INTRODUCTION

Sheet Music

Welcome to Music 009, Introduction to World Musics! In this course we will explore
both the musics you can hear around you and musics from other areas of the world.
This lesson will introduce you to the general format for the course as well as the world as
a subject for musical exploration. We will examine the methodology and vocabulary
necessary to effectively describe music as a cultural phenomenon. This lesson is a little
different from the lessons that follow, simply because we are looking at generalities
rather than specific cultures.
As we begin this course we need to open our minds to what music is. How do we define
music? Think about the music you know, the music you hear around you, the music you
like, the music you don't like. Although there are many different definitions that we can
come up with for music, perhaps the most all-encompassing one is "the art of sound in
time." Such a broad definition includes many different sounds, some of which sound
musical to us and some of which do not.
So what is "world" music? "World" music generally refers to music not cultivated in the
Western European and American art music establishment. It also usually does not
include popular music of Europe and America. Basically the term is used to include
everything else. It is also sometimes called "non-Western" music.
You have probably noticed that I have used the term musics rather than music. No,
these are not typos. Ethnomusicologists, or people who study world music, use the word
"musics" to draw attention to the fact that musical systems around the world are very
different.
In this course we will explore the musics of different cultures both as products and
reflections of culture and as aesthetic art forms. Through this approach you will
hopefully not only develop a basic fluency in the characteristics of selected world
musics, but you should also gain a broader understanding of the general classifications
and geographical divisions of world music and the ways in which music relates to and is
a part of all world cultures.

LOCATION
In this course we will be encountering many different cultures. In order to approach the
world of music, it is best to have a general understanding of geography. This section on
the location of the world culture will help you to situate the culture we are studying in its
geographical location. In this section you will learn not only where the culture is located
but also the various factors that affect the culture we are focusing on in each lesson, such

as the distinctions between cultural and political boundaries, terrain, and even how
weather affects the region.
The culture we are examining in this particular lesson is the world as culture.

View Larger Map

This map gives you an overview of the areas of the world we will be covering over the
course of the semester.As you can see we will travel all over the globe to discover the
amazing musics that are a part of the world's cultures, including the musics of Central
Asia, India, the Middle East, Western Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean,
Africa, and North America.

HISTORY

Music Throughout History

In this section we will look briefly at the history of the musical culture we are studying.
A general understanding of a culture's history will help us better situate the
contemporary culture and its music.
We will find that throughout the world the histories of various cultures have similar
themes. We tend to begin with an indigenous population, that is, a group of people that
were there before recorded history. There is then usually an influx of people or peoples
over time. They tend to come as traders or settlers, often from Europe (especially in the
19th and 20th centuries) but also from other areas of the world. Settlers throughout
history have colonized most areas of the world. And the colonies created, which have
led to national boundaries, are often at variance with the cultural boundaries of the
indigenous people. This has created great turmoil throughout the world, but especially
in Africa and West Asia, where conflicts have arisen between smaller culture groups and
the political heads of state. Often these conflicts escalate into civil wars. These are
generalities and certainly do not describe every country in the world, but it is safe to say
that there are very few cultures that have not been affected by other cultures in one way
or another.

With new cultures come new political systems, new religions, and new cultural
influences, including, art, architecture, literature, and, in the world of music, new
musical instruments and performance genres.
HOW MUSIC IS TIED TO THE CULTURE

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Universals that ethnomusicologists have found

1. All societies have music of some sort (distinguishable from speech).
2. All peoples sing.
3. All cultures have instruments.
4. Music changes in order to satisfy social needs.
5. Music is used in religious rituals to transform ordinary experience.
6. In all cultures dance is accompanied by musical sounds.
7. Music reinforces boundaries between social groups, who view their music as an
emblem of their identity.
8. Almost all humans can learn to sing, at least minimally.
9. Societies differ in the degree to which they encourage individuals to participate in
music.
10. Musicianship in a culture is not hereditary.

Tibetan Musicians

I'm sure you have heard the statement "music is a universal language." While it sounds
like a wonderfully inclusive thing to say, it's not true. If we think of language as a form of
definite communication that can be mutually understood, then music is not
a universal language. Musical systems throughout the world are very complex and must
be studied to be understood. Some types of musics don't sound very musical, like this
Tibetan chant. Other types of music that we think of as music are not considered music
by the cultures performing them, such as this Qur'anic recitation.
1

Although music is not a universal language there are some universals in the world of
music.

Universals that ethnomusicologists have found

1. All societies have music of some sort (distinguishable from speech).
As far as we know, ethnomusicologists have at least located every culture group around
the world. And every known culture has some sort of music (described as

distinguishable from speech). Some cultures may not label it as music - in fact, there are
several cultures around the world that do not have a term for music - but every culture
has some kind of musical, whether it is vocal, instrumental, or both.
2. All peoples sing.
There are individuals who are unable to sing because of a physical disability, but it is
universally true that all peoples, that is, all cultures, have some kind of vocal production
that sounds different from everyday speech and could be called singing.
3. All cultures have instruments.

Water Sounds

Instruments can be as simple as an ordinary hunting bow with the tip of it inserted into
the mouth or something such as a gourd to act as a resonator, or a pool of water such as
the Baka people of Central Africa use for drumming.(See picture.)But
ethnomusicologists have found that all cultures do indeed have instruments of one sort
or another.
4. Music changes in order to satisfy social needs.
Think about American music in the 1930s and 1940s. The country was recovering from
the Great Depression and was facing "the War to end all wars." People needed music to
take their minds off their daily fears and struggles. And the music of performers like Ella
Fitzgerald and Glenn Miller did just that. Think about the 1960s. People were concerned
about how the government was dealing with the crisis in Vietnam. They needed ways to
express their concern and the folk music style that we associated with Bob Dylan, Joan
Baez, and Peter, Paul, and Mary satisfied that social need. Those are just two examples
out of many in American music history, not to mention the rest of the world. Music is
constantly changing - often it is to satisfy a social need.
5. Music is used in religious rituals to transform ordinary experience.
Music, whether it is performed on instruments or is simply singing, separates the
extraordinary from the ordinary. For example, people tend to stop and take notice when
someone breaks into song. By those participating in a given religion, the text of their
ritual is usually of utmost importance. Music is an excellent vehicle for expressing
something of great importance. Thus (even if they don't refer to it as such) music is
almost universally used in one way or another during religious rituals.

6. In all cultures dance is accompanied by musical sounds.

There have been some experiments with silent dance by avant-garde dancers and
choreographers in the 20th century, but it is universally true that it is expected that
dance is to be accompanied by musical sounds.
7. Music reinforces boundaries between social groups, who view their music as an
emblem of their identity.
Music is often used as symbols of identity, whether it be national, religious, race, class,
cultural or sub-cultural. For example, in the United States, we sing the national anthem
to reinforce our identity as Americans, Christians sing hymns, people who are trying to
assert they are educated and sophisticated often listen to Classical music, and most
people associate particular music with sub-cultures such as punk rockers, Dead Heads,
and Parrot Heads. These are just examples you will find in this country, but the
tendency for music to reinforce boundaries between social groups is a universal
phenomenon.
8. Almost all humans can learn to sing, at least minimally.
I'm sure you have heard people talk about being tone-deaf, but in many of those
instances it simply comes down to the fact that they have never really practiced singing.
And the muscles of the throat are like every other muscle in the body - they need to be
exercised in order to perform well.
9. Societies differ in the degree to which they encourage individuals to participate in
music.
In our culture we tend to appreciate the skills of musicians and respect for their abilities.
On the whole, we believe that in order to become a professional musician it requires
years of education and at least a decent disposable income to afford the lessons to do so.
Thus we regard them highly in our society. On the contrary, there are other countries in
which musicians are not highly respected. For example, in many cultures in West Asia,
'respectable' music is associated with a person's ability to improvise at will. Because of
this amateur musicians have higher status, while professionals, who must perform
according to the demands of the patron, are not highly regarded.
10. Musicianship in a culture is not hereditary.
Even if you are not born into a musical culture, you can still become proficient in that
musical culture. Just because you are born into a culture does not mean that you have
an innate gift to perform your culture's music. Music, in most instances, requires study

and practice. This can be accomplished by anyone who does it in earnest. Sometimes
this takes only a little time, often it takes years. But that is the case for people in a
culture as well as those approaching it from the outside. It just might require some extra
time for someone outside a musical culture to become acquainted with it.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Piano Keys

In this section we will be studying the general musical characteristics of each lesson's
culture.
So how do we study world/non-Western musics? Is studying world music different
from studying Western art music? If you have taken an introduction to Western art
music course, you'll find the approach in this course is a bit different. In this class, you
will find that often but not always:
there is no focus on composers
there are no scores to study
there are no definitive versions of songs or pieces
we study "folk" music often passed down through oral tradition
But there are several components of music that should be analyzed when studying the
music of any culture. These include:
Timbre. One of the easier things to describe in music is what is making the musical
sounds. The way our ears determine this is through timbre. Timbre, or tone color,
describes what makes sounds sound different from one another. It's how we know the
difference between our mother's and father's voices or how we can tell the difference
between a flute and a tuba. Timbre is usually easiest to describe in terms of
instrumentation; thus we will usually refer to what instruments are being used. Timbre
is also often described using words like dark, rich, light, reedy, woody, brassy, sharp,
muted, buzzy, etc. Ethnomusicologists have found that some cultures prefer certain
timbres. For example, many African cultures tend to prefer buzzy timbres, which they
create by attaching things that vibrate to their instruments.
Mode refers to how pitches are centered and organized in a given piece of music. The
notes of a mode form the artistic palette, or palette of notes with which a composer can
write music. Related to mode is scale. A scale is a collection of successive pitches.
Musicians practice scales to familiarize themselves (for example, their fingers on an
instrument) with the modes they need to know when they perform music, and scholars
use scales to analyze music. In Western music, we have two commonly-used modes:
major and minor. But there are many other modes used around the world - some of
which are simpler and some of which are much more complex than our two modes. One

of the most basic and most commonly found scales in world music is known as
the pentatonic scale, which (as you can guess based on the name penta=five,
tonic=tone) is a five-tone or five-note scale. Many modes found throughout the world
involve quartertones and three-quartertones (these are pitches that are located between
our pitches), which are not commonly heard in Western music. Because we are not used
to hearing these intervals, they often sound out of tune to us. Example of a quartertone.
Rhythm refers to the time aspect of music, or the arrangement of durations - long and
short notes - in a musical piece. It is always changing. For example, you can hear the
rhythm of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in this example. We use rhythm in our speaking
voices, though it is not usually as creatively employed as it is in music. Rhythm is the
main driving force in music. It is perhaps most easily understood when it is contrasted
with beat or pulse, which is constant and doesn't change. (The best way to think of beat
is to think of your heartbeat.)
Meter. When a pattern of strong and weak beats or accented and unaccented beats
occurs over and over again, meter is established. Meter is a strong/weak pattern
repeated over and over again. Each occurrence of this pattern is called a measure or a
bar, based on its appearance in music notation. In Western music we tend to group our
beats into groups of twos (known as duple meter), threes (known as triple meter),
fours (known asquadruple meter), or sixes (known as compound meter). Meter as
we understand it in the West relies on music notation that divides beats and accents
certain beats over others on a regular basis. Many other cultures group their beats in
different ways that cannot easily be written down in Western notation. The result is
what we describe as irregular meter, which is asymmetrical groups with different
numbers of beats per measure, or free rhythm, which does not follow a regular pulse.)

Example: Duple Meter

Example: Triple Meter
Example: Quadruple Meter
Texture describes the blend of sounds and melodic lines that occur in a piece of music or
how the melodic lines in a piece of music relate to one another. Related to texture is the
concept of harmony. Harmony refers either to accompaniment or to other lines of
music that are different from the melody. Harmony is often made up of groups of
pitches played simultaneously, known as chords. Texture is described using the
following terms:

Monophony, Monophonic: Music comprising a single melody, without

chords or other melodic or harmonic parts. When you sing alone in the
shower or the car, you are singing monophonically. Monophony can be
performed by one or many people - what matters is the number of
melodies and different sounds, not the number of people performing
it. For example, religious chant is often sung monophonically by a
group of people. Example of monophony.
Biphony, Biphonic: Music that has two lines, one of which has melodic
interest and the other a drone (one continuous pitch). An example of
biphony is music played on a bagpipe.
Homophony, Homophonic: Music involving only one melody of real
interest, combined with chords or other subsidiary sounds. For
example, songs accompanied by guitar or piano are described as
homophonic. Example of homophony.
Polyphony, Polyphonic: Music in which two or more melodic lines are
played or sung simultaneously. When you listen to polyphony, you find
it hard to decide which musical line to focus on. For example, two
people singing a round together is polyphony. Example of polyphony.
Heterophony, Heterophonic - Music in which two or more versions or
variations of the same melody are performed simultaneously.
Heterophony is rarely heard in Western music, but it is frequently found
in other areas of the world. Listen to the example of Lonesome Valley.
1

There are other aspects of music that can and should be analyzed when discussing music
but these components serve as a good starting point. We will learn some other ways to
describe musical sound in our case study.
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY

In the last section we learned about musical characteristics. But while sound is a very
important component of music, it is only one aspect of world music studies - what we
call ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicologist Alan Merriam suggested a model for studying
world music that examines more than just the sound of music. According to Merriam,
when studying world music we need to look at it as a cultural phenomenon. In doing so
we must consider a culture's idea about music or the role of music in a culture as well as
people's behavior involved in making music and in the consumption of music by
audiences and communities. We can see this laid out as a chart. The triangle indicates
that sound, behavior and concept should be considered equally when approaching music
as a cultural phenomenon. In some cases we'll find that there is more to say about the
sound of the music than there is to say about the behavior involved or how the music is
conceived. In other cases we'll find that behavior and concept is far more noteworthy
than the music itself. But in all cases we'll want to consider the music from every angle.

SOUND, CONCEPT, BEHAVIOR

Reflection of a concert

Sound: When we talk about sound, we are talking about ways to describe musical sound.
This is the "What?" in the five "W's." What does the music sound like? You will probably
find that this is the hardest thing to describe.We have looked at some of the ways which
we can describe music above, including mode, timbre, texture, rhythm and meter, and
we will learn more in our case study on "The Star-Spangled Banner. It takes some time
to learn all the terminology and how to use it. But you will find that, once you get used to
the vocabulary, it will allow you to describe music more accurately.
Behavior: When we talk about behavior we are talking about the activities that go into
making music and into the way the music is heard and received by listeners. This is the
"Who? When? Where? and How? in the five "W's." When describing behavior involved
in music-making, you'll want to consider questions such as:

Who is performing the music? (Is it a professional musician or an amateur? Is

it a male or female? Etc.) Who is the audience? (Is it a formal audience or
informal audience? Strangers or Friends? Etc.)
When is the performance being held? Is it morning, afternoon, evening, late
night? What time of year is it? Is the time significant in some way? (For
example, in Indian culture the time of day can influence the types of modes
musicians prefer to play.)
Where is the performance being held? Is it a formal situation or informal
situation? Indoors or outdoors? Paying venue or free? Is it a place set aside
for the purpose of making music?
How are the performers acting or behaving? How is the audience acting or
behaving?

