Music of South Asia: India

India: South Asian Republic; pop. 900 million +

1/5^th of world’s population in an area less than half the size of US.

Geography: a peninsula cut off from neighboring lands by deserts, mountains, jungles.

Two main cultural regions: North (Hindi-speakers) and South (Dravidian-speakers)

Numerous cultural and technological influences have come into India:

Aryans (ca. 1500 BCE): Indo-European language; Vedic religious chants

Islam (beginning 12^th century): Islamic religion; instruments from Middle East

British (beginning 17^th century): English language; Western instruments

Three classifications of music

Folk: wide variety of instruments, many are simpler versions of classical instr.

Classical: Northern hindusthani tradition; Southern karnataka tradition

Popular: Film music is most common type

Caste system: ranked hereditary social groups in India; four general social classes

1) Brahmins (priests and scholars)

2) Kshatriyas (military and rulers)

3) Vaisyas (farmers and merchants)

4) Sudras (peasants and laborers)

Unranked: untouchables (outsiders, vagrants)

Vedic chants: origins of Hindu religion

Vedas are sung religious poems brought by Aryans (ca. 1500 BCE) into Indus valley.

Vedas composed by bardic priests in ancient times; chanted at rituals.

Oral tradition passed down over centuries of imitation of teachers: Rig Veda, Sama Veda.

Today bard-priests continue to sing at rituals, weddings, funerals:

Use of sacred words with mystical power when sung: e.g., “OM”

Vedic chant traditionally associated with the elite Brahmin caste in India.

Bhakti movement (beginning 16^th century)

Populist religious movement;

Shift from religious knowledge (educated elites) to religious practice (masses);

Devotion through prayer, chanting, music and dance developed.

Today music is a spiritual practice at all caste levels.

Mendicants: wandering musicians surviving on alms earned from music.

CD Example 15. Vedic chant - Rgvedic recitation by Nambudri Brahmins

CD Example 16. Double fipple flute piece, “Sarang ka Sorath” (Springtime in Surat), Gujarat.

CD Example 17. Spirit possession chant by bhopa priest mediums of the Mina, Rajasthan.

CD Example 18. Funeral song of the South Indian Kota, Tamil Nadu.

CD Example 19. Paraja antiphonal courtship song, Orissa.

CD Example 20. Baul song of Bangladesh, “Human Soul—a mysterious bird”