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South Asia
Music with a Spiritual Dimension
India (North & South)
Pakistan
© Taylor & Francis
South Asia Map
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Background Preparation
• More than 16% of world’s population (1.6+ billion)
• Ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity
• Strong British colonial influence
India’s famed
Taj Mahal
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India
Site 1: Hindustani Raga (Instrumental)
Site 2: Carnatic (Vocal) Kriti
Site 3: Bhajan (Devotional Song)
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Arrival: North India
• Major cities:
• Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Lucknow
• Independent from British in 1947
• Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948)
• World’s largest democracy
• Caste system
• Disparity of wealth
• Religious pluralism
Mahatma Gandhi
(1869–1948)
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Site 1: Hindustani Raga
• First Impressions
• “Dreamy” aura
• “Boing” drums
• Aural Analysis
• Melody: Sarod
• Rhythm: Tabla
• Drone: Tambura
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Tambura
• Fretless plucked lute
• Four strings
• “Pillar” pitch tuning
• Aural “incense”
• Played by shishya or vocalist
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Sarod
• Fretless plucked lute
• Three sets of strings
• Melodic
• Drone/rhythm (Jhala)
• Sympathetic
• Calfskin
resonator face
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Sympathetic Strings (on Sitar)
Passing beneath
the metal curved frets,
the “sympathetic strings”
vibrate involuntarily
during performance.
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Raga Performance
• Tuning system – 22 pitches
• Raga (or rag) – “atmosphere”
• Mode: Framework for
improvisation and composition
• Scale, ornamentations, melodic patterns,
hierarchy of pitches, etc.
• Rasa (mood), time of day, “magic”
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Raga Melodic Form
• Alap
• Free rhythm, all improvised
• Ascending melodic range
• Increasing rhythmic density
• Jor – Jhala
• Gat
• Metered composition with improvisation
• Drum enters
• Second rising range and increasing density
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Tabla
• Pair of hand drums
• Smaller drum – tabla
• Tuned to central pitch
• Larger drum – baya
• Bols – drum language
• Theka – rhythmic patterns
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Tala
• Rhythmic cycle
• Drummer and Audience “Keep the tal”
• Drummer “stretches” the beat with improvisation
A sixteen-beat cycle called tintal
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Cultural Considerations
• Oral Tradition
• Guru – Shishya
• Rasa: “Mood” across the arts
• Ragamala
• “Star” artists
• Ravi Shankar
• “Flexible” Time
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Arrival: South India
• Major cities:
• Hyderabad, Bangalore, Madras
• Carnatic culture more ancient
• Predominantly Hindu
A snake charmer
plays the punjii
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Site 2: Carnatic Classical Song
Note the sruti box to
the vocalist’s left.
• First Impressions
• Aural Analysis
• Melody: Vocal
• Aural “incense”
• Imitation: Violin
• Melismatic vocalist with • Rhythm: Mridangam
imitating fiddle
• Drone: Sruti Box
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Carnatic Instruments
Violin
Mridangam
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Kriti
• Hindu devotional poetry set to music
• Composed skeletal melody
• Increased ornamentation
• Complex raga and tala systems
• Some 36,000 possible raga
• 175 variations of tala
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Cultural Considerations
• Sri Tyagaraja
(1767 - 1847)
• Devotee of
Hindu god Rama
• Prolific composer
• Aradhana Festivals
A portrait of
Sri Tyagaraja
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Site 3: Bhajan Devotional Song
• First Impressions
• Congregational worship
• Aural Analysis
• Harmonium
• Tabla, dandtal
• Antiphonal vocals
• Eight-beat tala
A harmonium
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Cultural Considerations
• Devotional Hindu songs
• Sai Baba Temples
Sri Sai Baba
(d. 1918)
Worshippers at a
Sai Baba temple
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PAKISTAN
SITE 4: QAWWALI (SUFI DEVOTIONAL SONG)
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ARRIVAL: PAKISTAN
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West and East Pakistan – 1947
Mass Migrations
Bangladesh – 1971
Music pluralism
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SITE 4: QAWWALI
• First Impressions
• Kriti? Bhajan? Qawwali?
• Aural Analysis
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Harmonium
Melismatic Male Vocal
Dholak and tabla
Group Refrain
Dholak drums
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CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Sufi Devotional Song
• Communion with Allah (God)
• Trance state
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
• Sabri Brothers
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