MUH 2512 (Bakan) lecture notes, Ch.

8 (India)

INTRO (117-20)

-INDIA: What does it connote? What does it make you think of?
-Play example from a raga recording (e.g., Gurdev Singh [sarod], “Raga Ahir Bahirav”
alap [note: gat starts at 9:42). Now what thoughts, images, ideas come to mind

-Ravi Shankar
• Icon of “Indian music” (a problematic status in many ways); sitar iconic too
• 1960s: Beatles, counterculture (hippies), “great sitar explosion”
• Shankar a “microcosm” of complexities and paradoxes of “world music”
generally: the “Godfather of World Music” (according to George Harrison)
• Actually Hindustani music and the instrumental raga tradition specifically that he
mainly “represents”

Barhat
• Key concept of chapter: specifically refers to note-by-note expansion of melodic
range of a raga in perf., but metaphorically extends to “growth” more broadly,
e.g., musical interactions, gharanas, global web of influence of an iconic artist
like Shankar

Indian Music in Context (120-23)

• (Students should familiarize themselves with basic historical, geographical,
demographic information in this section)
• Indian civilization ancient (roots 3000 BCE) and culture of India and Indian
subcontinent extremely diverse (200 languages, 1600 dialects, etc.)—Hindi,
English
• Hindu religion (80% of pop) (Vedas, Vedic chant--Sanskrit)—re: Indian classical
music (questionable)
o baqawathar—“musician” AND “he who sings the praises of God”
o Caste system (refer to box on p. 125)
• Bhajan (devotional songs and hymns) (CD 2-9)—close links to classical music
trads.
• 5th cent (Buddhism, Jainism-- (also Sikhism, 16th c.)
• 8th c. –Islam [note Sufism] (CD 2-10 Sufi song [Shafqat Ali Khan] AND
Nusrat CD ex. of qawwali) [AND/OR NUSRAT YOUTUBE CLIP?]

• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7AfbJ8pNkM (Nusrat good,
short qawwali clip)
• [[[X!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK0zrFmhhZw (
TV broadcast) [REMOVED FROM YOUTUBE> *remove it
from master list!!]]]
 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeiIC8Tga9w (electric
sound)

• Qawwali originated in Punjab region (India/Pakistan).

• Bhangra also from Punjab (play or remind class of CD 1-23, bhangra ex.)
• Bhangra has became a major element of filmi git (film song) in Bollywood movie
soundtracks (note: “Bo” of “Bollywood” from “Bombay,” the former name of city
of Mumbai)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1JDKyW_eag (music
video/Bollywood-style bhangra)
• Lots of Western pop influence in that video. Indeed, long history of Indian contact
with West: European influence from 15th c., 19th c. British colony, 1947 national
independence (Gandhi)

Karnatak (South) vs. Hindustani (North) classical trads

• Having heard examples of bhangra, filmi git, traditional Sufi song, qawwali gives
some sense of diversity of music, culture in India and Indian subcontinent (also
including Pakistan, Bangladesh)
• Now shift specifically to the two great classical traditions: Karnatak (in South
India) and Hindustani (in North India):
o Both based in the same ancient Hindu musical culture
o Recognized as distinct since about 16th c.
o Similar types of melodic systems (called raga), metric/rhythmic systems
(called tala), types of instruments
o Similar belief in superiority of vocal music (though instrumental traditions
better known outside of India)
o Main reason for differences: Greater influence of Islamic cultures in the
north, which transformed Hindustani music on many levels (for other
differences, see Table 8.1, 125)
o Texture in both: single-line melody + drone + rhythmic accomp.
 vina, tambura, mrdangam –Karnatak (p. 125 photo, CD 1-25)
 sitar, tambura, tabla—Hindustani (p. 120 photo)