By answering these questions, we can build a pretty good picture of the setting of a given
musical example.
Conception: Last but not least is concept or conception. Sometimes the only way we
can understand conception is to look at all the aspects of behavior first. Sometimes it is
obvious what the conception is behind the performance of music. In order to
understand conception, we have to consider what are the different kinds of meanings of
music in culture. Music can accompany ritual, dance, drama, work, and it can be used
to educate, commemorate, or tell stories. We will see that many different cultures have
the same concepts associated with music, even though the musical sound and often
behavior is very different. Concept is a very useful means to approach world music and
will serve as a lens through which we will explore case studies in this course.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

American Flag

Each lesson will conclude with a case study of a particular musical genre that brings
together the lesson's musical culture and concept. Because we are studying the world as
a culture in this lesson, it is impossible to find a type of music that can be found
throughout all the world's cultures. But there is one type of song that almost every
country has, and that is a national anthem. So our case study will be the national
anthem of the United States: "The Star-Spangled Banner." We will see how this song
illustrates Merriam's model for approaching music as a cultural phenomenon. Let's
begin with ways we can describe the sound of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
1

Listen closely to a recording of the song and look through "The Star-Spangled Banner"
music. (Even if you can't read music, I'm sure you know the song.) Sing the song
through to yourself so you get an idea of what it feels like to sing (this activity often
helps you understand the melody a little better). You can also listen to a choral
arrangement here, performed by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians.
2

As we analyze this piece of music we learn the following:

Mode: The mode of "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the Western major mode, which
makes it sound relatively positive (as the major mode normally does) and adds to the
resolve of the piece. Now let's talk more about how the notes are arranged to create the
melody.
Melody: Melodies can seem very difficult to write about, but there are many things
about melodies that you can describe, including melodic contour, musical phrases, and,
in cases such as "The Star-Spangled Banner," where there is text set to the music, we can
also talk about how the text fits into the melody.
The overall song has a very wide range, measuring an octave and a half, which makes
it hard to sing. The melody itself is quite disjunct, that is, characterized by
larger intervals, which also makes it difficult to sing. (Did you struggle when you tried
to sing it to yourself?) The one truly conjunct section, that is, moving in a more
stepwise motion, is very high in the vocal range ("And the rockets' red glare, the bombs
bursting in air, Gave proof thro' the night that our flag..."). This is a difficult piece of
music for the average person to sing, which makes it an interesting choice for a national
anthem.

Form: "The Star-Spangled Banner," like most melodies can be broken down into smaller
units called phrases. There are 16 short phrases in the song, between each of which the
average person takes a breath. These 16 short phrases can be grouped in four sets of
four:

By grouping the lines, we are inferring that there is a sense of organization or form in
verses of "The Star-Spangled Banner." By now you might have noticed that the first and
second phrase groups are exactly the same melodically. If we were to express the form as
a letter diagram, in which each letter designates a different section or contrasting
section, we would we will label both those phrase groups as a, since they are the same.
The third phrase group is different from the first and second, and the fourth phrase
group is different from all prior phrases. Thus the letter diagram for a verse of the "The
Star-Spangled Banner" would be a a b c. If you look at the music, though, you'll see there
are actually three verses listed (though most people only know the one). Thus the overall
form of the piece is strophic, with each verse in a a b c form. Strophicform is a song in
which the same melody that is repeated over and over again, each time with a different
verse of text. If the overall song were expressed in a letter diagram, it would be A A A A.
Star Spangled Banner Lyrics
Meter: The meter of the song is triple (counted in threes). This is interesting because
usually triple meter is associated with dances like the waltz. Yet this song usually does
not sound dance-like. This is because of the tempo, which is usually slow and stately, in
which the piece is typically played. Also, the rhythm of the piece makes it sound more
stately with the alternation of what are known as dotted rhythms with notes that
emphasize the pulse. (Dotted rhythms refer to the way in which they are notated, or
written. See the dot after the first note of the song - on the word "oh".) The rhythm of
the first six notes ("Oh say can you see") is quite typical of stately music.
Last but not least, the texture of Fred Waring's version of the piece is homophonic. That
is, the melody is distinct, but there are subsidiary sounds going on in the other vocal
parts that help to accompany the melody. Now that we have learned how to describe the
sound of "The Star-Spangled Banner," it is time to move on to the behavior and
conception of the piece. But behavior and conception depends very much on the
particular performance of the piece. In our next section we will look at how the
significance of the national anthem changes according to performance.
LISTENING EXERCISE

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Case Study: The National Anthem

Version 1 - U.S. Navy Band
Version 2 - Daniel Rodriguez

Case Study: The National Anthem

National Anthem Lyrics

Version 1 - U.S. Navy Band

We have talked in depth about the sound of "The Star Spangled Banner," so the purpose
of this listening exercise is not to analyze the sound of the music, but instead to analyzed
the behavior and conception.
1

This version is the classic instrumental version of the national anthem. We could
describe several different settings for this version. Its formal band-style presentation
could be found in places such as a stadium before a sporting event (for example, the
Blue Band before a football game) or a military or Presidential event (played, for
example, by the U.S. Navy Band). The behavior associated with this version of "The
Star-Spangled Banner" tends to be the same wherever it is performed. People will
usually react by removing their hats, standing formally, occasionally singing along, and
sometimes saluting (in the case of military). The conception of this particular version is
that this is a song of formality and/or a statement of nationhood. It is performed with
reverence for the flag and for the country.
Version 2 - Daniel Rodriguez
This particular version, as you could see by the description in the video, was performed
at the World Trade Center shortly after 9/11. The behavior and especially the
conception of this version is very different from the first version. It was performed at a
memorial ceremony after a national disaster. Therefore, people responded differently;
some saluted, many cried, many stood in absolute silence. The song was performed by a
member of the police force that had lost several policemen during the attack on the
World Trade Center. The conception of this version is especially different. People heard
this song not simply as a statement of nationhood; with people feeling attacked and
vulnerable, the lyrics took on more meaning, being about a national emblem that was
able to survive a battle. And as the national anthem, it pulled people together and gave
them a sense of strength and national identity.

MUSIC IN A CHANGING WORLD

Cannons at dusk

This section on music in a changing world is designed to address the fact that the world
is constantly changing and music is changing with it. In most cases we will be looking at
how music has changed within the last century.
Most Americans know that "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written during the War of
1812. (We will discuss the early history of the song in Lesson 6.) In the years that
followed it was performed at public events, such as July 4 th celebrations, and was used by
the military for ceremonies, and thus became popular throughout the 19 th century. But it
did not become the national anthem until 1931, when it was declared as such by
congressional resolution and signed by President Herbert Hoover.
We have already listened to a choral version of the national anthem, performed by Fred
Waring and the Pennsylvanians. Waring, who, incidentally, is a Penn State alumnus,
was a popular musician/bandleader and the host of several radio shows and a television
show called "The Fred Waring Show," which ran from 1949 to 1954. (There is an exhibit
about Fred Waring in Pattee Library.) Waring's choral arrangement represents one of
the standard versions of "The Star-Spangled Banner" appreciated by American
audiences throughout most of the 20th century. It is still often performed in this type of
arrangement.
SCENARIO: JIMI HENDRIX

In this course we conclude every lesson with a focus on one performer who epitomizes
the music we have studied in our changing world. If you were to ask people what person
and performance most represents the national anthem in our changing world, most
people would probably say Jimi Hendrix's performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
at Woodstock in 1969.
In this version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" the sound of the piece is obviously very
different from traditional versions. Hendrix's guitar solo audibly paints a picture of the
battle described in the song's lyrics, including "the rockets' red glare," and "the bombs
bursting in air;" and he even inserts "Taps" after the line "gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there."
The radically different sound of Hendrix's version is partnered with the unusual setting
of the performance. Being played at Woodstock, it was not the typical statement of
national identity that is usually associated with "The Star-Spangled Banner." Instead it
was an interpretive version of the piece in the context of the psychedelic culture that was
associated with Woodstock. His version was not given the priority of place usually given
to the national anthem, but instead was played during a jam session in the final set of
the music festival.
No one really knows what statement Hendrix was trying to make in his rendition of "The
Star-Spangled Banner." Hendrix had been a member of the military, but when he

performed at Woodstock he was a part of the anti-war culture. His performance drew a
great amount of controversy - some people saw it as iconoclastic, while others
championed it as one of the most important political statements from the rock world in
the 1960s. His version is so highly regarded musically that it has been duplicated by
some of the leading rock performers, and both fans and scholars still debate its
meaning. Thus Hendrix's rendition of the national anthem exemplifies how our
changing world can be expressed so poignantly in music.
TUVA

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Objectives
Steps to Completion
Read the Tuva Lesson
Take the Tuva Quiz

In this lesson we will examine

the music of
Tuva, which is located in Central
Asia. We will
see how the natural
environment
of the Tuvan people serves as
the source of
inspiration of their musicmaking and
learn more about their
fascinating
tradition of throat singing. In
our case
study of overtone singing in
Central Asia
we will learn about the different
musical
sounds they produce and examine how throat singing is performed by focusing on a
specific musical example. We will conclude by seeing how Tuvan music has been
affected by our changing world by looking at the musical encounter between American
Blues performer Paul Pena and Kongar-ol Ondar, a traditional Tuvan throat singer.

INTRODUCTION
A Lake in Tuva

We begin our studies of world music almost literally on the other side of the world,
looking at a type of music-making that is unlike anything we have in our culture.It
employs a vocal technique that even our most accomplished vocalists in our culture are
unlikely to perform, that is, the ability for an individual to "sing" two notes at the same
time.But the music of Tuva is also unlike what we are used to in our culture because it is
so closely linked to the natural world.In this lesson we will examine the music of Tuva to
learn about the sound of the music they perform, the environment and behavior that
surrounds their music, and the conception underlying it.

LOCATION

The Republic of Tyva , or Tuva, is located in the southernmost part of Siberia, along the
border of Mongolia.Tyva is 170,500 square km, a little smaller than the state
of Washington , and has a population of approximately 306,000 (approximately a third
of which live in the capital city).The capital of Tyva, Kyzyl, is considered to be located at
the "geographic center" of Asia.The terrain of Tyva is mountainous, with vegetation
ranging from forests to tundra plateaus to dry, desert-like lowland. Much of the land
occupied by people is the steppe region, which is known for its temperature
variations.In summer the temperatures in the steppes can reach 100F, while in the
winter they can fall as low as -58F. Due to its location and terrain, Tuva is difficult to
access and thus historically the people have been largely isolated from outside
influences (though the land has been ruled by other cultures).
HISTORY

A brief glance at the history of Tuva reveals a region dominated by shifting rulers and
mighty empires. The history of the people in the area now known as Tyva dates all the
way back to the Stone Age. Stone Age drawings found along the Yenisei River , which
runs through Tuva, are considered some of the world's best examples of stone drawing
art. This region is considered the cradle of the Turkish and Mongolian people.
Throughout the 6th and 7th centuries Tuva was part of the Turkish Khaganate (Empire).
In the 13th century Tuva became part of Genghis Khan's empire, and from the 13th to
18th centuries the region was ruled by the Mongols. During the period we know as the
Middle Ages, an important trade route between Europe and East Asia, known as the
Great Silk Road, passed through Tuva.
In the 18th century, Tuva came under Chinese rule, after the Chinese defeated the
Mongolians. Then during the 19th century, Russians began to settle in Tuva. During the
early 20th century Tuva's rule shifted between Russia, China, and self-rule, until 1944,
when Tuva was incorporated into the Soviet Union, at which point it became the Tuva
Autonomous Oblast. During the Soviet era, Tuva experienced a great deal of sociopolitical control and hardship.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, nationalism in Tuva surfaced. In 1990 a Tuvan
Democratic movement attempted to promote the Tuvinian language and culture as well
as improve living conditions for the Tuvan people. In 1993, a constitution was passed
and the name of the country was officially changed to the TyvaRepublic . Tyva has its
own president, who is elected by national vote.

THE CULTURE TODAY

Tuva and the Modern World

The Tuvan people are descended from a mixture of peoples, including the Turkic,
Mongol, Kettic, and Samoyedic peoples. The language of Tuva is Tyva, which belongs to
the Turkic group of languages. Approximately half the population of Tuvans now lives
in the cities of Tuva, while the other half lives in the rural steppe and mountain-steppe
regions of the country.
For close to 50 years, during the rule of the Soviet Union, Tuva was closed to the outside
world. Soviet control encouraged economic and cultural models based on
collectivization and strict control. During this time, large asbestos deposits were
discovered in the region, which lead to rapid industrialization and urbanization. But
this also caused great health and ecological problems. Now the industry of the Tuvan
cities is based on travel and tourism, and natural resources such as coal, gold, timber,
and food-processing.
The traditional occupation of the Tuvan is a herder. The Tuvans have traditionally been
dependent on flocks of animals (primarily sheep, reindeer, horses, and yaks) for much
of their material needs (clothing, food, and fuel). The traditional religion of Tyva is
shamanism, although Tibetan Buddhism, which gained popularity in Tuva during the
16th and 17th centuries but suffered repression during the Soviet era, is also quite
prevalent.
With the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Tuvan nationalism, Tuvans have fought
for expanded education in the Tuvan language and a restoration of Buddhist
monasteries that were destroyed during the Soviet era. The traditional music and
culture have also been celebrated in recent years, including an international festival of
Tuvan music, which has been held periodically in Kyzyl since 1989.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Tuvan Throat Singers

In this lesson we are going to examine one of the most fascinating types of singing in the
world: throat singing or overtone singing. Throat singing is found in several areas of
Central Asia, including Tuva (northwest of China), Mongolia (west of China) and Tibet
(southwest of China). What you will hear in this type of music is a very low voice with a
higher, lighter sound over it thus, two notes being performed at the same time by one
person. To create this sound, singers sing a fundamental (usually a very low) tone and
then manipulate their mouth cavity and tongue position to emphasize certain overtones
or harmonics. Because the fundamental tone is heard along with the emphasized
overtones, it gives the impression that the singer is singing two separate pitches at once.
(This technique can also be heard on jews' harps, musical bows and Highland bagpipe

drones). While the same technique is used throughout Central Asia, the sound itself is
very different based what the performers are trying to achieve through the musical
sound in other words, the conception. Let's see what is meant by this in our
exploration of xoomei (also spelled khoomei and pronounced "who-mee")* the Tuvan
term for throat singing.
FUNDAMENTALS AND OVERTONES

The concept of fundamentals and overtones is a rather complicated one scientifically.

But since this is a Music course and not a Physics of Acoustics course, there are just a
few things you need to know about fundamentals and overtones for the purposes of this
case study. As we learned in Lesson 3, all sounds are caused by vibrations (if you recall,
the Sachs-Hornbostel classification system is based on what is vibrating to produce the
sound: air, strings, the instrument itself, or a membrane). What we call the
fundamental is the frequency of vibration that produces the sound our ear perceives as
the note or pitch. A fundamental, however, is always accompanied by a series of other
vibration frequencies called overtones, or harmonics, that our ears do not actually hear
as separate pitches. Overtones, also called harmonics, occur along with the fundamental
tone; they are not normally perceived as separate pitches but combine to make up what
we perceive as the timbre of the instrument. In other words, a fundamental tone played
on one instrument will have a different series of overtones than the same fundamental
tone played on another instrument. It is the overtone series that makes one instrument
sound different from another - in other words, it's how we know that we are listening to
a guitar and not a flute, or a trumpet and not a piano.

