Hindustani Music of India

By: Ashley Underlee

Geography of India• Location: Southern Asia, bordering the

Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan

• Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

• Terrain/Land Use: upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north – arable land: 48.83%

permanent crops: 2.8% other: 48.37%

People of India• Population: 1,147,995,904 (as of 2008)• Life Expectancy: total population: 69.25 years

male: 66.87 years female: 71.9 years (2008 est.)

• Religion: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)

• Language: Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9% *Since their independence from the UK on August 15, 1947, English has played a major role in international communication and legal affairs. Indian law is also based primarily on English common law with separate personal law codes for Hindus, Muslims, and Christians.

History of Traditional Music of India

• The Vedic Period– Hindustani music evolved in the Vedic

Period (commonly recognized as being from 2,000 BCE to 600 AD) in which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, were being composed.

– This period also contained India’s Golden Age, which brought about the evolution of classical Sandskrit literature and many mighty Indian Empires

History of Indian Music Cont.

• Hindustani Music– Created in the Vedic Period and perfected in the 13th

and 14th centuries AD– As it evolved over centuries, this style of music

developed a strong, distinct tradition which spread from India into Pakistan and Bangladesh

– Marked one of the first times sacred hymns were sung and not chanted, utilizing a style called Samagana

– Influenced not only by native Indian sounds, but by the Persian performance techniques of the Mughals.

Hindustani Scale

• The Hindustani scale is contains a form similar to western scales. However, it lacks any explicitly equal intervals between consecutive notes, bending and shaping intervals to fit a specific Raga.

• The Indian scale is as follows: Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa-Dha-NiDo Re Mi Fa So La Ti

• The svaras representing the black keys on a piano are respectively named:

Komal Re~Komal Ga~Tivra Ma~Komal Dha~Komal Ni

Hindustani Music Theory

The Raag•An intricate system of scales and melodic patterns

•A set of 5 to 8 notes compiled into any given Indian composition.• Predominant cyclic quality. •Varies in tonality (“light” or “rich”), tempo, duration, and character (devotional, tragic, bold and valorous, etc.) depending on occasion•Each Raga has a name and a specific time to be played. These times can be based on precise intervals throughout a dayor any time throughout a season. This practice is called Time-theory. • Over 200 are in existence, compared to the 7 Western modes of music

Hindustani Music Theory Cont.

• The Taal– Organizes the rhythm of composition– There are hundreds of commonly used

taals– Made up of a number of Matras, or

beats– Each taal is defined by a specific set of

bols, or patterns– The most commonly utilized taal is the

“Teentaal” or 16 beat.

Tradition of Performance• Aalaap

– Presented in a free rhythmic style, invoking the subtleties of the raag in a slow meditative manner

• Jhod– A more rhythmic piece and contains many variations

• Jhala– A rapid variation of the rhythmic Jhod. The artist’s

creativity and improvisational skills are highlighted in these first three parts.

• Gat– The first introduction of percussion into the music. The

rhythm progresses from vilambit, to madhyam, to drut. The melody is created at this time, and is countered by the taal created by the tabla.

Vocal Tradition

• Dhrupad– The purest form of Hindustani vocals,

without any embellishment

• Khayaal– Romantic in content and elaborate

ornamentation

• Dadra, Thumri, Ghazal, Qawwali– Light classical, less abstract

Traditional Instrumentation

The Sitar– A plucked string instrument

which utilizes Sympathetic, or resonance, strings that are not directly played by the musician. It is accompanied by a long hollow neck and a gourd resonating chamber to create a rich sound and complex harmonic resonance

Traditional Instrumentation Cont.

• Tanpura: a long-necked instrument containing 4-5 strings and utilizes drone function by creating harmonic resonance on the basic note.

Traditional Instrumentation Cont.

• Sarod: A stringed instrument similar to the sitar, but with a deeper tonality which resembles the pitch of a guitar at low notes, while becoming less rich in the upper registers

Traditional Instrumentation Cont.

• Bansuri: Similar to an alto flute, the bansuri is made of a single piece of bamboo, 17” in length, with seven finger holes. This instrument is very closely knitted to Hindu love story between Krishna and Radha.

Traditional Instrumentation Cont.

• Shehnai: A quadruple-reed wind instrument containing 6-9 holes and widens at the end. Usually thought to bring good luck and thus used in wedding processions

Traditional Instrumentation Cont.

• Sarangi: a short, bowed, string instrument that most closely mimics the human voice. Can Literally means “hundred color” referring to the wide range of sounds it can produce. Capable of gamakas (shakes) and meend (sliding), common vocal techniques.

Traditional Instrumentation Cont.

• Tabla: A pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes used in most genres of traditional Indian music.

West Meets East

• Albert RousselApril 5, 1869 — August 23, 1937

Works Cited

• “India.” India—Britannica Online Encyclopedia Britannica. 12 Nov 2008 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India

• “Introduction to Indian Music.” Indian Music. 12 Nov 2008 http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/

• “The Evolution of Indian Music.” History of Indian Music. 12 Nov 2008 http://www.itcsra.org/sra_hcm/sra_hcm_index.asp>

• “The Sounds of India.” Sounds of Indian Musical Instruments. 12 Nov 2008 http://www.superbrass.com/users/goodvibes/indiasounds.htm

Works Cited Cont.

• “Musical Instruments.” Indobase Music of India. 12 Nov 2008 http://music.indobase.com/musical-instruments.html

• “Hindustani Classical Music.” Wikipedia. 12 Nov 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hindustani_classical_music.

• Harrison Frederick W. “West Meets East.” West Meets East. 2001. 12 Nov 2008 http://www.icce.rug.ni/~soundscapes/VOLUME04/west_meets_east.shtml.

• “India.” CIA- The World Factbook—India. CIA. 12 Nov 2008 http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html.

Works Cited Cont.

• http://www.ensemble-modern.com/english/kritiken/archiv/s_indian.htm

• http://www.opus1.com/~ehoornaert/roussel/18_padma.htm

• http://www.rhapsody.com/dawn-upshaw/the-girl-with-orange-lips

• http://theory.tifr.res.in/~mukhi/Music/music.html• www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Bhajan • Don Ellis