Online Lecture Note 1

Title of Course: Music of Other World Cultures

Course Code: MUS 402

Lecturer: Bayo Ogunyemi Ph.D.

Date: May 2025

LECTURE 2

Title: Indian Music (An Overview)

Background
Population –over a billion
Size: Approximately a third of USA. One of the oldest land masses on the planet
Politics: The country has fifteen major languages, almost as many alphabets, and many regional
dialects. It is the world’s largest democracy. Its history running back thousands of years makes
newer countries such as Canada or the United States seem like mere blips on the cosmic screen.

Indian is an ancient country whose history goes back to 5000 years. Stone Age encampments
uncovered by archaeologists point to early human habitation, but the retrievable story begins in
collective myth and legend preserved in oral traditions for centuries before being written down.
High culture begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which flourished for 800 years from 2500
B.C.E. and was roughly contemporary with that of Babylon and other cities in the fertile crescent
between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in current Iraq.

History

Early settlers consist of the Aryans (c1700.c500 B.C.E)

The Aryans are from central; Asia who moved from the northern plains of the subcontinent (like
later invaders) through the mountain passes between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The warlike and
pastoral Aryans, with their chariots and herds of cattle, brought to India its first extant literature,
the four Vedas* (vay-dahs), sacred books of prayers, incantations, and rituals still chanted today.
Prototypes of the Hindu gods appear in these texts, along with seeds of later philosophical
thought. Musicians today tell their pupils that India’s classical music originated in the chanting
of the Vedas by priests, the four notes of chant gradually expanding to the myriad scales in the
rich tapestry of the raga (rah-gah) system, discussed later in this chapter. This belief—along with
another origin myth describing performing arts as a gift of the gods—illustrates an important
concept: in India, musical expression has a strong underpinning of the sacred, the ancient, the
timeless.

The Moghuls (1527-c. 1867)

Beginning in the twelfth century, Muslim traders and warlords from Central Asia and
Afghanistan appeared on the scene. The warlords periodically swept into the plains as far as
Delhi, sacking cities and leaving devastation in their wake before returning to their homelands.
However, in 1527 a remarkable general, Babur—a descendent of the Mongol Genghis Khan and
a lover of poetry, books (though he could not read), music, and formal gardens—decided to stay.
The result was the powerful Moghul dynasty, centered in Delhi and Agra, which dominated
much of North India until a period of decline beginning in the 1700s. The Moghuls were Muslim
and, though brutal in war, were lavish patrons of the arts, making their courts centers of learning
and culture. Emperors such as Akbar the Great (reigned 1556–1605) and Shah Jahan (reigned
1628–1658) imported scholars, painters, musicians, writers, and architects from as far west as
Arabia. To this day stories are told of legendary singers such as Tansen of Akbar’s court who in
performance could miraculously light lamps or cause cooling breezes simply through the power
of his sound and command of music.

Life under the British Colony

The British began to emerge in the shores of India from 1498 when Vasco da Gama touched
down in Kerala on India’s southwestern coast. s the British came by sea, at first as traders along
with the Dutch, French, and Portuguese. The East India Company and later the British
government, through wars and enforced alliances with native maharajas, finally emerged as
paramount colonial rulers. In spite of economic exploitation and the inherent racism of any
colonial regime, the British did make some signifi cant contributions to the subcontinent. They
built railways, communications, and administrative and civic infrastructures, and they set up
universities introducing English as the medium of study.
The so-called golden age of South Indian classical music (c. 1700– c. 1900) occurred under
British rule, unnoticed by the foreign missionaries and bureaucrats. In the 1920s a recording
industry led by H.M.V. in Calcutta made it possible to listen to performances of Indian music
again and again, a substantial change in an oral tradition in which music, never written down,
was learned by rote from a guru (teacher who passes on knowledge to disciples), or tangentially
at concerts. When “talkies” replaced silent films around 1930 the movie industry, drawing on
traditional theater, was quick to incorporate songs into every fi lm. Movie songs remain the
source of most pop music today. In 1936 a national radio, All-India Radio (AIR), based on the
BBC model, was established. Under enlightened directorship, AIR produced hundreds of
broadcasts of Indian classical music each year, including a prestigious weekly national concert.
Perhaps the most important development, however, was the discovery by Indian musicians that
they could adapt some European instruments to playing music in Indian style. The piano was
summarily rejected, but the violin, harmonium (portable small reed organ), clarinet, and even the
banjo became, in essence, Indian instruments. Again as in the Moghul era we can see the process
of synthesis by which India adopts foreign elements and “Indianizes” them.

In 1947 Indian attained independence. The British India consist of —now India, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh got their independence n 1947 while Sri Lanka followed in 1948.

Overview of Indian Music History and Cultural Significance

Indian music has a rich and diverse history spanning thousands of years, with roots in ancient
Vedic traditions. Here's a brief overview:

Ancient Period (1500 BCE - 500 CE)

- Vedic Chanting: The earliest forms of Indian music were rooted in Vedic chanting, which
emphasized the recitation of sacred texts.