Hindustani raga
• Our main focus
• Ravi Shankar (b. 1920) best-known proponent
• Shankar part of Maihar gharana, founded by his guru (mentor), Allaudin Khan
(Baba) [Shankar’s old teacher in the Raga film we saw!!] (who in turn traces
his lineage back to 16th c. musician Tansen)
o gharana=a lineage of musicians who share a common tradition of raga
study and performance across multiple generations; each has distinctive
style of approach to performance practice (see also box on p. 127)
o Another very famous musician in Maihar gharana lineage is Ali Akbar
Khan: son of Baba, master of an instrument called the sarod (see photo, p.
 130), and a major international ambassador of Indian music in his own
right.
 (If time, Alam Khan [son of Ali Akbar Khan] clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Gh93hjjrA]
 [ADDED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hobK_8bIDvk (Ali
Akbar Khan perf.)]
o Out of same Maihar lineage also comes Anoushka Shankar (sitar player,
daughter of Ravi) and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who we’ll learn more about
later
• For a primer on Hindustani raga, MGT for this chapter, “Intro to Indian Music”
(CD 2-11, p. 128 box), featuring and narrated by Ravi Shankar (terms: alap,
tintal, theka, sam, etc. Just listen; we’ll learn relevant definitions later)

INSTRUMENTS (129-32):
• Sitar (p. 129): melody instrument; long necked plucked chrodophone w. 6-7
melody/drone strings, 13 sympathetic. REFER TO DIAGRAM ON p. 129 for
other features. (*Other melodic insts. discussed on p. 130)
• Tambura (129): 4-5 strings. Drone instrument; emph. vadi, or “tonic”
• Tabla (131-32): Two drums: bayan, dahina (compare to S. Indian mrdangam).
Rhythmic accompaniment instrument.

RAGA DEFINED (132)

• raga: a complete and self-contained melodic system that serves as the basis for
all the melodic materials in any composition or performance created in that raga.
(There are many, at least 58)
• Raga defining characteristics: set of pitches (“scale”), ornaments/melodic
motives, rules and procedures, set compositions, extramusical assoc.
• Requirement of strict adherence to the raga in performance

TALA (132, 135-37): rhythmic framework and, especially, metric cycle (e.g., for metered
sections of a raga performance): tintal (16), jhaptal (10)
• Theka (skeletal pattern): tali (claps), khali (waves), plus finger counts (matra);
sam (beat “1”)
• DO KEEPING TAL EXERCISE ON TINTAL (see pp. 135-37). Link up with
1:45-2:00, then 2:50-3:30 of CD tr. 2-11. (Refer students to OMI 23 for
practice)
• Tihai (cadential pattern, thrice repeated)

RAGA GROWTH AND FORM

• A raga not a “piece” but rather a template for musical action in the musician’s
mind, or a kind of a “road map” that musician follows in learning and performing
• Musical, symbolic, and spiritual potential to be realized in barhat, or growth.
Ultimate: Nada Brahma (“Sound of God”)
• At once a unifying structure and a medium for limitless innovation and variation
 • Overall progression from slow and abstract movement to fast tempo/metered
music (see Fig. 8.4, p. 135)
FORM:
• Alap: improvised, free rhythm, solo; exploration of main tones (pitches) of raga
scale; gradual growth in melodic range, rhythmic intensity (usually leading to
sense of beat or pulse by end)
• [Jor and/or jhala]
• Gat: marked by entry of tabla; steady beat and tala cycle established; continued
growth in intensity and complexity leading to climactic finish; continued growth
in interaction of performers (e.g., melodic soloist, tabla player); alternation of
composed and improvised passages

GUIDED LISTENING EXPER. (“Raga Nat Bhairav”) (138-41) [CD 2-12]

• Part of Raga Bhairav family—morning raga, devotional, rasa=range of
emotional qualities—sadness to valor, peace to agitation (image: Shiva as naked
ascetic with matted locks and body smeared with ashes)
• Nat Bhairav a combo raga: Nat + Bhairav. Popularized by Ravi Shankar in
1940s
• Basic scale roughly D E F# G A Bb C# (D)
• Performer: Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who plays a specially modified guitar (Mohan
vina=Indianized” slide guitar—photo p. 138).
o Protégé of Shankar (started on sitar)
• Direct class through listening with GLQS of p. 140-41 box

