Hindustani Music in the 20th Century

ISBN-13: 9789024720668 / Angielski / Miękka / 1980 / 272 str.

Wim Van Der Meer; Wim Van Der Meer; W. Van Der Meer

Opis

AIM In spite of a reasonably extensive literature in English' and Indian vernaculars, there are extremely few books on Indian music that can be considered of a scientific standard. I found, when I took up an interest in Indian music in 1967, that even protracted reading of the studies in English was not conducive to an understanding of the principles of performance. Most of my study and research have been devoted to the gradual refinement of this very understanding. In the course of time it also became obvious that different scholars and different musicians held divergent views on many basic concepts of Indian music. Therefore, one of my tasks was to assess the degree of variability in Indian music. As a corollary I wanted to know how this variability could manifest itself as change in a relatively short and well-documented period. It is often assumed that traditional cultures, as e. g. in India, are rather inert and that the art forms hardly ever change. This study proves the contrary: Indian music has a strong vitality. If we examine the different treatises through the centuries this vitality would appear to be a basic characteristic. I felt that at least an effort to discover the roots of such change would be valuable as a contribution to the study of art history and possibly to the sociology of culture.

Spis treści

One.- I. Basic Concepts and Characteristics.- A. R?ga.- B. T?la and laya.- C. Svara and scales.- D. Melodic movement.- E. The relation between r?gas.- F. Elements of r?ga performance.- II. Performing a R?Ga (1): Dhrupada.- A. Introduction.- B. ?l?pa: Structure and varieties.- C. The composition.- D. Variation and elaboration of the composition: Bolban?o.- E. Summary: The r?ga in dhrupada.- III. Performing a R?Ga (2): Khay?L.- A. Introduction.- B. The musical roots of khay?l: Comparison to dhrupada.- C. The structure of khay?l.- D. Summary.- IV. R?ga Delineation.- A. Individual r?gas or groups of r?gas.- B. Necessities in the delineation of a r?ga: The margin of classical music.- C. Stylistic approaches.- D. Varieties of dhrupada and khay?l.- V. Poetry, Melody and Rhythm.- A. Themes.- B. Melodic form and the text: Function of the words.- C. Words bridging melody and rhythm.- D. Summary.- VI. The Essence of R?ga and the Problem of Rasa.- A. The theory of rasa.- B. Application to music: Historical survey.- C. Rasa and the poetry of compositions.- D. Levels of rasa in music.- E. R?gabh?va.- F. Tirobh?va and avirbh?va.- G. Summary.- Two.- VII. Music and its Larger Social Environment.- A. Introduction.- B. Political data.- C. Social and economic data.- D. Cultural data.- E. Summary: The effect on music.- VIII. The Rise and fall of the Ghar?N? System.- A. Introduction.- B. The emergence of ghar?n?.- C. Process in ghar?n?.- D. The disappearance of ghar?n?.- IX. Training and Creativity.- A. Becoming an artist.- B. Case studies.- C. Summary.- X. The Role of the Great Musicians.- A. The period before 1920.- B. The period after 1920.- XI. A Survey of Changes in North Indian Music.- A. Introduction.- B. The plight of dhrupada.- C. Changes in voice culture.- D. Changes in stvle.- E. Changes in r?ga.- F. Changes in compositions and barhata.- G. Changes in t?na, layak?r? and ornamentation.- H. Different usage of t?las.- Conclusion.- Chronology.- Bibliography and Discography.- Music Examples.