- Samaveda: The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, is considered the foundation of Indian music,
with its melodies and rhythms influencing later musical traditions.

Medieval Period (500 - 1500 CE)

- Bhakti Movement: The Bhakti movement, which emphasized devotion and spiritual expression,
influenced the growth of music in India, with many poet-saints composing devotional songs.

Mughal Era (1526 - 1857 CE)

- Hindustani Classical Music: Hindustani classical music emerged as a distinct tradition, with the
patronage of Mughal emperors and the development of new instruments like the sitar and tabla.

- Influence of Persian and Islamic Music: Indian music was influenced by Persian and Islamic
musical traditions, leading to the incorporation of new ragas, instruments, and styles.

British Era (1858 - 1947 CE)

- Western Influence: Indian music was exposed to Western musical traditions, leading to the
adoption of new instruments, harmonies, and styles.

- Revival and Documentation: Efforts were made to document and revive traditional Indian
music, with the establishment of music institutions and the work of musicologists.

Contemporary Period (1947 CE - present)

- Globalization and Fusion: Indian music has become increasingly globalized, with the fusion of
traditional styles with modern genres like rock, pop, and electronic music.

- Continued Evolution: Indian music continues to evolve, with new generations of musicians
pushing the boundaries of traditional forms and experimenting with innovative styles.

Cultural Significance

- Spiritual Expression: Music plays a vital role in Indian spiritual practices, with many traditions
emphasizing the importance of sound and vibration in achieving spiritual growth.

- Cultural Identity: Music is an integral part of Indian cultural identity, reflecting the country's
rich diversity and regional traditions.

- Social and Community Bonding: Music brings people together, fostering social and community
bonding through shared experiences and celebrations.
Indian music's history and cultural significance are a testament to the country's rich musical
heritage and its continued relevance in modern times.

Basic Features of Indian Traditional Music

Indian Melody System – Raga

The ancient texts define a raga as “that which colors the mind.” In fact, in Sanskrit the primary
meaning of the word is “coloring, dying, tingeing.” This connection with generating feelings and
emotions in human beings—with “coloring” the mind and the heart—is important because a raga
really has no equivalent in the West. A raga is an expressive entity with a “musical personality”
all its own. This musical personality is, in part, technical—a collection of notes, a scale,
intonation, ornaments, resting or pillar tones, and so on. Most of all, it includes a portfolio of
characteristic musical gestures and phrases—bits and pieces of melody—that give it a distinct
and recognizable identity. Each raga has its rules about the way a musician may move from one
note to another and particular ways of ornamenting certain notes with slides and oscillations.
But, aside from its scale, a raga cannot be written down; it is part of the oral tradition. One gets
to know a raga gradually—by hearing one’s guru or other master musicians perform it over
many years. It is said that getting to know a raga is like getting to know a close friend: beginning
with the face and voice, one eventually perceives the inner personality with all its quirks,
puzzles, and delights. Traditional texts associate particular ragas with human emotions: the nine
traditional rasas (rah-sahs; “flavors”)—love, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, wonder, heroism,
laughter, religious devotion—plus a possible tenth, utter peacefulness. Ragas may also be
associated with colors, animals, deities, a season of the year, a time of day (like late at night or
early morning), or certain magical properties (causing rain, calming the mind, auspiciousness,
and so forth). Because of these many extramusical associations, there is a genre of miniature
paintings of ragas called raga-mala (rah-gahmah-lah). In the painting of raga Goda (Figure 6.7),
the mood of the raga is created through two colorfully dressed figures in the foreground—a
woman playing a frame drum and a dancing nobleman, both frozen in movement—against a dark
background. Delicate green leaves connect to a vine wrapping around a tree, a symbol of lovers.
Musicians know these associations and the many folkloric tales about them: ragas charming
cobras, causing rain, bringing peace of mind, raising the dead, healing sickness, causing a rift
with one’s guru. One amusing tale even illustrates that if a particular raga is sung in the morning,
the singer will go hungry the rest of the day. What is clear in all this is that in India ragas are
seen as powerful and full of expressive force; they touch deep emotions within the human heart
as well as deeper realities at the very core of existence. There are thus hundreds of ragas in
common use—and potentially many more. Some ragas are popular, while others are rare; some
are “major,” others are “minor”; some are deep and complicated, others are “light.” Some have
been in the Carnatic music tradition for centuries, while others are recent. Some have traveled
down from North India or even from as far away as Cambodia.

THE MELAKARTA SYSTEM

In Carnatic music, all ragas relate to a melakarta (may-luh-car-tah), a basic “parent” or “mother”
scale. There are seven notes in each melakarta scale—(1) sa—(2) ri — (3) ga—(4) ma—(5) pa—
(6) da—(7) ni. In the system (Figure 6.8) the tonal center— (1) sa—and the perfect fi fth above
—(5) pa—never change since they coincide with the drone. The other fi ve notes mutate in a
complex system to create different scales.

