Transcript Indian Classical Music and Terry Riley

INDIAN CLASSICAL
MUSIC AND DAVY
GRAHAM
By: Catherine Durcan
IB Music Theory
India: Demographics
• Population: 1,220,800,359 (July 2013 est.)
• Area: 3,287,263 sq. km
• Ethnicities: 72% Indo-Aryan, 25% Dravidian, 3% Mongoloid and other
• Religions: 80.5% Hinduism, 13.4% Muslim, 2.3% Christian, 1.9% Sikh,
1.8% other, 0.1% unspecified
• Languages: 41% Hindi, 8.1% Bengali, 7.2% Telugu, 7% Marathi, 5.9%
Tamil, 5% Urdu, 4.5% Gujarati, 3.7% Kannada, 3.2% Malayalam, 3.2%
Oriya, 2.8% Punjabi, 1.3% Assamese, 1.2% Maithili, 5.9% other
• English is the subsidiary official language
• Capital: New Delphi
• Shares borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, Nepal, and
Pakistan
• Also borders the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal
Geography
• Climate: varies from tropical
monsoon in the south to
temperate in the north
• Terrain:
-Upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in
the south
-Flat to rolling plains along the
Ganges
-Deserts in the west
-Himalayas in the north
Hinduism: Influencing Indian Music
• Origin of Indian Classical music can be traced back to the Vedas, the
primary sacred text of Hinduism.
• Four Vedas: Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Arhtarva Veda
• Rig Veda: Divine Hymns, important prayers and the oldest, most
important veda
• Sama Veda: Contains music to be sung and is the origin of Indian
Classical Music. It defines the seven swaras (notes) and its music
has been passed down through generations for over three
thousand years
• Yajur Veda: Known as the karma veda. Describes rituals and
sacrifices during the vedic period
• Artharva Veda: Contains magical remedies and chants for curing
illnesses and a small number of incantations for cursing enemies
Main Features
• Raga: a melodic framework based on a set of notes
• Pieces are often improvised using the raga as the foundation of the piece
• Ragas can have 5-12 tones and some ragas have a different number of
notes when they ascend and descend
• Each raga belongs to a modal structure called a thaat (in North Indian
music) or a mela (in South Indian music)
• Notation: sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, and sa
• Tala (or taal): the rhythmic pattern of a piece
• Sounds produced by the tala are often vocalized (e.g. dhaa, ga, ka, ke)
• These are called bols. Bols combined together create the tala.
• Monophonic
• Does not use harmony
• Requires use of a drone
• Dialogue between instruments
Instruments
Sitar
http://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=hTP
xqUtlLdo
Tanpura
http://www.yout
ube.com/watch?
v=DnsXfc_nXK4
Tabla
Mridangam
http://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=J
oyk_EMtzn0
http://www.yout
ube.com/watch?
v=dwFdBztKJiM
Instruments (continued)
Kanjira
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=GPPBoei6oCs
Violin
• Used mainly in Carnatic
music and is played using a
different technique than in
Western music
• Often used to accompany
Carnatic (South Indian)
vocalists
• http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=hh3Hpy699LY
Hindustani VS Carnatic
• North India: Hindustani
• Hindustani Ragas are usually
played at certain times of the day
or during different seasons
• South India: Carnatic
• There are more Carnatic ragas
than Hindustani because Carnatic
music uses shrutis (semi-tones)
which allow the creation of more
ragas
• Use of the Violin is more
prominent in Carnatic music
Similarities:
• Both Hindustani and Carnatic music do share some of the same ragas however,
they usually use different names and are played in a way that shows distinctive
Hindustani or Carnatic Styles
Anoushka Shankar
• Daughter of the famous Indian sitar
player, Ravi Shankar
• Started playing sitar at age nine and was
taught by her father
• Debuted professionally as a classical sitar
player at age thirteen
• Was the first Indian female and youngest
ever nominee for a Grammy in the world
music category
• Established herself as a well-known
classical sitar player on a global scale in
her twenties
• As a composer, Shankar blends Classical
music with genres such as flamenco, jazz,
electronica, and Western classical music
Raga Jog
• Traditional Hindustani raga
• Commonly used raga
• Traditionally sung or played in the hours just after midnight
• The word “jog” means a state of enchantment
• Uses the rhythmic cycle Adi Taal- an eight beat cycle
• Instruments: sitar, violin, tanpura, shehnai, and various Indian
