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Indian music encompasses some of the richest,
most remarkable musical traditions of the world. India's musical
history begins in the second millennium BC with the advent
of the Vedic period. The Samaveda, one of the sacred four
Vedas ("four books of knowledge"), comprises the
world's oldest notated melodies. These hymns have been passed
down through oral tradition since that early period. Beginning
with the second century AD, complicated theoretical systems
developed, and the important RAGA principle was established.
In the 11th and 12th centuries AD, Islamic influences were
felt in India as the result of the invasions from the northwest.
This intrusion undoubtedly brought about the division, about
1200, of Indian music into northern and southern systems,
a separation that has continued to the present day.
Numerous differences exist between the music of the north
and the south, but the regions have in common the two fundamental
characteristics of Indian art music, the raga and the tala.
In general, raga concerns melody and tala rhythm.
The Raga
A raga is identified by specific tonal material consisting
of a particular combination of musical phrases that gives
it its distinctive melodic character. The number of tones
it possesses is fixed; these pitches--some more important
than others--can often be presented in the form of ascending
and descending scales. Many ragas are associated with certain
standard musical phrases. It is this trait that most closely
ties the raga concept to the ancient Samaveda. Many of these
standard phrases are so well known that the informed listener
is able to tell immediately which raga is being performed.
Regardless of whether the raga performance is vocal or instrumental,
a drone (a sustained tone of fixed pitch) is invariably heard
in the background. The drone instrument is usually the tambura,
which has a long neck and four strings tuned to the basic
tones of the raga. Magical powers are attributed to some ragas,
especially when they are performed faultlessly. Moreover,
many ragas should be performed only at certain times of the
day or night or during specific periods of the year. A number
of ragas express certain moods or emotions, and some are believed
to personify gods, ascetics, or devotees.
The Tala
The other basic element of Indian art music, the tala, is
a rhythmic cycle containing a fixed number of beats. Talas
give the rhythmic foundation of the melodic structure and
are performed on drums. The sequence of beats serves as a
framework on which the drummer plays rhythmic patterns associated
with a particular tala. Once the drummer starts performing,
he plays one cycle after another, often repeating the sequence
of beats more than a hundred times in a single performance.
The tala is divided into subsections, which can be equal or
unequal in length. As a rule, the first beat of a section
receives an accent. The most important accent occurs on the
very first beat of the tala cycle; at this point the soloist
sings or plays an important tone of the raga, and the drummer
accents this with an appropriate drum stroke.
The North
The raga and tala are realized within distinctive musical
forms. Although a number of these are prevalent in both north
and south India, the major types of each region have certain
traits in common. The northern classical music (Hindustani
music) usually opens with a prelude, the alap. Here only the
soloist and the drone instrument are heard; the drum is silent,
and the rhythm is free (there is no tala). The purpose of
the alap is to explore the essential features of the raga--the
important tones and the characteristic phrases--and to establish
the appropriate mood. After the alap a short song is sung
or played, and here the drum enters for the first time with
the tala. The rest of the performance varies, depending on
which formal type is being employed. But usually a great deal
of improvisation is interspersed with recurring material from
the song. The speed gradually increases, often leading to
a rousing, extremely quick conclusion. In the north the chief
melody instruments are the SITAR, a stringed instrument with
a body usually made of a gourd split approximately in half,
a fingerboard about 1 m (3 ft) long, and seven main strings;
the sarod, a stringed instrument about 1 m (3 ft) long, made
of wood, with a metal fingerboard and six main strings; the
shahnai, a double-reed wind instrument about 0.6 m (2 ft)
long with seven finger holes; and the sarangi, a bowed stringed
instrument used both for solo playing and for accompanying
vocal music. The most common drum in the north is the tabla,
which is actually two small drums, each having a single head
(membrane).
The South
The music of southern India (called Carnatic music, after
a region in the south) is also based on the concepts of raga
and tala, but the style of singing and playing and the musical
forms are different from those of the north. South Indian
music is often dancelike in character. Southern ragas are
not equivalent to those of the north, and the manner of performing
them is characterized by much ornamentation. The talas also
are different, and they are performed on a different kind
of drum--the mridanga, a cylindrical barrel drum about 0.6
m (2 ft) long with two heads. The principal southern forms
begin with a rhythmically free introduction called alapana,
which is followed by three main sections: pallavi, anupallavi,
and carana. The pallavi melody serves as a refrain throughout,
intermingled with a great deal of melodic and rhythmic elaboration
and improvisation. The major melody instruments of the south
are the vina, a stringed instrument similar in shape to the
sitar of the north; the venu, a wooden transverse flute; the
nagasvaram, an outdoor double-reed wind instrument with a
conical bore, flared bell, and seven finger holes; and the
Western violin.
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