INTERCULTURAL CROSSINGS
• Fascinating history of encounter between Indian, Western music traditions.
Diverse and multifaceted. Book chronicles one trajectory of that (via Shankar’s
web of influence). We’ll just hit on a few highlights here (specifically ones
relating to the exam!!)
• In the Raga film, we got to see Ravi Shankar performing and interacting with
several of his best-known teachers, collaborators, and students: Allaudin Khan
(Baba); Alla Rakha (tabla); Yehudi Menuhin (violinist); and, of course, Beatles
guitarist (and Shankar sitar student) George Harrison.
• Through Harrison and the Beatles, the sitar, and Shankar himself, catapulted to
megastar status in the pop music and youth counterculture worlds of the 1960s,
1970s (including associations with drug culture, etc., as per film we saw).
o First Beatles recording to feature the sitar: “Norwegian Wood” (1965,
from album Rubber Soul). [Play CD]
o Subsequent albums reflect Harrison’s deepening immersion in Indian
music and culture. Best-known of all “Within You, Without You”
(1967), from Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. [Play CD]
o (“Great sitar explosion,” Ravi Shankar perf. at Woodstock, 1969)
• Shankar also influenced many American jazz musicians, including the great
saxophonist John Coltrane.
 o Coltrane took just a few lessons with Shankar, in the winter of 1964-65,
and never went much beyond that in terms of any formal course of study
with an Indian master teacher.
o For years, though, he was an avid consumer and student of Indian
recordings, by Shankar especially, and this influenced his musical
approach greatly, leading to his unique “modal jazz” style of the 1960s
o This recording of a Coltrane tune called “India,” recorded in 1961, is an
example. [CD 2-13]
• Another well-known jazz musician who was strongly influenced by Shankar was
guitarist John McLaughlin.
o Intensive studies of Indian music and deep immersion in Indian music
(including conversion to Hinduism)
o 1975: Formed group Shakti, which took Indian music-jazz fusion to new
heights
 Zakir Hussain (tabla player, son of Alla Rakha)
 L. Shankar (violin master in Hindustani tradition, nephew of Ravi
Shankar)
 Also two well-known South Indian (Karnatak) percussionists; thus,
group a “fusion” of not just Western/Indian musics, but
Hindustani/Karnatak traditions as well
 Good example of early Shakti this 1976 live recording, “Joy” (CD
2-14).
• Incredible virtuosity. Not a raga, but many raga elements
• Improvised solos: McLaughlin, L. Shankar, Z. Hussain
• Highly complex “fractional tala” (146-47). Overall, 16
beats and might be considered a variant of tintal, but by no
means a clear or straightforward version of tintal!
• Finally we come to Trilok Gurtu, who takes us into a whole new realm of
Indian-jazz-world music fusion
o Born into a family of distinguished Indian musicians in Bombay (now
Mumbai), 1951
o Grew up studying tabla with revered Hindustani masters, performing raga,
but also listening to Coltrane, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, etc.
o Worked as studio percussionist in Bollywood film industry, played and
toured internationally with bhangra bands, eventually moved to New York
(1976) to pursue a jazz career
o Developed unique “floor kit” approach (see p. 147)
o Rose to international fame in late 1980s as member of two groups: John
McLaughlin Trio and Oregon (pioneering jazz-world music fusion group
whose founding members had been Ravi Shankar students!)
o In late ‘80s, too, commenced an ongoing series of recording and touring
projects under his own name.
o “Living Magic” [CD 2-15] (from album of the same title) one of his best
recordings. Fascinating mixture of Indian and jazz elements:
 Not a raga, but raga-like in its alap-like opening (played solo on a
South Indian vina and featuring electronically processed vina
“drone” tones) leading into a later gat-like section with
drumming, complex metric cycles, and ensemble performance.
Raga-like process of growth (barhat).
 Band features well-known jazz/world musicians from Brazil, West
Africa, Norway, United States (and Gurtu himself, of course).
None of the people we’ve studied in the chapter (Shankar,
Coltrane, McLaughlin, Hussain, etc.) appear on the recording, but
all have influenced Gurtu’s music and approach in one way or
another.
 Music highly complex, in both its “Indian” and “Western”
elements
• Melodies exhibit elements of dodecaphony (i.e., 12-tone
serialism), a complex, “post-tonal” melodic organization
system used in much contemporary Western art music
• Meters (metric cycles) extraordinarily complex: 7, 10, even
13¾ beats! Reflects both fractional tala ideas in
contemporary Indian classical music and what are known
as asymmetrical meter concepts in Western music
• FOLLOW GLQS on 149-50