MUSIC AND THE CULTURE

Music and Nature

The Tuvans' music arises out of the lifestyle and traditions of Central Asia. Their
proximity to nature, necessitated by their care for their animals, engenders an intimate
relationship with and respect for the natural world. This conception is reflected in their
music. In the traditional context, the performer of xoomei imitates or musically
represents the sounds of nature as a way of connecting him or herself to their
environment (the mountains, grass, rivers, animals, wind, etc.) and the spiritual world.

MUSIC AND NATURE

Harmony with Nature

Long before there were cds of music for relaxation that included tracks of Beethoven
accompanied by the sound of a babbling brook, people made the connection between

musical sound and nature. Throughout time and throughout the world there have been
and still are cultures that see a direct relationship between music and nature. One of the
most commonly found and obvious points of connection is birdcalls. In many cultures
vocalists have tried to imitate the sound of birds, whether it is pure mimicry or more
artistic interpretation. In other areas of the world, musical interest and imitation of
sounds extends beyond birds to other animals and even inanimate objects, such as trees
and rivers. While there are instances of music imitating nature for purely aesthetic
reasons, in many cases, cultural and religious beliefs are a contributing factor. Animism
is frequently part of the belief system in cultures that imitate nature in their musical
sounds.
Animism, simply defined, is the belief that non-human beings, such as animals and even
inanimate objects, such as trees, plants, and rocks, have souls. Because they believe that
humans are just a part of nature and not superior or in control of it, they believe that it
is important to treat all things they understand to have souls with respect. And as an
extension of this belief, they find it desirable to communicate with the world around
them. Much of this communication takes place through rituals, and much of it involves
musical performance that replicates the sound of the object with which they are trying to
communicate. In the case of animals this involves the closest imitation possible of the
sounds created by the animal. In cases of inanimate objects a certain amount of artistic
license is necessary; the sounds created are more reflective of the "essence" of the object.
In this lesson's case study we will see how the intersection of music and nature has
inspired a truly unique type of music-making originating in the steppes of Tuva in
Central Asia and now extending around the world.
THE MUSIC

Xoomei

Performing Xoomei

As we have seen, the original conception of Tuvan throat singing is directly linked to
their beliefs in animism.The behavior is traditionally a herder with his flock, or a Tuvan
sitting alone or with a small group of people out in the natural environment of the
Tuvan grasslands.Now let's look at the music itself, what Tuvans
call xoomei or khoomei.
We examined the concept of overtone singing above, but Tuvans employ a variety of
vocal techniques to produce different sounds.The three main styles are:
Kargyraa: Singing a fundamental in a lower register and producing multiple harmonics.
(This is perhaps the most famous type of overtone singing.)

Khoomii:Singing a fundamental in the lower to middle register with two or more notes
clearly audible.Khoomii is generally described as a soft-sounding style.
2

Sygyt: Singing a fundamental in the middle to upper register while producing highpitched overtones that sound almost like whistling
3

The goal of all these forms of vocal production is mimesis, or imitation, of their physical
landscape, which is significant because of their animistic understanding of the world.
LISTENING EXERCISE

A Throat Singer's Scale

Let's see how fundamentals and overtones work in xoomei.Even if you can't read music,
compare the notes (looking at the dots as though looking at a chart) used in the
melodyto the overtones chart, that lists what harmonics are sounded when a Tuvan
singer sings a Fundamentaltone. Note that the notes used in the melody come from the
overtones natural to the human voice. (The exact notes used in the melody are
highlighted in red.) Thus the four-note scale used by the Tuvan musician in this piece is
based on the harmonics created naturally by his voice.

Try This at Home!

Learning to sing overtones is a very difficult thing to do, and if you are not careful you
can hurt your voice trying and doing it wrong.But you can get an idea of how it works
without hurting your voice.Just sing a note, preferably one that's low, but make sure it is
comfortable in your vocal range.Relax your jaw as you sing it, then try to change your
mouth and mouth cavity into different shapes to produce different sounds.For starters,
try not moving your jaw too much but singing the different vowels (A,E,I,O,U) and the
letter R.You may not be singing overtones, but I think you'll be able to hear how an
experienced throat singer uses this technique to create the sound.

MUSIC IN A CHANGING WORLD

Tuvan Landscape

Globalization has affected Tuva, as it has the rest of the world, and with it the behavior
and conception of Tuvan music has changed. Tuvan music is now performed outside of
its original context. While the music was traditionally performed outdoors, now it is
performed in formal concerts and cultivated in conservatories. Performers of xoomei
now tour internationally, and with travel and performance of Tuvan ensembles around
the world, the behaviors associated with xoomei - and even the music itself - change
based on the performing venue. Musicians have left their original environment, the very
place that inspired their music, and brought their musical sounds to concert stages and
festivals around the world. They have adapted by changing the lengths of their songs
and performances, amplifying instruments when in large halls, and adding explanations
of their songs and actions to help their audiences understand the music better.
To their new audiences, the significance of the music lies not in the belief system that
informs the creation of this music, but is often, at least initially, the novelty and
uniqueness of the sound. Outsiders of the Tuvan culture frame their experience of the
music in terms of what they already know and understand. With greater exploration of
the music and the culture, however, outside listeners often learn at least to appreciate
the significance of the music to the native Tuvan.

GENGHIS BLUES
The Cover of Genghis Blues

The music of Tuva has increasingly become a source of fascination for people outside
Tuva since the early 1980s.Tuvan performers have been touring outside their country
bringing the music of Tuva to audiences since the 1990s, but there have been a few
people who have been so captivated with the music that their passion has led them all
the way to Tuva.One such person was Paul Pena, a blind African-American blues artist
who throughout his career has played with many other great blues performers, including
B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and T. Bone Walker.
Pena first heard an excerpt of throat singing on a Radio Moscow broadcast in 1984.After
years of searching for the source he finally found out that the music came from
Tuva.Beginning around 1991 he began teaching himself throat singing as well as the
Tuvan language.In 1993 Pena attended a concert sponsored by Friends of Tuva.Here he
met Kongar-ol Ondar, a master throat singer from Tuva, and, after impressing him with
his self-taught mastery of throat singing, began a lasting friendship with him.
In 1995 Pena was invited by Ondar to sing at the second international Khoomei
(Xoomei) Symposium and contest, held in Tuva's capital city, Kyzyl, where he took first
place in the kargyraa division of the contest. Also, at least in part because he was such an

unusual participant in the festival, he won the 'audience favorite' award and became
known as 'Earthquake' in appreciation of his amazingly deep voice.
Filmmakers Adrian and Roko Belic accompanied Pena on his trip to Tuva to film his
travels through the country with Kongar-ol Ondar and his participation in the
contest.This documentary film, called Genghis Blues, was released in 1999.It won the
1999 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for a Documentary, and was nominated
for an Academy Award in 2000 in the Best Documentary Feature category. This film, a
clip from which is included here, has brought xoomei to an even larger audience.
Xoomei continues to attract a growing audience around the world.Ensembles from Tuva
now travel around the world.Perhaps the most famous traveling ensemble from Tuva is
Huun-Huur-Tu, who became very popular in the United States and around the world in
the 1990s. As is stated in their website, "While intent on preserving the Tuvan musical
heritage, they also recognize the need for vitality and room to move' in the performance
of traditional music."(They have collaborated with musicians as diverse as Frank Zappa,
the Chieftains, and the Kronos Quartet, so they continue the tradition of cross-cultural
collaboration with non-Tuvan musicians started by Pena.)Along with Pena and Ondar,
they represent the changing world in which Tuvan throat singers are situated.
SUFISM

Page contents

Objectives
Steps to Completion
Read the Sufism Lesson
Take the Lesson Quiz

In this lesson we will examine the music of the Sufis, the mystical sect of Islam.We will
locate the Sufis both geographically as well as within the Muslim faith.Then, after
looking briefly at the general significance of music in ritual and the ways in which it can
be incorporated, we will focus for the remainder of the lesson on the religious ritual
music of the Sufis.In particular we will examine the music of the Chisti order of
Sufism.We will conclude by seeing how Sufi music has been affected by our changing
world by looking at the musical contributions of the great qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali
Khan.

INTRODUCTION
A Sufi Dancer

In this lesson we turn our focus to West Asia, an area frequently referred to as the
Middle East. Within this culture we are going to focus on the musical practices of a small
religious sect of Muslims, known as Sufis. The Sufis are the mystics of Islam.
The only religious music that belongs to the entire Muslim faith is performed in the
recitation of the Qur'an and in the call to prayer. But the Sufi sect of Islam has a rich
musical tradition at the center of their religious practices. In this lesson we will explore
how Sufis take local musical practices, adapt them, and use them in their rituals as a
way of bringing members closer to their God.
LOCATION

As we begin our exploration of Sufism, we locate ourselves in the general region of West
Asia (including Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as the generally labeled "Middle East"
countries), where Sufism is centered. But not all people who live in the region are
Muslim and not all Islamic countries are in West Asia - in other words, there are Muslim
cultures and Sufi orders in other areas of the world - so we will focus our study more on
the religious culture associated with Islam than any particular location. For the purpose
of our case study we will be examining the Sufis of Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern
India. The order of the Sufi sect of Islam that we will be studying had their origins in a
small town called Chisht (which is about order of the Sufi sect of Islam that we will be
studying had their origins in a small town called Chisht, 95 miles east of Herat in
present-day western Afghanistan), then spread eastward into the area that is now
Pakistan.
HISTORY

Islam translates as 'submission' and derives from a word meaning 'peace.' Islam is the
fastest growing religion in the world. It is a monotheistic faith, that is, they believe in
one god, whom they refer to as 'Allah,' the Arabic name for God. The religion was
founded by the prophet Muhammad, who was born in Mecca (in present-day Saudi
Arabia) in 570 CE. At age 40 Muhammad received his first revelation from God through
the angel Gabriel. According to Muslims, the revelation continued for 23 years and was
transcribed later into what is now known as the Qur'an. Muhammad and his followers
were persecuted in the years that followed his first revelation. So in 622 CE he fled to
Medina ("the city of the prophet"); this marked the beginning of the Islamic religious
calendar. After several years he returned to Mecca, where he forgave his enemies and
established Islam. Muhammad died at age 63. At that time most of the region was
Muslim, and within a century of his death Islam had spread to Spain in the West and as
far east as China. Muslims believe that Mohammed was the last in a series of prophets,
beginning with Adam, and including Noah, Moses, and Jesus.
The first Sufis were wandering itinerant saints (they wore suf--wool--and were thus
distinguished by the simplicity of their dress). Some people believe that the rise of

Sufism was influenced by Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, when Muslims came into
contact with those religions and cultures. The Chishti order, which we will be examining
in this lesson, is the oldest order of Sufism, founded by Abu Ishaq Shami ("the Syrian")
in the 10th century. By the 11th century there were several recognized brotherhoods,
who lived in monasteries. And by the 12th century the various Sufi orders were founded
and given recognized names. The Chishti order was followed by the founding of the
Suhrawardi order in India and the Mevlevi order in Turkey. Other Sufi orders arose in
Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and India in the centuries that followed.
THE CULTURE TODAY

Past meets the Present

The sacred text of Islam is the Qur'an or Koran, which contains the revelations of Allah
to Muhammad. The Qur'an is believed to be a direct dictation from God and is thus
considered authoritative. It has not changed at all since it was first written down by
scribes during Muhammad's lifetime.
Muslims traditionally worship in a mosque. The framework of the Muslim life is what is
known as the Five Pillars of Islam. Muslims are required to follow the five pillars, which
are:
1. Declaration of Faith (Shahada) a simple formula that all faithful must
pronounce. "There is no god except Allah and Mohammed is the prophet of
god"
2. Prayer (Salah) = the obligatory prayers performed five times a day: dawn,
noon, mid-afternoon, dusk, and evening
3. Fasting during the month of Ramadan (Sawm) = fasting, which is done from
sunrise to sundown during the month of Ramadan (the month during which
Mohammad had his revelations), is for the purpose of self-purification
4. Alms-giving (Zakat) = based on the Islamic belief that all things belong to
God
5. Pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca - the importance of Mecca is that it is the home of
the Ka'ba, which Muslims believe was the original site of a sanctuary
established by Abraham (also of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Old
Testament) over 4,000 years ago, commanded by God. They believe that God
commanded all mankind to visit this place.The annual Hajj begins in the
twelfth month of the Islamic year.

There are two major sects of Islam: Sunni (which are the vast majority of Muslims) and
Shi'a (which make up approximately 15%). In addition there is a small sect known as
Sufism. Sufis make up less than 1% of all Muslims. Sufi religious practices are very
different from the two main sects. (There are, in fact, some Muslims who do not

acknowledge Sufis as Muslims.)The Sufis are involved deeply with music as a spiritual
discipline, though, so they are perhaps of greatest interest to ethnomusicologists.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Practicing a traditional song

In West Asia, there is a great deal of similarity between cultural regions. This is due in
large part to two major factors: the spread of Islam, and the spread of ancient doctrine
about music. Thus when we talk about the music, art, and architecture of this area, we
see an international style based on Islamic aesthetics.
There are general characteristics that apply to much of the music of West Asia. For
example, the two textures we tend to find in West Asian traditional music are
monophony (in the case of solo music) and heterophony (in the case of ensemble
music). The singing style tends to be tense sounding with a harsh throaty tone. The
vocal sound is highly ornamented but uses no vibrato. Men sing high in their range, and
women sing low in their range. Instrumental styles imitate the vocal style.
Improvisation is centrally important but is used within a strict framework. In other
words the overall form is predetermined, but details are determined by the improviser.
Melodic organization in West and South Asia music is based on a complex system of
modes. These are called maqam in Arabic countries, dastgah in Iran, makam in Turkey,
and raga in India. Their music includes more than just the half and whole steps we are
accustomed to in Western music.They also have quartertones, three quartertones, and
five quartertones. Quite different from Western culture, in Islamic culture amateur
musicians have higher status than professionals. This is due to the fact that amateurs
have the freedom to improvise at will. Professional musicians, on the other hand must
perform according to the demand of an employer. Therefore they are not highly
regarded. Consequently many musicians in Islamic countries are non-Muslims (who
stand outside the social system and thus don't count) and are mostly specialists who
acquire their skill through heredity rather than by vocation.

MUSIC AND THE CULTURE

A Formal Performance

There is no direct proscription against music in the Qur'an, but some types of music are
discouraged. In particular, devout Muslims believe that some types of music more than
others encourage licentious behavior. In Iran they have two different terms for what we
would consider music: khandan (to recite') and musiqi (music'). Not all music from this
region fits neatly into these two categories; instead we should look at music in the
Islamic world as a continuum with khandan at one end and musiqi at the other end. We
can place musical examples along this continuum based on their musical characteristics.

For example, Khandan is characterized by sacred texts, improvisation, non-metric

rhythms, and vocal solos, while musiqi is characterized by secular texts or instrumental
ensemble music in composed forms with a strong sense of meter.