percussion such as the mridanga and kanjira
• The sitar, violin, shehnai, and percussionist each have a small solo
part in the raga
• The violin is played in the Carnatic style
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wra4p4zARw
• http://vimeo.com/58801551 (full version)
Davy Graham (19402008)
• British Folk-blues guitarist
• Influenced by traditional folk, blues, jazz,
North African, Indian, and Arabic music
• Travelled often and his ideas were ahead of
his time
• Travelled to India
• Most well-known piece, “Anji”, was released
in 1962
• Influenced many artists who came after him:
Pentangle, John Martin, Martin Carthy, and
Jimmy Page
• Created alternate tuning for the guitar
called DADGAD
• Blended traditional Irish music and Indian
Classical when he played the Irish folk song,
“She Moved Through the Fair” in the style
of an Indian raga
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Yvw_Z
ztQk (She Moved Through the Fair)
DADGAD
• Associated with Celtic music and Indian folk music
• Used in genres besides folk/traditional including rock, pop, New
Age, and many more
• This tuning can be achieved from standard tuning by tuning the
first, second, and sixth string down a whole step which creates an
open D suspended chord and makes the tuning neither major nor
minor
• DADGAD uses many movable chords that allow open strings
therefore, when played it creates a drone effect
Sunshine Raga
• Released in 1968
• Part of the album: Large As Life And Twice As Natural
• Uses an original tuning Graham created as a blend of eastern modal
tunings
• Instruments: Guitar and drums
• The guitar is used to imitate the playing style of the sitar
• A drone effect is created by the open strings of the guitar
• The drums are played in the style of the tabla
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8nNauYpMpU
Comparison
Similarities
•
•
•
•
•
They are both essentially ragas
Use of the drone
Indian rhythmic ideas
Playing style of the guitar and sitar are similar
Monophonic
Comparison: Differences
Raga Jog
Sunshine Raga
• Use of the tanpura to create the
drone
• Uses traditional Indian instruments
and has a greater variety of
instruments
• Pure traditional music
• Use of the guitar’s open strings to
create a drone effect
• Uses only two instruments and
they are not Indian instruments
• Fusion of different styles
Work cited
• http://www.carnatica.net/ragasystem.htm
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/in.html
• http://www.itcsra.org/sra_faq_index.html
• http://www.enlightengroup.org/the-four-vedas.html
• http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/489518/raga
• http://india.tilos.hu/english_ragarend.html
• http://raag-hindustani.com/Scales1.html
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581886/tambura
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/579723/tabla
• http://www.trinity.nottingham.sch.uk/music/gcse/indianClassicalAn
dGamelan.aspx
Work Cited
•
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•
http://www.folkblues.co.uk/artistsgraham.html
http://www.folkblues.co.uk/graham1968.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/dec/17/folk-blues-music
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3834429/Davy-Graham.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadgad
http://www.anoushkashankar.com/biography/\
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/765595/shehnai
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/395591/mridangam
http://www.trichysankaran.com/music/instruments/kanjira.html
http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/13942
http://raag-hindustani.com/Scales3.html
http://www.anoushkashankar.com/music/
http://raag-hindustani.com/Rhythm.html
Picture References:
• http://www.squidoo.com/only-in-india
• http://www.last.fm/music/Davy+Graham/+images/46397
• http://www.ethnicmusicalinstruments.com/G-Rosul-49-Inch-Single-TumbaPro-Indian-Sitar-Extras.html
• http://kksongs.org/tanpura/mp3s.html
• http://artdrum.com/TABLA.HTM
• http://culturalsindia.blogspot.com/2012/06/indian-music-instruments.html
• http://tablasitar.net/mridangam-%E2%80%93-information-history/
• http://www.indian-instruments.com/drums_and_percussion/kanjira.htm
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_India.svg
• http://www.amazingplacesonearth.com/category/asia/
• http://www.hennadesignsguide.com/bridal-henna-designs/henna-makeup/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/kukkaibkk/5455426158/