the notes of the raga. (track 20 Raag Rageshvari)

n  Jor (= Nom-tom alap in vocal music) explores higher tetrachords, and becomes more rhythmic as it progresses. (track, 23 Sangi and Tabla)

n  Jhala – pulsating tonic, constant stroking of drone strings, climax in anticipation of entry of drummer.

Rhythmic Cycles

n  Tala refers to a specific ordering of beats, repeated cyclically throughout a composition,

n  Each tala contains a specific number of matra (beats), grouped into avarta (sections) of equal or unequal length.

n  Example of Tintal – 16 beats – divided into 4 avarta each of 4 beats, the first of which is stressed except the 9th beat which is unstressed. (track 21 - Rag Bilas-Khani Todi Vilambit Gat in Tintal). 1 2 3 4, 5 6 7 8, (9) 10 11 12, 13 14 15 16

Tintal n  Tintal is a 16-beat pattern used in ragas.

[2] It has sixteen beats in four equal divisions (vibhag), the third of which is the khali, or open division. To follow the tal the audience claps on the appropriate beat, which in tintal is beats 1, 5 and 13 (the first beat in each full division). A wave of the hand indicates beat 9, the first beat of the khali section. It is from these three (Hindi, "tin") claps that tintal derives its name.

Tintal

n  It has a characteristic pattern of bols (theka).The Theka for Tintal

n  Dha dhin dhin dha |dha dhin dhin dha |

n  x 2

n  na tin tin ta | tita dhin dhin dha |

n  o 3

Tintal

Learning tintal

Classical Indian Instruments n  Vina – Ancient long-necked lute, with 4 strings tuned in

4th/5ths, 24 fixed frets, wooded bowl. n  Bin (N) – Stick Zither, like vina, with 2 gourds. n  Sitar (N) – Long-necked lute, with 3-7 strings, moveable

frets and 12-13 sympathetic strings. n  Sarod – 6 gut strings, plucked or bowed, no frets, 12 SS n  Tambura – Long-necked lute, 4 strings used for drone

only. n  Saragi – fiddle with no frets, 3 strings and SS n  Dilruba – fiddle with frets, 3/4/strikngs and SS

Sita

Sitar

Sarod

Sarod

Sarangi

Saragi

Dilruba

Bibliography

n  Reginal and Jamila Massey, The Music of n  India (London, 1988) n  Gerry Farrell, Indian Music and the West

(Oxford, 1999) n  Peter Fletcher, World Musics in Context

(Oxford, 2001) n  Also Grove7 on India n  George Ruckert, Music in North India,

(Oxford, OUP)