Khandan
Sacred text
Improvisation
Non-metric rhythms
Vocal
Solo
Performed by men
Ex. Qur'anic recitation

Two classifications of music

Musiqi
Secular
Composed
Metric
Instrumental
Ensemble
Women also perform
Ex. Belly dance music

ROLES OF MUSIC IN RITUAL

A Gathering

In almost every culture music is used in rituals to transform ordinary experience. Why
is this? Think about how music catches your attention. When music plays or someone
sings something rather than speaks it, people tend to take notice. Because singing, and
music more generally, stands out as separate from everyday speech, it has been adopted
into many rituals to separate the extraordinary experience from the ordinary experience.
There are several types of ritual that are found cross-culturally, including religious
rituals (for worship or meditation), calendric rituals (marking the times of the year), and
rituals marking rites of passage. In our case study we are focusing on religious ritual.
Most religious rituals or worship services can be described as formal events that are
performed in specific contexts at specific times. Religious rituals usually follow a certain
set order, often highlighted by music, and serve as a link between an individual's
experience and a broader community. While ritual may be performed by one person
alone, most often it is performed by a community of people who have assembled for a
shared purpose of worship, meditation, communicating with their god, or achieving a
transcendent experience.
Often familiar musical instruments or musical genres or styles provide points of
connection to secular life. For example, in many cultures classical or folk instruments
are incorporated into religious rituals. When instrumentation remains the same for long
periods of time, this may be perceived as representing a sense of tradition, and when
new instruments are introduced, they often signify change and an interest in linking the
ritual to the broader community in a contemporary context.

QUR'ANIC RECITATION
A page from the Qur'an

In this case study we will be focusing on the Chishti order of Sufism in West Asia.
Because Sufism is a sect of Islam, part of the religious practice of the Sufis follows the
same religious practice as the rest of Muslims - in particular, the recitation of the
Qur'an, which is a regular part of worship for all practicing Muslims.
Qur'anic recitation is the touchstone for all other music and art in the Islamic world. The
Qur'an is always chanted aloud, and proper recitation is characterized by clear
enunciation of the classical Arabic language. There are typically breaks between phrases
to allow the meaning of the words to "soak in." In traditional recitation, the melodic line
is usually very melismatic, ornamented, and conjunct in its melodic contour. One thing
that is important to note is that reciters do not use the same melody each time they
recite a given part of the Qur'an. In fact, they are not allowed to do so because melodic
repetition would draw attention away from the words; fixed melodies are too typical of
"music," which is not permitted in Islamic worship. Thus we can never talk about "form"
in recitation. Within the tradition of Qur'anic recitation, there is a complex set of
principles that guide proper recitation of the Qur'an known as tajwid. It takes years of
study to memorize the Qur'an and master tajwid (the two go hand in hand). Tajwid
teaches performance aspects such as the proper declamation and sound of the words,
dealing with rhythm, duration of syllables, correct pronunciation, articulation, and
fitting each phrase into a single breath. Furthermore reciters following tajwid must
master the modal systems (primarily maqam) enough to be able to choose a mode that
suits the text and be able to improvise melodic figures based on that mode.
It should be noted that modern recitation is often more straightforward, simple and
diatonic so more people can be involved without having to specialize in its
performance.
LISTENING EXERCISE

The listening example on this page is from Surah (chapter) 36 of the Qur'an, known as
"Ya Sin." In this excerpt you will hear the first 10 verses out of 83 verses total. Listen for
the following things: The rhythm is non-metric. The pitch level starts out low, then
gradually rises to higher notes. The timbre of voice is nasal and tense, and you can hear
guttural sounds that stem from the language. The reciter dwells on consonants such as
m and n.This is not typical of the Arabic language in general, but is one of the stylized
requirements of tajwid.

THE SAMA

Sufis twirling

While all Muslims recite the Qur'an, Sufis have a significant added dimension of music
in their spiritual life. Generally stated, Sufis want to experience their god in this life and
undergo the discipline to do so. They see music as another way of knowing and being
close to God. Sufis believe that the inner self is transformed through hearing religious
poetry set to music, and they try to achieve altered states of consciousness through
chanting, dancing, or other performances of music. Thus many Muslim musicians are
Sufis.
The religious ceremony held by many Sufis is called a sama or sema (hearing'). While
the purpose is always the same, the form of the ceremonies differs greatly from one
order to the next. It can be held at regular times or for special events and can be
attended by women as well as men. (Women, however, do not usually participate in the
trance aspect of the ceremony.) There are several things, however, that many Sufi
ceremonies have in common. The sama or sema is usually led by a sheik, who is the
spiritual leader of the ceremony. The ceremony also usually begins and ends with
recitation of the Qur'an, and usually involves music, dance, and other ritualistic
activities, including zikr ("remembering"), which is an act of devotion either chanted
aloud or recited mentally.
QAWWALI

From Generation to Generation

As mentioned above, the Chishti Order of Sufis originated in Afghanistan, then spread
to Pakistan and North India. Members of the Chishti order usually practice their sama
in shrine rooms (often at the tomb of a saint). Their ceremony itself is lead by a sheik,
but the music is lead by the qawwals.
The music of the Chishti sama is called qawwali and is lead by musicians called
qawwals. The sound of qawwali we hear today was developed in late 13th-century India.
Because of this, there are some Indian influences in the music as well as West Asian
ones. (For example, the music is based on the Indian raga modal system as opposed to
the Arabic maqam modal system.)
Qawwals are male professional performers from a hereditary caste. They sing in groups
or parties of eight or nine men, including a lead singer, one or two secondary singers,
and a chorus, and are accompanied by a portable bellows-blown keyboard known as a
harmonium and a set of drums known as tabla.

Qawwals sing mystic poetry about Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, and Sufi saints. They
also sing what are called ghazals, songs that sound secular (on topics of love, separation,
union, intoxication, etc.) but are actually metaphors for religious devotion. Their texts
are usually in Urdu (the language of Pakistan), Punjabi (Punjab) or Hindi (India). The
poetic form of many ghazals is a series of couplets (two-line phrases), each of which
expresses a self-contained idea. (Secular ghazals are also sung in the Indian tradition as
well.)
Qawwals try to elicit specific responses from their audience members, not only to make
money as part of their profession, but also because they too are Muslims and what they
do is important to them. The types of responses they seek include:

The devotee feels moved to declare his appreciation to the sheik for being
part of the ceremony (usually by making a money offering)
Kaif (delight'): a particular line speaks to someone usually a person sways,
shakes their head, and/or cries out
Hal: a state of ecstasy; a trance state in which the person goes to the middle
of the floor and turns/twirls

The lead qawwal usually knows to target his performance to particular audience
members. When he sees that part of the text is having an effect, he will intensify that
line by repeating it and intensifying it rhythmically.
Qawwali songs usually last 15-30 minutes, though there are instances of longer songs.
The songs usually begin with an instrumental introduction played on harmonium,
followed by a section of vocalizing, sung in free rhythm (called an alap), which
establishes the mode (called the raga). This is followed by an introductory verse, also
sung in free rhythm. These introductory sections are usually performed by the lead
singer in alternation with the secondary singers and are accompanied by the
harmonium. The introductory verse is usually drawn from a different but thematicallyrelated song. The main song follows and is marked by a strong sense of beat, driven by
the drums as well as clapping by the party of singers who also sing the refrain. Each
song usually has a refrain that returns several times throughout the piece. The song,
which from beginning to end builds in intensity as well as vocal pyrotechnics, can be
broken down into two sections:
1. Asthai, which is sung in the lower register - the piece begins and ends in this
(like a home base)
2. Anatara, which is sung in the higher register
LISTENING EXERCISE

A Traditional Singer

Our example of qawwali is "Allah Hoo," which was composed by the Sabri Brothers (see
below) in 1978. The words "Allah hoo," which you hear repeated throughout the song,
are part of a traditional Sufi chant (zikr). The version you hear here is by Nusrat Fateh
Ali Khan, whom we will be learning more about in the next section.
The following is a listening guide to help you navigate the musical example:

00:17 Begins with instrumental introduction (harmonium and tabla) with

hand-clapping
01:30 Alap (vocalise sung in free rhythm by lead singer and secondary
singers)
02:45 Introductory verse sung in free rhythm by lead singer and secondary
singers
05:21 Main song follows ("Allah Hoo", accompanied by harmonium, tabla and
hand clapping (the asthai section)
07:17 Rise in vocal range, leading into the anatara section (alternating lead
vocalists)
07:59 Return of "Allah Hoo" phrase, which leads into long section performed
by lead singer, Nusrat, followed by other singers (alternating solos)
10:34 Sargam improvisation
11:10 Return of "Allah Hoo" again alternating with vocal solos
11:30 Vocal pyrotechnics - imitative section between Nusrat (singing sargam)
and other singer (vocalizing)
13:04 Return of "Allah Hoo" asthai
16:00 Song ends

MUSIC IN A CHANGING WORLD

The Sabri Brothers

The tradition of qawwali, as we know it, dates back to the 13th century, and it
experienced very few major changes until the 20th century. But the second half of
the 20th century saw radical changes in the sound, behavior and conception of
the qawwali musical tradition. The first qawwals to travel to the West to perform
qawwali were the Sabri Brothers. In 1975 they performed to a sold-out crowd at
New York's Carnegie Hall, and for many years they were regarded as the foremost
living performers of Qawwali.
The sound of the Sabri Brothers is traditional qawwali and follows the description
of sound above, but with their international tours both the behavior and
conception of qawwali changed. On their international tours, qawwals perform in
concert halls as opposed to shrine rooms, and performances last the typical
length of a Western-style concert. Audiences might include some Sufis but more
often include non-Sufi Muslims and more generally West and South Asians, and

a large portion of the audience is often Westerners. Audience members familiar

with the music often get up to dance, and some do give money to the qawwals,
but it is unlikely that audience members will experience hal. The conception of
qawwali is also obviously quite different. Rather than being performed for the
purpose of worship and experiencing God, qawwals go on tour to share their
music and culture - and many see these performances as a way of sharing their
faith.
Qawwali ensembles continue to tour internationally, performing qawwali in its
traditional form, but there have been some qawwals who have experimented with
the sound of qawwali and taken it to a larger audience. The most famous of these
was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

SCENARIO: NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, or Nusrat for short, was perhaps the most famous qawwal
of all time. He has been called "Shahen-shah-e-qawwali" which translates as "the
brightest star of qawwali." He was born in 1948 in the city of Lyallpur (now called
Faisalabad) in Pakistan into a family of qawwals (as is typical of the profession);
both his father and uncle were qawwals. Nusrat's father did not want him to
become a qawwal - he wanted Nusrat to become a doctor or something in a more
"respectable" profession - but Nusrat demonstrated such ability that he
convinced his father that he too should pursue qawwali. He gave his first public
performance as a leader of the qawwali party at the age of 17. Over the years he
perfected his performance of qawwali and quickly rose to the top of his
profession.
Nusrat contributed significantly to the evolution of modern qawwali. His
improvisations were often much more complex than most other performers. But
perhaps his most significant contribution was popularizing the use of sargam as
an integral part of qawwali. Sargam is the technique of improvising, singing the
names of the notes rather than lyrics. (Just as we use the solfege syllables do-remi-fa-sol-la-ti-do, Indians use the syllables sa-re-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni-sa.) Sargam
is sung in other Indian musical genres, such as khayal in North India and kriti in
South India, but it was not frequently used in qawwali until Nusrat incorporated
it.

Nusrat was one of the first qawwals to perform for Western audiences, but his
international fame skyrocketed during the 1990s when he began working with
several leading Western mainstream artists, including Eddie Vedder and Peter
Gabriel, on soundtracks to major films, such as Dead Man Walking and The Last
Temptation of Christ.
It is Nusrat's work with Peter Gabriel that had the greatest impact on Nusrat's
international fame. Nusrat released five albums of traditional qawwali and

several albums of more experimental fusion (with other genres, such as techno)
on Peter Gabriel's Real World label. Along with this he performed multiple times
at the international WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance) festival
established by Gabriel. Meanwhile, in his home region, he performed songs for
several Pakistani films and a few Bollywood (Indian) films.
We can hear the variety of sounds Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan produced in his music
by examining "Dam Mast Qalandar," one of the songs he was most famous for.
In this video you can see a traditional performance of qawwali; though the setting
is not traditional - it was performed as a concert at the University of Washington
- the sound is traditional. You can hear the Punjabi folksong accompanied by
harmonium and marked by the traditional tabla drums and clapping.
We can contrast this performance with his rendition of it, recorded as "Mustt
Mustt" on the Real World record label. In this version you will hear a pronounced
electronic slap bass technique with synthesizer in place of the harmonium, tabla,
and handclapping. The vocal refrain is also lower in register than in the
traditional version. Overall the sound of this track is more laid back, but Nusrat's
skill as a singer still intensifies the piece as the song progresses.
2

Sadly, Nusrat died in London in 1997 (while en route to the United States). His
body was returned to Pakistan, where his funeral was attended by thousands of
people. But he inspired a whole new generation of qawwals who continue to share
their musical tradition with others and together they represent the changing
world in which Sufis are situated.
ANGLO-AMERICAN DIASPORA

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Objectives
Steps to Completion
Read the lesson on the Anglo-American Diaspora
Take the Lesson Quiz

In this lesson we will explore the Anglo-American ballad tradition. We will locate the
Anglo-American ballad in history as well as in the British and American cultures.After
studying the musical characteristics of ballads, we will examine the general concept of
music and memory and the roles that music can play in the preservation of memory.In
our case study of the Anglo-American ballads, we will differentiate between the
broadside ballads and traditional ballads, including the Child ballads.We will conclude
by seeing how the Anglo-American ballad tradition has been affected by our changing
world by looking at the folk music revival and the musical contributions of folksinger
Pete Seeger.