TALA: THE TIME CYCLE Tala,

The organization of time in music, is part of a conceptual spectrum in Indian thought that moves
from a fraction of a second—as the ancient texts picturesquely put it, the time it takes a pin to
puncture a lotus petal—to the great yugas (yougahs), or “ages,” which like geological time
periods span millions of years. The musician regards time initially as a beat, or regular pulse. On
the larger level, beats are grouped into regularly recurring metric cycles. These cycles are called
talas. In theoretical texts there are hundreds, but in Carnatic music today only four talas
predominate in common practice (Figure 6.9). Except for the khandachapu tala (kahn-dah chah-
putah-lah) and misrachapu tala (mis-rah chah-putah-lah), which are generally performed at a
brisk tempo, all talas may be performed at fast, medium, or slow tempo. In slow tempo there are
two pulses per beat, as in “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 . . .” and so forth. The tala cycles differ from the
common Western time signatures in that tala accents occur in uneven groupings (4 + 2 + 2, or 3
+ 2 + 2, or 1 + 2, and so on). These groupings are marked by the accent of hand claps.

TANAM

Tanam (tah-nam) is a highly rhythmic exposition of the raga. It is usually played or sung only
once in a concert and is placed after the alapana and before the kriti. On the veena the musician
plucks the playing and drone strings in asymmetrical improvised patterns while simultaneously
working through the various phrases of the raga. Although there are no tala cycles in tanam,
there is a strong sense of beat. Just as in alapana the overall shape of a tanam follows the range
of the instrument from low to high in graduated steps and back down again. The Karaikudi
tradition is famous for its tanam.

. KRITI “SARASIRUHA”

All compositions in Carnatic music are songs, melodies with words. Because they are not
precisely notated but, rather, taught and learned orally, songs do not have definitive versions. But
within a specific guru’s style, students will be expected to follow the guru’s version. As a song is
passed down from strings of gurus to disciples on its journey over hundreds of years to the
present, many variant versions appear. Yet the composition remains recognizably itself— the
main turns of phrase and the lyrics remain despite the variations in detail. The kriti (composition)
is the major song form of Carnatic music performance. (The word kriti is linguistically related to
the same Indo-European root kr as the English word creation.) A brief kriti might be as short as
four minutes; a long kritiin slow tempo could last for fifteen minutes or more. The structure is
amazingly flexible—it may be contracted or expanded in an almost infinite number of way.

KALPANA SVARAS

Kalpana (kahl-pah-nuh) means literally “imagined,” and svaras (svah-ruhs) are the “notes” of the
scale of the raga being performed. This section of improvised “imagined notes” occurs either in
the latter part of the kriti rendition or after the kriti has been completed. Identifying this section
in a vocal performance is easy, because the performer sings the names of the notes of the raga
scale—sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, da, or ni—instead of lyrics. In an instrumental performance, the
musicians articulate or pluck each note. The kalpanasvaras always return to a phrase from the
kriti, a familiar island in a sea of improvisation. This phrase, its beginning note, and the place
where it begins in the tala cycle are important, because ultimately each turn of the kalpanasvaras
will lead back to it. Indeed, it is called the idam (ih-dum), the “place.” In Ms. Ranganayaki’s
performance the “place” is the opening phrase of the kriti. At fi rst, the improvised svaras will be
short, perhaps only fi lling the last four of one tala cycle before returning to the phrase of the
idam. As time goes on, the improvisations will grow in length and complexity, extending
through more and more cycles of the tala as the performer’s imagination runs free. A fi nal
extended improvisation will bring the kalpanasvara section to a climax before its fi nal return to
the idam and the song.

THE DRUM SOLO: TANI AVARTANAM

As a conclusion of the “main item” in a concert, the mridangam player (and other percussionists,
if any) come to the foreground with an extended solo. In a full concert, this solo will extend for
ten to fifteen minutes or more. In our performance, Raja Rao’s solo is concise. As noted earlier,
the drum solo gives the percussionist the chance to display the full range of his skills and
rhythmic imagination. In each section of the solo the drummer will explore a certain range of
patterns and architectural ideas. Finally, the solo will end on an extended korvai (kor-vai), a big
pattern repeated three times. This pattern leads back to an entrance of the kriti by the melodic
soloist and the conclusion of the performance. One form of improvisation not used in our
performance, niraval (nih-rah-vahl), is a set of improvisations based on a phrase from the kriti
and its song text which can precede the kalpanasvara section. On another occasion, at another
performance, the musician might decide— using the same kriti as a centerpiece—to shape the
performance in a different way. The song might be performed alone, for example, after a
perfunctory alapana of a few phrases. Or the tanam and drum solo might be omitted. While the
shape of the kriti will remain basically the same, the nature of the improvisations might vary as
the musician draws on the procedures, ideas, and performance habits stored in his or her memory
and on the interpretation of a particular raga on a particular day.