INTRODUCTION
Don McLean performing "American Pie"

We turn in this lesson to a culture a little bit "closer to home." In fact, the heritage of
this musical tradition overlaps with our culture in the United States. But the music we
are studying in this lesson has not been a part of "mainstream culture" for years.
Instead it is a part of our cultural memory - it hearkens back to a time before television
and even before radio, to a time when people had to sing to entertain themselves. In
many ways it is the music of a bygone era. The particular type of song that we are going
to examine, known as the ballad, not only preserves this cultural memory simply by
being from that time, but it also invokes the past through the lyrical content of the
songs. Traditionally, ballads commemorate important events and memorable
individuals. Often the characters are fictional, but the stories are ones that could easily
have happened. Thus we learn about and, to a certain extent, experience a different
time when we hear the stories transmitted in the songs. In this lesson we will explore
the long history and musical tradition of the Anglo-American ballad to see the different
ways in which music can preserve memory.
LOCATION

As we try to locate ourselves in this lesson, we find we are looking at two different areas:
the historically English-speaking area of Great Britain, namely England and the
Lowlands of Scotland (the "Anglo-" part of "Anglo-American") and the eastern part of
the United States (the "-American" part of "Anglo-American").These are the regions
where the English-language ballads were performed.
The ballads originally flourished in Great Britain, and are still remembered by some, but
since the 17th and 18th centuries many English and Scots left these areas and migrated to
North America, in particular the United States.They settled initially along the east coast
of the United States, though many eventually moved westward.But the area where the
Anglo-American ballads mainly flourished until recent years were in the mountainous
regions of the eastern United States, including the Allegheny mountains, the
Appalachians, and the Ozarks.The people in these mountain regions were very isolated,
thus allowing them to preserve music and traditions that were abandoned many years
ago by the mainstream culture.
HISTORY

The regions we know as England and Scotland have been inhabited since prehistoric
times. But we will fast forward and begin our history here at the dawn of the English
language in the British Isles.The historical-linguistic groups that influenced the modern
English language were the Germanic-speaking Angles and the Saxons, who entered the

British Isles around the 5th century C.E.Their languages came together to form what we
call Old English.This language was influenced by the Norman Conquest of England in
the 11th century and evolved into what is now called Middle English.The language
continued to evolve, blending in Anglo-Norman, Latin, and Greek, and by the
Elizabethan period (the latter half of the 16th century), Modern English had been fairly
well established throughout all of England and parts of Lowland Scotland.Another
language/dialect directly related to English is Scots, which is also spoken in Lowland
Scotland.It is still a matter of debate whether Scots is its own language, descended from
Middle English and closely related to English, or if it is merely a dialect of English.
England and Scotland are two separate nations within the country of Great Britain, and
originally they were two separate countries.Although for centuries the rulers of England
also wanted to rule Scotland as well, it was not until 1603, when James VI of Scotland,
an Anglophile, became James I of England, that the two countries were united under
one ruler.A century later, in 1707, the parliaments of the two kingdoms were officially
united in the Treaty of Union that created the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
During the same time that King James was uniting the kingdoms of Britain, explorers
were discovering a new world across the ocean.The first two major settlements in what
much later was to become the United States of America were the Jamestown settlement
in Virginia and the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts .These settlements were just
the beginning of the influx of people that were to migrate to America from England and
Scotland in the centuries to follow.While immigrants to America included many
different countries and cultures, the majority of the original American colonists were
English-speaking people from England and Scotland.Thus English became the official
language of the United States. And, along with their language, the English-speaking
people of Great Britain also brought their music and culture.

THE CULTURE TODAY

Acoustic Guitar

As Americans, we just need to look around us to see what the mainstream culture is in
our country today. But the mainstream is not all there is to see. Many Americans today
only know the world they see through the media in other words, our picture of
ourselves as a country is painted by what we see on television and in the movies. Many
people describe our country as "the melting pot" (though many people take exception to
that term) and view our culture as fairly homogeneous. But America is made up of so
many different culture groups, many of whom have retained aspects of their culture,
that when we probe beneath the surface of mainstream culture, we find many amazing
cultural traditions.

While many different cultures stand out in America today, including Latino, ChineseAmerican, African-American, to name just a few, the Anglo-American one gets little
consideration. This is, of course, because English-speaking immigrants established the
United States and became synonymous with mainstream American culture. But there
are pockets of people in the United States who retain certain aspects of their more
specifically Anglo-American heritage. This number is quickly diminishing, and in fact,
may be nearly extinct. One of the primary things they have carried with them to the
present day is their music. Again, their music became one of the primary influences on
mainstream music, particularly country music, but the two are not synonymous. In
some regions of the mountains of the eastern United States there are still at least a few
old-time fiddlers and balladeers who know songs that were brought over to this country
two centuries ago.
I have been describing the culture of America here, but the description fits almost
identically in Britain. Mainstream British culture has dominated in their media as well,
but again, there are people and places that retain the musical "folk culture." One thing
that surprises many people, though, is that, in many ways, more of the early "folk
culture" of Britain was retained in the United States than in Britain. In fact, there have
been British scholars who have come to the United States in recent years to conduct
research on musical traditions that died out many years ago in the United Kingdom but
were retained in the United States.

ROLES OF MUSIC IN MEMORY

Music inside the Head

We have been alluding to Anglo-American musical traditions, but we have not yet really
seen what is meant by Anglo-American music, and more specifically, Anglo-American
ballads.
Ballads, by definition, are narrative songs that are traditionally sung in the third
person. In other words they tell stories about other people. The overall simplicity of the
music allows the listener to focus on the lyrics, or words of the song. The form of these
songs is usually strophic. Strophic, as we learned in Lesson 2, refers to songs in which
the same melody is repeated over and over again, each time with a different verse of
text. This form allows people to use the music to help them remember the lyrics. At the
same time the music is redundant enough not to distract the listener from focusing on
the text. (In other words, if the music were more complex and interesting, the listener
would more likely focus on the melody than on the text.)
Traditionally ballads are performed monophonically. But there are performers of
ballads who prefer to accompany themselves, usually with a very simple harmonic
accompaniment on guitar, banjo, or accordion, in which case the texture is homophonic.

Ballads are usually analyzed by musicologists according to what are known as the
Medieval modes. The Medieval modes, which include Dorian, Phrygian, Mixolydian,
Lydian, Aeolian, and Locrian, were used, as it implies in the term, during the Medieval
period in Western music.
While folk songs, such as ballads, were not composed with these modes specifically in
mind, in most cases, the modes come in quite handy in trying to describe the collection
of pitches used in a given song.
The rhythm and meter of ballads vary greatly from version to version. Sometimes the
songs that accompany the ballads are strongly metric, even dance-like. In fact, in some
places people actually do dance to ballads (as we will see below). On the other hand,
sometimes ballads are extremely slow and sung in free rhythm, which means that you
cannot detect a beat or pulse (in other words you cannot tap your foot), allowing the text
to dictate the ebb and flow of the music. The traditional performing style for ballads is a
deadpan style; no matter how emotional the story, the singer shows little to no emotion
as they relate the story.

HOW MUSIC IS TIED TO THE CULTURE

Lee and Berzilla Wallin-Photo by John Cohen

Ballads, as we have described, tell a story. (Note: Folk ballads are not to be confused
with the "power ballads" of the 1980s, which really are not ballads at all.) Ballads are
sung to entertain as well as to help people remember and learn. They were very popular
before the advent of the mass media. Imagine a time (and/or place) when there was no
radio or stereo to listen to and no television to watch. People entertained themselves by
singing songs, telling stories, and dancing. Ballads were perfect for these occasions.
Ballad variations resulted from their place in oral tradition. People would hear songs
and, if they liked them, would learn them to perform for others. For some people it
would only require one or two times hearing the song and they would have them
memorized. But this is also where the variations became a factor. Because there is no
authoritative version, people would change text (names, places, times, etc.) and
melodies either to suit their preferences or simply because they could not remember (or
understand) every word from when they heard it performed. Thus one variation would
lead to another and another. But throughout the different versions the cultural memory
preserves the original story.
MUSIC AND MEMORY

We have been talking about music and memory as a central theme in the ballad
tradition. But what exactly is the connection between music and the preservation of
memory?

When it comes to preserving and evoking memories, music can be very powerful. Some
music and songs we intentionally commit to memory, while some music we just "pick
up" subconsciously. But most of us find we have songs that we associate with certain
times in our lives, or certain places or persons.
Music, however, does not just help us reminisce. Music can be a very effective tool,
aiding memory in several different ways, including the following:

Influencing and Reenacting memories: Music influences the way we

remember things and allows us to reenact memories of the past. For years
music therapists have benefited from the ability of music to retrieve
seemingly lost memory in patients who have suffered both long term and
short term memory loss. This leads music therapists to believe that music
memory might function differently than other types of memory, such as
linguistic and personal recollection.
Commemoration: Music commemorates significant people and events in our
lives and in history. It has the ability to create an air of great solemnity, if it is
appropriate to the occasion. Music also has the ability to express great
emotions such as sadness and grief. Thus it is typically used in occasions
such as funerals and candlelight ceremonies or vigils that observe significant
(and often sad or terrible) events, such as deaths or violent acts, such as
murders or assassinations. Popular examples of music used for
commemoration are "Taps" and "Amazing Grace.
Preservation of information: Music aids memorization of facts (people, places
and events) as well as text (stories). Music functions very well as a mnemonic
device. Many people find it easier to remember words and ideas when they
are set to music. Music has served as a tool for teaching and memorizing for
generations. Most children of the English language learned the alphabet to
"The Alphabet Song. There are also songs taught to children to help them
learn their numbers, days of the week, the fifty States, the books of the Bible,
etc. It is in this same way that music helps ballad singers remember long,
complex stories.

TRADITIONAL BALLADS

School children singing

There are two major types of ballads: the broadside ballads and the traditional
ballads. We will look at broadside ballads shortly, but let's start with the
traditional ballad.
Traditional ballads are true folk songs, that is, no one knows who wrote them.
There are so many variants of them that it is impossible to determine a more
"genuine" version from a less genuine one. They are all equally valid. Traditional
ballads were popular throughout the British Isles and were brought by European
immigrants to the U.S. They have survived into the present century in many
variations both in Europe and the diaspora.

During the late 19th and 20th centuries, scholars collected and classified the most
popular traditional ballads. Perhaps the most significant compilation of
traditional ballads was collected by Francis James Child. Child gathered detailed
descriptions and accounts of 305 ballads and published them in his anthology
entitled The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882). The ballads found in
this collection are now commonly referred to as the "Child Ballads." They were
organized according to story, and each story was assigned a number. It is
important to note that music was not a factor in his classification system. There
are many cases in which the stories are the same, but there are many different
tunes that accompany the story. (We will see shortly how different the music can
sound for the same Child ballad.) Child ballads were and still are found in
Scotland, England, and wherever emigrants of these nations have traveled.

EXAMPLE: THE TWO SISTERS

Two Sisters

This ballad is known by many names, including "Twa sisters," "The Cruel sister,"
"Binnorie," "The Old Man in the North Country. Its roots are in Scandinavian folk
culture, but its popularity as a ballad was centered first in England and Scotland,
then in the United States. It was popular in these locations until very recently.
There are two major variations of this story. The first part is always roughly the
same. There are two sisters, one is courted by a man (sometimes she is married
with children) and the other sister is jealous of her. The two sisters go for a walk
one day along river or lake, and the jealous sister pushes her sister into the water
and drowns her. Often the drowning sister pleads for her life, but to no avail. She
is drowned and her body drifts away. This is where the story varies based upon
where and by whom it is performed.
In the typical English version the sister's body is found by a miller who steals her
ring then pushes her body back in the river. The ballad usually ends as the miller
and the jealous sister are punished for their crimes. This version of the ballad is
also most often found in the United States.
In the Scottish version the body is discovered by an instrument maker who uses
part of her body (usually her hair) to build an instrument (usually a violin or a
harp). When he plays the instrument, it sings and tells the story of the woman
who was drowned - a very supernatural concept.
In order to understand why there are these two different endings (and, more
generally, why there are often so many different versions of ballads) we have to
understand the emotional core of ballads. The emotional core is what the singer
feels is the important message of the song and therefore remembers. In the
transmission of a ballad, the stanzas that are closest to the "emotional core" will
be remembered while the stanzas farthest from the "emotional core" will be
forgotten. Ballads often served to teach and set examples of morality as well as
entertain, so balladeers took the stories seriously. Thus if two people see two

different "emotional cores" in the same ballad, then the ballad will consequently
develop in two completely different ways.
In English culture and in the United States ballad singers have chosen to focus on
the punitive element. They believed that the most important message that a
listener could take from the story is the enforcement of moral actions through the
punishment of those who violate them. It has been suggested that the English
version was popular in U.S. due in large part to the puritanical religious beliefs of
the early settlers.
In the Scottish version the singer focuses on the supernatural element. Belief in
the supernatural things like fairies, second sight, and ghosts is quite common
throughout Scotland. Thus a fascination with someone revealing their own
murder when their hair is made into a musical instrument would seem perfectly
in line with the emotional core of a Scottish singer. This version has been popular
mostly in Scotland but it has not migrated with the people. Although many
Scots migrated to America, they dispensed with superstition and interest in the
supernatural when they entered the "rational" industrial culture of the United
States.
LISTENING EXERCISE

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Betsy Whyte, "The Twa Sisters"

Horton Barker, "The Two Sisters"

Betsy Whyte, "The Twa Sisters"

Now that we know the story, let's look at the different types of melodies that accompany
the story. As we learned about the general characteristics of ballads, they can be in free
rhythm or they can be strongly metric. Our first listening example is performed by Betsy
Whyte, a traveller (similar to a gypsy) from northeast Scotland. It is performed a
cappella (A cappella refers to music performed by voices alone, unaccompanied.)in a
very slow duple meter. In fact the tempo is so slow she seems to be singing the ballad
with little regard to meter at all (so it almost sounds like it is in free rhythm). She
alternates the text of the ballad with the refrains: "Hey O! an' so bonnie O" and "And the
Swan Swam So Bonnie O" (or "Binnorie O"). This version, typical of the Scottish
versions, ends with her hair being used to make fiddle strings.
1

The Twa Sisters Lyrics

Horton Barker, "The Two Sisters"

Our second example, performed by Horton Barker of Virginia, is completely different in
sound from the first listening example. In fact, if you didn't know the story was the
same, you would probably assume that these two listening examples have nothing to do
with each other. As we learned before, many ballads were sung to accompany dancing in
the United States. In our second listening example we can hear an example of this ballad
sung in a way that would likely accompany dance. Dance-like versions of "The Two
Sisters" were actually quite popular in America, which is a bit surprising considering
that the music does not reflect the morbid text at all.
Like Betsy Whyte's version, this example is also sung a cappella. This example, however,
is in compound meter. The refrains used in this example are "Bow and balance to me"
and "And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me." Note that the first refrain
includes dance steps (bow and balance), thus indicating that this ballad was used to
accompany dancing. This version, typical of the English and American versions, focuses
on the punishment for the crime at the end of the ballad.

BROADSIDE BALLADS
American Flag in the JFK Library

We have examined traditional ballads in some depth now, so let's contrast them with
broadside ballads. Broadside ballads were originally published on large sheets of paper
called broadsides or broadsheets. The broadsides usually included only the lyrics. The
music was usually not published with the lyrics; instead people were given the
instructions to sing the ballad to the tune of "_____." The tunes used for broadsides
were usually popular folksongs that most people already knew.
Broadside ballads were usually topical in nature. They dealt with the issues of the day.
Because they were so specific in nature, they have not been passed down in the same
way as the traditional ballads.

EXAMPLE: THE STAR-SPANGLED

BANNER
Perhaps the best-known example of a broadside ballad is "The Star-Spangled Banner.
We have examined the music of "The Star-Spangled Banner," but we did not look at the
history of the music. Now that we know what broadside ballads are and that "The Star-

Spangled Banner" was originally a broadside ballad, we can better understand the
origins of this now-famous broadside ballad.
The melody of "The Star-Spangled Banner" is attributed to John Stafford Smith (17501836).It was first published in England circa 1780 with the lyrics "To Anacreon in
Heav'n." It was composed for the Anacreontic Society, which was a gentlemen's club of
amateur musicians in London, named in honor of the Greek poet Anacreon.
1

To Anacreon in Heav'n Lyrics

As you can hear in the musical example, "To Anacreon in Heav'n" audio clip the original
song had a more relaxed "folky" feel to it. For example, the lilting sound of the triple
meter is much more obvious in this version of "To Anacreon in Heav'n" than in "The
Star-Spangled Banner."
The melody was popular in the American colonies and circulated with numerous
broadside ballads, especially during the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key's lyrics circulated
as a broadside, written "to be sung to the melody of 'To Anacreon in Heav'n,'" then were
later published in a Baltimore newspaper on Sept. 20, 1814. We all know the first verse,
but there were actually four verses published.
When you try the second through fourth verses, you can get a sense of how a person
reading a broadside would put the verses to music they know. You can also see the
timeliness of this broadside in the lyrics.
The Star-Spangled Banner Lyrics

MUSIC IN A CHANGING WORLD

Old Jukebox

Earlier in this lesson I asked you to imagine a time (and/or place) when there was no
recorded music to listen to and no television to watch, a time when people entertained
themselves by singing songs, telling stories, and dancing. This was the context in which
the ballads originally flourished. But the world has changed since that time. It's unusual
to find households in Britain and the United States that don't have radios, stereos, and
television sets. With the advent of the mass-media the ballad tradition suffered a near
fatal blow. The ballads we have been discussing in this unit would thus have been mostly
lost by now had it not been for two factors: the efforts of folksong collectors and the
great folk music revival.

In our study of traditional ballads we learned how Francis James Child collected and
cataloged the traditional ballads sung in England, Scotland, and America. He was not,
however, the only collector to record folksongs in these regions; many other collectors in
the 19th and 20th centuries published collections of folksongs, including Cecil Sharp and
Lucy Broadwood in Britain and Charles Seeger and John and Alan Lomax in the U.S.
Although many of the songs may have died out in oral tradition, they have been
preserved in manuscripts.
These recorded versions in books and audio recordings would likely be the only source
of knowledge for these ballads and other folk songs had it not been for the folk music
revival of the mid- to late twentieth century. The American folk music revival, rather
than being a source of interest to scholars, was motivated by and for the common
people. It was, in essence, a short-lived response by American youth to the conditions of
life in America after the Second World War. In contrast to traditional folk music, this
folk music flourished in urban rather than rural areas, with its central location being
Greenwich Village. Advanced by and promoted through the mass media, including
radio, television, and the phonograph, which substituted "aural" transmission for "oral"
transmission, the folk revival rode the wave of the rising "do-it-yourself" trend. During
this time traditional folk singers became famous, while folk revival singers searched for
old folksongs and presented them in a traditional manner.
Inspired by the folk revival in the United States, the British folk revival arose in the late
1950s with the efforts of several folk enthusiasts. With the general rising tide of interest
in folk music throughout the 1960s in Britain, the revival built both in intensity as well
as scope in the folk clubs and pubs of the major cities.
Although folk music had experienced a small revival in the late 1940s and early 1950s,
most scholars date the beginning of the big folk music revival to 1958, initiated by The
Kingston Trio. The end date of the revival is more contested; some scholars believe the
"great boom" of the revival ended in 1965, when Bob Dylan appeared on stage with an
electric guitar. Others believe that the revival gradually dissipated as its impact and
contributions disappeared and as the merging of folk and rock shrank the popular folk
music market.
But the impact of the folk revival was far reaching. It demonstrated the power of music
in social activism, going hand in hand with the Civil Rights movement and the anti-war
protests of the 1960s. It also influenced a new generation of musicians, who were
exposed to a wide range of musical forms and styles they would not have heard had it
not been for the revival.
When people hear the term "Folk Music Revival" they often associate it with protest
music.This was not always the way with folk music and was due in large part to the
contributions of folk singers such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Peter, Paul and Mary.It
can be argued, though, that no one contributed more to the evolution of the American
folk music scene than Pete Seeger.

SCENARIO: PETE SEEGER

Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger is known first and foremost as a folk singer and political activist, who played
a major role in the American folk music revival.He was born in New York City in 1919
into one of the most significant families of American music.He is the son of the famous
musicologist Charles Seeger, and his stepmother, Ruth Crawford Seeger, was one of the
most important female composers of the 20th century.His sister, Peggy Seeger, was also a
great collector and performer of folk music, and his brother, Mike Seeger, was a
founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers.
In 1939, after dropping out of college, Seeger moved to Washington, D.C., and worked in
the Archive of American Folk Song in the Library of Congress.While there he made
contact with several legendary American folk musicians, including Huddie Ledbetter
(aka Leadbelly) and Woody Guthrie.In the early 1940s Seeger founded a folk group
called the Almanac Singers with Guthrie.Their recordings included a mix of traditional
folk songs and ballads and newly-written anti-war and leftist songs.After the Almanac
Singers disbanded, Seeger helped to found another folk group, known as The Weavers,
in 1947.The Weavers had several hits songs in the late 1940's and early 1950s, perhaps
the most famous of which was "Good Night Irene," but their performing career came to
an abrupt end when they were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era.
The McCarthy Era drove American folk singers into hiding for the better part of a
decade, as folk art became associated with Communist sympathies.Only a few
folksingers, including Seeger, boldly continued to perform folk songs.Seeger was a selfdeclared socialist and strongly supported the efforts of the American labor movement
since the early 1940s.Due to his political associations, in 1955, Seeger was subpoenaed
to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).After invoking
his First Amendment rights he was indicted for contempt of Congress, and sentenced to
a year in prison (which he never had to serve, because the conviction was overturned
after an appeal).In the late 1950s Seeger launched a solo career and became extremely
influential during the 1960s folk revival.It was during this time (1957 to 1962) that he
released a five-volume collection of American Favorite Ballads with Folkways Records.
In addition to being a great interpreter of traditional folksongs, Seeger was also a great
songwriter.He authored and co-authored many memorable folk songs such as "Where
Have All the Flowers Gone?,""If I Had a Hammer," "We Shall Overcome" (which
became popular during the Civil Rights Movement) "Turn, Turn, Turn" (adapted from
the Book of Ecclesiastes and made famous by The Byrds), and "Little Boxes."
Ballads are now rarely performed a cappella in a traditional setting, but the folk music
revival popularized the ballad to such an extent that many new ballads have been
written since that time.One significant change occurred in the ballad tradition during

the 1960s.In the description of the general characteristics of ballads, I'm sure you'll
recall that it stated that they are written in the third person.Yet, with the composition of
new ballads during folk music revival came the introduction of writing in the first
person.Many of the ballads written at this time were political in nature, and thus were
more a descendent of the broadside ballad than the traditional ballad.
An example of a new style of ballad is "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," written by Seeger
in 1967.This song caused some commotion at the time, when Seeger performed it on
the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a television show on CBS.Managers at CBS were
concerned that the song's strong political connotations would cause a problem,
particularly the lines "knee/waist/neck deep in the Big Muddy, And the big fool says to
push on," which was a metaphor for America's involvement in Vietnam with President
Lyndon B. Johnson in charge ("the big fool"). Seeger's performance was cut from the
show, but after much publicity, Seeger was invited to appear again on the show and sing
the song.
1

Seeger continues to perform occasionally in public, including an appearance with other

members of the Seeger family at the Library of Congress in 2007 and also continues
with his activism, now focusing much of his attention on environmental issues.His
impact on the American music scene has been recognized in recent years with several
"all-star" tribute albums.In 1998 a two-disc tribute album entitled Where Have All the
Flowers Gone: the Songs of Pete Seeger was released, with performances by major
popular recording artists, including Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt,
and Indigo Girls, and legendary folk artists, including Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, Dick
Gaughan, and Odetta.Then in 2006, Bruce Springsteen released an album called We
Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, which contained songs associated with Seeger
and the folksong tradition. Seeger thus serves as a point of connection between the
traditional world of folk songs and ballads and the changing world.
Link to Waist Deep in the Big Muddy Lyrics
CELTIC MUSIC

Page contents

Objectives
Upon completion of this Lesson you will be able to
Steps to Completion
Read the lesson on Celtic Music
Take the Lesson Quiz

In this lesson we will explore the music of the Celtic nations and the Celtic diaspora. We
will locate the Celtic nations to see what unifies them and what makes them unique.
With an understanding of the history of the Celtic people clarified, we will turn to the

music to examine the characteristics of Celtic music, including some of the major
instruments, and how this music fits into Celtic culture. We will then look at the concept
of music and migration, examining types of migration to see how they affect music both
in the homeland and diaspora communities. In our case study of Celtic music we will
study examples of Irish traditional music and see how they reflect the Irish experience of
migration. We will conclude by exploring the role of music in our changing world
through the music of The Chieftains.

INTRODUCTION
Kilkenny, Ireland

In this lesson we will be looking at a group of countries, or more specifically, parts of

countries, known as the Celtic nations. These nations have been grouped together by a
common identity, the "Celtic" one, with a shared sense of history that dates back
centuries. With this shared identity comes a shared music. The music has been one of
the major things that have stayed with the Celtic people wherever they have gone. Now
there are Celtic people all over the world. And it is primarily the music that gives them a
sense of identity and unity even when they are not in their homeland.
In this lesson we will explore the history and some of the rich musical traditions of the
Celtic people through a case study of the Irish. We will frame our study of Irish music
through the lens of migration, a concept that characterizes so much of the Irish
experience. But first let us examine the Celtic culture in general.
LOCATION

As we begin our exploration of Celtic music we must locate the Celtic nations. When
most people hear the word Celtic they think first of Ireland and often second of
Scotland. But there are actually seven different nations that describe themselves as
Celtic: in the British Isles there are Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and the Isle of
Man; in France there is the region known as Brittany; and in Spain there is the region
known as Galicia. As you can see in the map, these nations are located on the outer
edges of Europe. Thus they are commonly referred to as the Celtic Fringe.
As mentioned above, the Celtic nation we will be focusing on for this lesson is Ireland.
The island of Ireland is actually divided between two countries. The majority of the
island is the Republic of Ireland, while a smaller region in the northeast part of the
island, known as Northern Ireland, belongs to Great Britain. Ireland is often referred to
as the Emerald Isle because it is so lush and green, but the terrain is quite diverse,
with untamed mountains in the north and lush green cultivated hills in the south. The
Gaelic speaking region of Ireland is concentrated on the west coast of Ireland, while the

east coast is more populated, with cities such as Dublin and Belfast serving as
metropolitan centers.
HISTORY

Our history of the Celts takes us back to the time period of ancient Greece. The first
information we have about this group of people comes not from the Celts themselves,
but from the Greeks. The word 'Celt' is actually derived from the Greek word keltoi
(Celtae in Latin), which is roughly translated as 'foreigner' or 'enemy.' It is believed that
the Celts were a group of people who appeared in central Europe during the first
millennium BCE. They were known for raiding and plundering, culminating in the
sacking of Rome around 390 BCE and Delphi around 279 BCE. During this time, the
Celts are also said to have spread north and west until they reached the fringes of the
British Isles where they are found today. No one is certain when the Celts actually
entered the British Isles, but when the Roman military surveyed Britain in 55 BCE, most
of Britain was already occupied by Celtic tribes.
The Celts continued to flourish during the Roman occupation of Britain. Celtic culture
was not affected much in the northern area of Britain, but the areas of eastern and
southern Britain, which were most heavily occupied by the Romans, lost most of their
Celtic heritage in the face of the Roman conquest. By the time the Romans left Britain,
the Saxons had already begun their invasion of the island. By the end of the sixth
century, Celtic Britain had fallen to the Anglo-Saxons, with only a few Celtic
descendents remaining in the areas of Wales and northern Scotland.
In Ireland the history of occupation was quite different from Britain. The Romans never
entered Ireland, so early Irish Celtic culture was affected less directly by Roman
influence. After 100 CE, as the Irish came increasingly into contact with the Roman
world, a new Irish culture developed that combined elements of the indigenous people
of Ireland, the Celts of the Continent, and the Romans. At the dawn of the Celtic
historical period, Ireland changed from a country developing along its own traditional
lines in relative isolation to a country open to the outside influences of other
civilizations.
In the eighth century, the Vikings began their raids of Britain and Ireland. Throughout
Britain and Ireland, the raiders plundered monasteries and established themselves in
towns. In Ireland Celtic society continued to exist in rural areas while the AngloNormans resided in the towns. For the most part, this pattern persisted until the
seventeenth century.
Celtic scholars acknowledge that aspects of Celtic culture have survived in various
forms, but they do not define any group of people after circa 700 CE as Celts. Instead,
they distinguish the people who currently live in the Celtic nations as Celtic. Ireland is
generally regarded as the last Celtic nation, with pockets of Celtic-speaking communities

still surviving in Scotland, Wales, and Brittany. The Isle of Man and Cornwall are also
considered part of the Celtic community because people in these areas spoke Celtic
languages within recent memory.
The 1960s and early 1970s marked a high-point for Celtic celebration, politics,
linguistics, and art, in which many organizations, separatist political parties, language
preservation militants, and revival groups were formed. But then during the latter half
of the 1970s, because of the recession, and the 1980s, which were marked by great
financial and political difficulties in the Celtic nations, Celtic enthusiasts struggled to
maintain their ardor and level of commitment to the Celtic cause. The 1990s, however,
witnessed a revival of interest in Celtic music and art, which is perhaps on a larger scale
than any Celtic revival of the past. While this revival has declined a bit on the
international level, within the Celtic nations it is still going strong.

THE CULTURE TODAY

O'Connell St., Dublin

The Celtic nations are now part of modern industrial countries. The people of the
modern-day Celtic Fringe are believed to have inherited a Celtic way of life that
originated in the prehistoric past. But the lifestyle of the modern Celtic people is as
varied as that of Americans. There are some Celtic people who still live relatively
isolated from the rest of the world, in small towns in rural areas of Ireland, Scotland,
and the other Celtic nations. They still continue to carry on a traditional way of life and
propagate the musical and cultural traditions they inherited. But a large number of
people in the modern Celtic nations live very much as we live in America. They embrace
the modern global culture and have very little regard for their Celtic past. They listen to
mainstream Top 40 music rather than traditional music.
We have focused thus far on the Celtic nations themselves, but if we looked only at those
we would be missing a major part of the history of the Celtic people. Migration is a
significant part of Celtic history. Celtic people have migrated all over the world, and
they have taken their culture with them. In fact, some aspects of Celtic culture have
been more appreciated and better preserved outside the Celtic nations (though the
recent revival of Celtic music in the 1990s "leveled the playing field"). There are now
Scottish pipe bands and traditional Irish dancers found all over the world. Thus when
we talk about Celtic music, it is equally valid to include in our description a Celtic fiddler
from New York or California as well as a fiddler from Ireland or Scotland. The Celtic
culture today exists in the people who celebrate their Celtic heritage - it does not matter
where they are located.
Music is one of the main focal points of Celtic culture in today's world. In fact, it is the
primary export of Celtic culture. Traditional Irish crafts and foods have not really
survived in the diaspora, thus it is the music that has continued to create a sense of

continuity with the homeland. (With the exception perhaps of some Irish food and beer
on St. Patrick's Day, music provides the easiest and most pleasant point of access into
the "ethnic group" for those who do not want to become too committed or involved.)
Radio programs have been created that focus on Celtic music, CD/record companies
have created labels dedicated to Celtic music, and Celtic performers sell out large
concert halls with performances such as Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, and Celtic
Women. Celtic music is no longer the soundscape of just the Celtic nations; it can be
heard all around the world now.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Uilleann Pipes, Clarsach, Highland Bagpipes

When we talk about Celtic music, we are talking about different musical traditions of
seven different nations, located in four different countries (Great Britain, Republic of
Ireland, France, and Spain). Yet there is a great deal of similarity in the music of the
different nations. For example, most of the Celtic nations have similar instruments,
though they are built slightly differently and are known by different names, such as the
bagpipe (the uilleann pipes in Ireland, the Highland bagpipes in Scotland, the biniou in
Brittany, and the gaita in Galicia) and the harp (the clairseach or clarsach in Ireland and
Scotland, the telenn in Brittany, and the bray and triple harp in Wales).
Traditional Celtic music tends to be either monophonic (if it is performed solo) or
heterophonic (if it is performed in ensemble). The reason for this is the emphasis
placed on gracenotes, or embellishment or ornamentation of the melody with extra little
notes added here and there. We will learn more about the use of gracenotes later in this
lesson.
Celtic vocal music is traditionally performed a cappella ( A cappella refers to vocal music
that is performed voices alone, or unaccompanied.) There are several practical reasons
for this:
1. The primary emphasis in vocal music is on details of phrasing,
ornamentation, and storytelling, which could be lost when accompanied.
2. The pitch logic is often modal (based on modes that are not easily
harmonized). Thus the imposition of conventional chord changes often works
at cross purposes with the Celtic melodies.
3. Celtic songs are often sung in a free rhythm, or performed with a very free
treatment of any underlying meter.

Many Celtic vocal songs are either strophic or are verse and refrain. If a song has a
refrain it is often a combination of meaningful words and meaningless vocables. When

performing a song with verse and refrain, the singer usually begins the song by singing
the refrain.
HOW MUSIC IS TIED TO THE CULTURE

Street Entertainment, Dublin

Music is an integral part of Celtic culture. Traditionally, music performed a variety of

roles in Celtic culture. These roles include, but are not limited to:
1. Dance music: These songs can be either vocal (often consisting either of silly
lyrics or vocables) or instrumental, as we will see in our case study.
2. Narrative songs: This category includes various types of songs that tell
stories, many of which are ballads (which we have discussed in another
lesson).
3. Labor or Occupational songs: These are songs that accompanied work, for
performing tasks such as rocking a baby to sleep, milking a cow, rowing a
boat, or spinning wool.
4. Panegyric: This category includes eulogies, elegies, and laments.
5. Songs relating to love, matchmaking, night visit, pregnancy, and rejection.

There are also many types of songs "of a general nature" with themes of battles,
emigration, drinking, nature, humor, etc. These songs are difficult to categorize.
The traditional setting for Celtic music is the ceili, or ceilidh. Ceili comes from the
Gaelic "a cheil" meaning "to visit." Traditional ceilis were local gatherings where people
would perform for one another. They are also known as "hooleys" in Ireland. Until
radio and television came into the remote areas of the Celtic nations, people had to find
ways to entertain themselves. This would include drinking, telling stories, singing
songs, and playing instruments. It would also include dancing. During the 18th
century, the term ceili came to be associated with public dances. By the end of the 18th
century public ceilis were very popular. They continued to be popular throughout the
19th century and into the 20th century.
Other venues for traditional Celtic music include the feis (the organized dance
competition), occasions celebrating rites of passage, such as births and deaths, and
wherever people gather. A fairly recent but widespread phenomenon is the Irish
session, which is a gathering usually in a pub or bar (or occasionally a coffee shop in this
country), in which Irish instrumentalists get together to play traditional Celtic music. In
essence, it is a modern day ceili, but it is held in a public place rather than a person's
home. Sessions now serve as one of the primary ways in which Irish music is
disseminated. Celtic festivals are also very popular. These festivals, which celebrate

Celtic music and dance as well as crafts and sometimes sports (in the case of Highland
games) are held all around the world.

MUSIC IN THE HOMELAND

Great Famine Memorial, Dublin

We have been talking about Celtic culture around the world. An unavoidable theme in
any study of the Celtic people is migration. Migration and the reasons for migration
have affected the Irish people to such a great extent, that it is frequently expressed in
their literature, art, and music.
Music is often used to reflect the experience of migration. Whether the migration is
forced (escaping hardships or political conflict) or voluntary (seeking economic
opportunities or employment), people both in the homeland and in the diaspora (the
immigrant community) tend to sing about their experiences. People in the homeland
will express their sadness (and sometimes hope) for the loss of loved ones to other
lands, while those who have migrated will sing of the reasons why they left, and will
express their sadness and homesickness and their hopes for their life in the new land.
The reasons for migration often affect the extent to which people will retain the culture
they have left behind. For example, someone who has migrated for economic
opportunities but plans to return to their homeland will maintain their cultural
traditions, while someone who has left their homeland by force will often abandon their
cultural traditions in favor of the culture of the new land.
With each successive generation the ethnic culture becomes more and more of an
ancestral memory or an exotic tradition to be savored occasionally in a museum or at an
ethnic concert or festival. Thus the cultural identity of descendent generations becomes
a voluntary one. For example, an Irish-American can choose whenever they would like
to express themselves as an American, as an Irish-American, and even to a certain
extent (in some contexts) as an Irishman. They can, for instance, attend a Celtic festival
or concert whenever they want to "feel Irish."
Because music is such a strong marker of identity, people in the diaspora will often turn
to it as a way of connecting to their homeland. Even if the songs do not address the
topic of migration, they preserve cultural memory. Songs are sung by the people who
have emigrated; they then pass the music on to the next generation. When musicians
travel from the homeland to the diaspora they are appreciated for bringing their culture
with them. They serve as a link between the new world and the old.

SONGS OF IRISH MIGRATION

Irish Army Pipe Band

Celtic music is such a rich musical tradition that we cannot possibly hope to describe all
of it in one lesson, so we will focus in this case study on some of the musical genres
found in Ireland. Since our focus concept in this lesson is music and migration, we will
further narrow our study to songs associated with the migration of the Irish people. Of
course, as we mentioned above in the case of migration, any song that reminds someone
of their homeland can at least loosely fit into this category. Thus music such as
traditional Irish dance music fits broadly into this category. When Irish emigrants and
their descendents hear this music, whether it has lyrics about Ireland or simply consists
of dance melodies, it reminds them of their homeland.
We learned in our history of the Celtic people that the early Celtic people migrated from
central Europe to the fringes of Europe. But the migration most commonly associated
with the Irish began in the 18th century and reached its high point in the 19th century.
It was during this time that poverty and famine became such a problem in Ireland that
emigration reached an all-time high.
Between 1846 and 1851 Ireland was hit by The Great Famine, also known as The Irish
Potato Famine. During this brief period of time, the population of Ireland dropped 2025%. It is estimated now that as many as one million people died during the Famine
(due to disease and starvation), and over a million left the country. The majority of
emigration from Ireland was forced migration. People left either because they were
starving or they were forced from their lands by landowners. There were also, however,
some cases of Irishmen who left Ireland simply to seek fortune in America and other
places.
We begin our case study looking at vocal music that directly addresses the migration of
the Irish people to see how this tragic period of history is depicted in music. We will
then look at Irish dance music more generally. As mentioned above, music in the
diaspora need not directly address the migration experience - and no type of music
reaches the Irish diaspora as much as Irish instrumental music.

VOCAL MUSIC
Famine Eviction

We examined the musical characteristics of Celtic vocal music in our study of The
Culture's Music. With a general understanding of how the music sounds and the general
types of Irish songs (outlined according to How music is tied to the Culture), this gives
us leave now to examine the content of the music.
In the repertoire of Irish vocal music, you will find there are songs sung in both Gaelic
and English. While there are some singers in Ireland who still sing in the Gaelic
language, English is the language of the majority of traditional singers in Ireland and

abroad today. Irish traditional songs in English include English-language songs

composed by Irish authors, Gaelic songs translated into English, and English and
Scottish ballads brought to Ireland by soldiers, colonists, and migrant Irish laborers
traveling between England, Scotland, and Ireland.
The vast majority of the songs of Irish migration were English-language songs composed
by Irish authors. They are usually written in the first person and tend to tell a story
about a particular individual's experience, including eviction, loss of loved ones,
homelessness, and sometimes imprisonment for stealing food to survive (perhaps the
most famous example of this is "The Fields of Athenry"). Many of the songs are slow
and lamenting, but there are also examples of songs that take a lighter approach to the
topic of emigration. The latter tend not to be songs from the Famine but rather later
emigration songs that tend to address the difficulty of Irishmen finding work abroad.
(An example of this is "The Rocky Road to Dublin," which we will learn more about later
in this lesson.)
There are also many songs that speak of Ireland metaphorically. The reference is often
fairly obvious, as can be seen, for example, in the line "Never change the green laurel for
the red white and blue" from the folk song "Green Grows the Laurel." These songs often
take the form of love songs, which can be interpreted either simply as love songs or as
songs of devotion to Erin, the "Emerald Isle."
LISTENING EXERCISE

"Dear Old Skibbereen" is a song that tells a story about the forced migration of the Irish.
This song is presented as a conversation between a father and son. The son asks his
father why he left the town of Skibbereen, and the father explains that the Great Famine
destroyed his farm and killed his wife. In a scenario sadly typical during the famine, he
recounts how the landlord and sheriff drove them out by burning their house down. In
the last verse the son vows to return to Skibbereen to avenge the wrongs done to the
people of Skibbereen by the British government during the Famine.
The recording you are listening to here is performed by Mick Maloney. Maloney was
born in County Limerick in southern Ireland. He was a popular performer in the
folksong revival in Dublin in the 1960s, then moved to the United States in the early
1970s. Since his arrival in the U.S., he obtained a Ph.D. in Folklore Studies from the
University of Pennsylvania and has taught Celtic music and Irish studies at several
universities in the States. This recording of "Skibbereen" comes from his album Far
From the Shamrock Shore, a CD that accompanies a book of the same title, subtitled The
Story of Irish American History Through Song (2002).
DANCE MUSIC

Dance scene from Titanic

Most Irish instrumental music was traditionally performed for the purpose of dancing,
though now much of it is performed as its own entertainment (played informally in pubs
and bars and formally in concerts). Because the music was conceived to accompany
dance, it is fairly standardized. It usually is in what is known as binary form. Binary
form means that there are two melodic phrases, each of which are repeated, so that the
letter diagram is AABB (or written musically |: A :|: B :|. Each phrase is 8 measures or
bars long, so when it is all put together the melody is a total of 32 bars.

A page from the Book of Kells

This needs to be standard so that dancers can expect when the melodic phrases will
begin and end and dance in time to the music. Because dance pieces are only 32 bars
long, and a typical dance lasts much longer than that, groups of melodies are often
connected end to end to form medleys.
The melodies themselves are often quite simple. Musically the B section tends to be
higher in melodic range than the A section, to provide contrast. The complexity and
genius in the performance of these melodies, however, comes not from the prescribed
notes, but rather from the ornamentation a player uses when performing the piece. The
musical ornamentation, or gracenotes, is what gives this music its beauty. In many ways
it is like an aural version of the intricate interlacing one sees in Celtic manuscript
illumination. As you can see in this image from the Book of Kells, the actual picture is
quite simple, but the detailed interlacing is what gives the picture its Celtic characteristic
beauty.
The types of ornamentation in Celtic music include:

Cut = this is done by inserting a gracenote of a higher pitch between two

melody notes of the same pitch
Roll = this is done by inserting the upper and lower neighboring gracenotes
between two or three melody notes of the same pitch
Cran = usually associated with the uilleann pipes, this involves inserting
three gracenotes of varying pitch over a low melody note
Triplet = this is done by playing three notes in place of one melody note
(either the same note repeated three times or three ascending or descending
conjunct pitches)
LISTENING EXERCISE

We have learned thus far that the music usually follows the same form, and that the
melodies are fairly simple but are highly ornamented. The major distinctions between

the tunes come, however, from the meter and tempo of the pieces. It is these factors
that determine the tune type. We will look here at two major tune types, one of which,
the jig, is subdivided into several variants.
Jig - The jig has been associated with Ireland since at least the 17th century. It is
characterized as being in compound meter. The basic jig (sometimes called a single jig
or double jig, depending on the predominant rhythmic patterns used) is in 6/8. This
means that there are six short fast counts per measure. Because six can be divided by
two or three, it means that the music can be perceived as "in twos" or "in threes." If you
say the words "broccoli broccoli," you can see how this meter works. The total number
of syllables is six. Each time you say "broccoli" you are counting three syllables, but if
you say the word twice you have two accented syllables. Notice how dance-like the
rhythm sounds!
1
2

Slip-Jig - A slip-jig is a variant of the jig. Rather than being in 6/8, the slip-jig
is in 9/8 - that would be "broccoli broccoli broccoli" - perceived as three
groups of quick threes.
3

Slide - A slide is another variant of the jig, in 12/8 ("broccoli broccoli broccoli
broccoli"). With so many beats in a measure, slides are usually played very
quickly.

Reel - The reel is traditionally associated with Scotland, but it is extremely popular in
Irish music as well. It is a very dance-like tune type in duple meter, with accents on the
first and third beats of each measure.
MUSIC IN A CHANGING WORLD

Barney McKenna of The Dubliners

A new trend began in Ireland in the late 1950s and early 1960s that would plant the
seeds for what was to become the popular Celtic movement of the 1990s. This trend was
being developed on two fronts:
1. the instrumental folk ensemble, developed by composer and arranger Sean O
Riada and propagated by the Chieftains
2. the Irish ballad folk group, inspired by and in the style of American folk
groups such as The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary, and heralded by

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, who sang Irish ballads and songs in
harmony, accompanied by guitar, harmonica and banjo.

These two types of musical groups are now so widely accepted in Celtic music that it is
difficult to imagine a time when they were not a part of the Celtic music scene. But Irish
traditional music had a small following in the 1950s. It was appreciated primarily in
rural areas and by a few traditional musicians in urban areas, but the vast majority of
Irish people had little contact with traditional music.
Instrumental traditional music was also a rare sound in the folk music movement of the
1960s, which was centered on soloists and vocal groups such as Tommy Makem and the
Clancy Brothers. Ensemble music-making already existed in Ireland and Scotland, but
only for the purposes of accompanying dance. The idea of performing instrumental
music in an ensemble merely for listening pleasure was not widely accepted in the Celtic
nations before the 1950s.
Composer and arranger Sean O Riada was the first Irish musician to promote ensemble
music-making, bringing together instruments as diverse as the uilleann pipes, whistle,
fiddle, bodhran, harp, and harpsichord. O Riada had a background as a composer,
harpsichord performer, and educator (at the University of Cork). His primary interest
in forming his group Ceoltoiri Chualann in 1961 was to revive Irish traditional music in
ensemble performance, focusing on "classically" oriented interpretations of Irish music,
including the music of Irish harper and composer Turlough O'Carolan (16701738), as
an alternative to solo performances of folk music on instruments such as the accordion.
Paddy Maloney, Martin Fay, Sean Potts, and Michael Tubridy, the founding members of
the Chieftains, were all originally members of Ceoltoiri Chualann; thus O Riada's legacy
lived on in the Chieftains, who led the way for the Irish traditional music revival.

SCENARIO: THE CHIEFTAINS

The Chieftains

The Chieftains were undoubtedly influenced by O Riada's objectives. The music they
played early in their career was from the ninth, tenth, sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, but their manner of presentation in arranged-ensemble performance and
including piano was not entirely traditional. They feature O'Carolan's music on many of
their albums, and they even dedicated an entire album to legendary music collector and
arranger of traditional Irish music Edward Bunting (1773-1834). The instrumental
music they have played for much of their career consists mostly of jigs and reels, though
they also borrowed airs from oral tradition and arranged them for instruments.
Throughout their careers they have emphasized each melodic instrument (harp, flute,
fiddle, whistle, and uilleann pipes) quite evenly, but the sounds they create with this
blend of instruments and their style of arrangements drift somewhere between folk
music, chamber music, and popular music, depending on the piece and the album.

The Chieftains recorded their first album, simply titled The Chieftains, in 1963, but they
did not receive international recognition until 1975, when they recorded the music for
Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon, receiving an Oscar for the film score. Although
they had traveled as far as the United States before 1975, they played mostly smaller
venues. The attention they received in 1975, however, sparked an international interest
in their music, allowing them to introduce Irish music to people not previously aware of
it. Many reviewers at this time expressed their amazement at the intricate and
remarkable sound of Irish music. At the same time, The Chieftains were one of the first
Irish performing ensembles to encounter tension with traditional music purists.
Maloney, uilleann piper and band spokesman, notes that when they first started playing
together they were afraid of offending the purists, but by 1975 they felt they had a
license to play as they wanted. They tried to keep their musical style traditional in
nature, but already by this point, Maloney expressed his desire to expand the Chieftains'
audience beyond strictly Irish fans. An identity that emerged with the Chieftains at this
time was that of ambassadors for Ireland. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine
in 1980, he explained that one of his goals was to demolish the ethnic stereotypes
associated with Ireland.
"One thing we're all very particular about...is getting away from this false impression of
what Ireland's all about. That's one of the missions I set out on twenty years ago: to get
away from shamrocks and heather.'"
This initial impetus to reach beyond the Irish diaspora and share their music with nonIrish audiences (challenging the ethnic stereotypes associated with the Irish) later
developed into a more organic dialogue with other cultures, which allowed them to
create music cross-culturally. In 1981, on their album Cotton-Eyed Joe, they first
explored the idea of introducing music from other traditions (such as music from the
Isle of Man) into their performance and merging it with Irish traditional music, a
technique that later became a trademark of the Celtic movement. By 1983 they had
established themselves as the leading exponents of traditional Irish music, with
scheduled tours booked for two years, including six months of touring time outside of
Ireland, and invitations to assist pop stars, including Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and
Paul McCartney, in their studio recordings.
In 1985 the Chieftains traveled to China for three weeks, followed by a trip to Australia
and Tasmania. After this tour, they continued to expand their repertoire to include
melodies from other countries (such as France, Spain, China, and the United States). By
1986 they had also begun to include step dancers in their live performances, including
Michael Flatley and Jean Butler, who later starred in Riverdance.
In 1986 they recorded their first album (on the RCA Victor label) with classical flautist
James Galway thus exposing them to the classical market. For the Chieftains, whose
roots were in O Riada's Ceoltoiri Chualann, the connection between traditional and
classical was not difficult to make. The album's success demonstrated to the Chieftains
the benefits of collaborative efforts with other musicians and marked the beginning of a
phase in which they collaborated with famous musicians on practically every album.

Some of their notable collaborations included Irish Heartbeat (1987) with Van
Morrison; Bells of Dublin (1991), a Christmas album that included guest star
appearances by Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Nanci Griffith, and Burgess Meredith
and which became the group's first gold album; and Another Country (1992), a countrystyle album produced in Nashville, with some of the most famous performers of country
music, including Chet Atkins, Bela Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, and
Willie Nelson. (It is not entirely surprising that they associated themselves with
country music and recorded an album in Nashville - as early as 1983 their music was
being compared with bluegrass.) By the early 1990s reviewers observed that the original
goals of the group had changed: They now wanted to find new ways to prove how much
Irish music had in common with other musical traditions.
The Chieftains had been receiving Grammy nominations for many of their albums since
Chieftains 7 in 1978, mostly in the Ethnic Recording category. The Chieftains' bestselling album, however, was The Long Black Veil, recorded on the RCA Victor label
(1995) in collaboration with big names like Sting, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones,
Sinead O'Connor, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Marianne Faithful, Tom Jones, and Ry
Cooder. The Long Black Veil earned a gold album in the U.S. five weeks after its release
and won a Grammy later that year for "Best Pop Vocal Collaboration" (for the song
"Have I Told You Lately That I Love You"). The popularity of The Long Black Veil as
well as the style of performance on the album caused much controversy among
reviewers. The album was not favorably received by the Chieftains' "traditionalist"
followers. They were accused of becoming "an efficient money making machine" by
traditionalists. But these criticisms were countered by rave reviews in popular music
magazines.
1

The musical example here, called The Rocky Road to Dublin," comes from the album
The Long Black Veil. It is a fast-paced, somewhat light-hearted song from the 19th
century that tells a migration story about a man from Tuam, who leaves his family and
hometown to travel to England. You can read in the lyrics that his experiences are
somewhat problematic; Irishmen, often called "Paddies," were often scorned and turned
away in England and America. This song is an example of a slip jig. Though it does
have lyrics, it is often performed instrumentally. In this example it is performed by The
Chieftains with The Rolling Stones.
The Chieftains have been honored internationally for their contribution in music,
including the Irish government's commendation of the title of Ireland's Musical
Ambassador. They have been nominated for and won dozens of music awards
internationally, and in 1991 they were ranked No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers list.
The Chieftains now perform in over 200 concerts per year around the world and have
been successful on every continent except South America. Though they started out
performing for a folk audience at a time when traditional instrumental music was not
popular, through their efforts they built an audience for instrumental music and created
"crossover" appeal that went far beyond the boundaries of the traditional Irish music
scene. Now considered the most famous traditional Irish ensemble, they are frequently

put in the Celtic music category, but they have always described themselves as an Irish
ensemble. Their ideological approach to traditional music was different from most folk
revivalists. They experimented with different sounds and the fusion of different musical
cultures, though perhaps not as radically as later Celtic musicians. They were aware of
and unashamed of promoting their music as a cultural commodity, focusing on sharing
their music with people around the globe. These qualities set them apart from most of
the musicians of the folk revival in the Celtic nations, thus making them the forerunners
of the current Celtic movement.
Rocky Road to Dublin Lyrics
INDIA

Page contents

Objectives
Upon completion of this lesson you will be able to:
Steps to Completion
Read the lesson on India
Take the Lesson Quiz

This lesson will explore the music of India. We will begin by examining its location and
its long and complex history in order to gain an understanding of how different culture
groups helped to shape its cultural heritage. In our section on the culture's music, we
will study the characteristics of Indian music, including the melodic and rhythmic
modes, instruments, and complex theory. We will then turn to the concept of music and
dance to enhance our understanding of dance around the world so that we can better
appreciate the complex nature of dance in India. In our case study of Indian dance
music we will focus on an example of Indian classical dance called bharata natyam. We
will conclude by exploring the role of music in our changing world through bhangra, a
type of folk music associated with the Punjab region.

INTRODUCTION
Traditional Indian Dance

In this lesson we will be encountering one of the oldest and most complex musical
systems in the world. Indian musical traditions are so ancient and so elaborate that we
can only hope to barely scratch the surface of Indian music in this lesson. Because there
are so many different types of Indian music to learn about, we will narrow our focus to
dance traditions of India. As we will see in this lesson, in India the connection between
music and dance is a natural connection to make.

As is the case with many cultures, Indian dance is divided between classical dance and
folk dance. In our lesson we will study an example of each. The primary focus of our
case study is bharata natyam, one of the best-known classical dance traditions in India.
In order to understand this classical dance form from South India we will have to
explore the broader topic of Indian classical theory. For our section on music in our
changing world we head north to Punjab and beyond to learn more about bhangra, a
traditional folk dance that swept the globe in recent years.
LOCATION

India is located on a peninsula in South Asia. Bordering the countries of Pakistan,

China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north, much of Indias border is cut off from
neighboring lands by jungles, deserts, and the Himalayan mountains. India has a
population of over one billion people (one-fifth of the worlds population) in an area less
than half the size of the United States. Hindi is the official language, but there are at
least 20 other major languages spoken throughout the country (most with different
alphabets) and dozens of dialects.
The majority of Indians live in rural regions, though about 30% of the population now
reside in Indias cities, including Delhi, Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), Kolkata
(formerly known as Calcutta), and Chennai (formerly known as Madras).
India has a very hot climate and is characterized by monsoons, which bring strong
winds and heavy rainfall. In fact, the majority of Indias rainfall comes during the
monsoon season, which lasts from June to October. Indian agriculture (which makes up
about 60% of Indias industry) is dependent on monsoon rains, which if they fail can
cause famine or if they are too heavy can cause severe flooding.
India is divided into two regions, North India and the South India. Each area is
characterized by its own languages (Hindi-related languages in the north and Dravidian
in the south) and its own religion (Islam in the north and Hinduism in the south).
Though there are these differences, both regions share a common tradition extending
back to ancient Hindu religious practices. The split came as a result of Islamic conquest
in the north, particularly between c. 1500 and 1707 CE, during the reign of the Moghul
Emperors.
HISTORY

The first civilization in India developed in the Indus Valley in western India around
3300 BCE. Around the 2nd millennium BCE, Aryan people (speaking an IndoEuropean language related to the European languages) migrated from central Asia to
India. This led into the Vedic period, named for the fact that during this time the Vedas,
the oldest sacred texts associated with Hinduism, were composed. These texts served
as the foundations of Hinduism and thus influenced many aspects of Indian culture as it

developed, including music. In fact, it is believed that Indian music has its roots in the
Vedic hymns. The Vedic period ended around the 6th century BCE.
The period between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE is referred to as the Golden Age of
India. During this time the Gupta dynasty ruled, and India had many great
accomplishments in the sciences, mathematics, philosophy, and religion. This period
ended when India was invaded by people from Central Asia. In the 12th century CE the
northern part of India is again invaded, this time by Muslims. By the 16th century came
under the rule of the Mughal Empire and remained under their power for three
centuries.
Beginning in the 16th century traders from several European countries, including Great
Britain and France, arrived in India. In the 17th century Britain began to colonize
India, and by the mid-19th century they declared it the "jewel of their colonies." The
British remained in India until the 20th centuries, though not without challenges from
the Indian people. Perhaps the most significant movement for independence was lead
by Mahatma Gandhi in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1947 India finally gained its
independence from Britain, and in 1950 it became a republic with a new constitution.
At the time of its independence a region in northern India was partitioned off and
established as the Islamic nation state of Pakistan.
Various cultural ideas came with each group who invaded and ruled India; each time the
new ideas (and people) were absorbed, assimilated, and digested, emerging finally in a
new and undeniably Indian synthesis. For example, there are great similarities between
the Indian modal system (called raga) and the West Asian modal system (called maqam
or dastgah). Also, three instruments frequently used in Indian music--the violin, the
clarinet, and the harmonium--are European imports played in a distinctly Indian
manner.

THE CULTURE TODAY

Peers of the river Ghanga

The political system of India is now democratic, based on British parliamentary rule.
Issues the country faces today include problems such as overpopulation, terrorism,
difficulties with social order, and the dangers of the erratic monsoon season to Indian
agriculture. Traditionally Indian society was based on a caste system, but it has now a
growing and prosperous middle class, particularly in urban areas. India continues to
change with the times and have all of the modern conveniences, including computers,
modern railways and airlines, nuclear power plants, subways, skyscrapers, and dance
clubs. But these modern amenities coexist with the old and traditional.

The artsas well as the sciences, philosophy, and religionhave flourished in India
since its earliest history. India's diverse history, with all its different political-cultural
influences, is reflected in the arts. Over the centuries, great kings and dynasties built
thousands of magnificent palaces, temples, towers, and cities.
Traditional Indian literature is dominated by two epics: the Ramayana and
the Mahabharata, both of which were written between 400 BCE and 400 CE, but
existed in oral tradition earlier than that. These epics are the source of many theatrical
and musical performances.
Four of the world's major religions originated in India: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism
and Jainism. Several other religions are now also found in India, including Islam,
Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism. Approximately 80% of the Indian
population is Hindu, while Muslims make up approximately 13% of the population. The
Hindu deities are worshipped in temples across southern India. Hinduism embraces
music and dance as profound expressions of religious devotion.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Rajasthani musicians in Udaipur, Rajasthan

As mentioned above, India is divided into two major regions: North India and South
India. Nowhere perhaps is this divide as strongly evident as in the classical music
traditions of these regions. They share the same early musical tradition, but the
influence of Islam in the north had a strong impact on the music. Thus both North and
South Indian music traditions share many essential features but differ in the
interpretation and use of those features.
The classical musical tradition in North India is called Hindustani music, and in South
India it is called Karnatak (also spelled Karnatik or Carnatic). In the Karnatak tradition,
performers include many high-caste Brahmins (the highest varna or caste) who value
composition and theory alongside a well-developed performance practice. Karnatak
performers believe they preserve the older Hindu traditions. In the Hindustani
tradition, performers are usually lower-caste virtuoso performers, focused more on the
development of their craft than they are on theory. (This is a result of Islamic
influence.)
Central to Indian music is the concept of raga or ragam. A raga, simply stated, is the
Indian modal system, but, like the West Asian maqam, not only is it a collection of
pitches and a scale, it is also a typical order of tones; and each raga is associated with
non-musical ideas, such as a character that musicians agree on, and a typical time of day
and season for performance. In South India there are 72 main ragas, known
as melakarta ragas and many secondary ones, called janya ragas, which are based on
the melakarta ragas. In North India there are around 200 ragas organized according to

ten parent scales called thaats. Both traditions share some ragas, but each has
developed its own repertory. In the Karnatak tradition performers rely on pre-existing
compositions to establish the raga, but treat the melody freely, whereas in the
Hindustani tradition there is more focus on improvisation and the raga provides the
primary structure for improvisation.
The time aspect of Indian music is organized according to tala or talam. Tala is a fixed,
cyclically repeating time span in which beats are arranged in an abstract hierarchy. In
south India there are seven families of talas. In North India there are between seven
and a dozen tala in common practice, though theoretically there are many more.
In both Hindustani and Karnatak music there are always three layers of musical activity:
a melodic soloist, an accompanying drummer, and a drone instrument. If the ensemble
is large, there may be secondary melodic and/or percussion instruments. Vocal music
has been cultivated to a higher degree in the South, though voice figures prominently in
some northern genres.

NDIAN INSTRUMENTS
Venna Player

The Veena or Vina is one of the primary Karnatak melodic instruments. It is

associated with Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of music and the arts. The veena is
related to the more famous sitar, and their basic structures are similar. They both are
lute-shaped instruments with a hollowed-out resonator and a second resonator (made
from a gourd) attached to the other end of the instrument. Both instruments are
constructed with seven primary metal strings; four of these strings are melody strings
and three are drone. And both instruments have very wide fingerboards with frets (like
a guitar). The playing technique is also very similar for both instruments; they are both
plucked with picks that the player wears on his fingers (~ artificial nails). With both
instruments the strings are pulled sideways to bend and produce a subtlety of pitch
(pitch bending is a characteristic in Indian music). The veena is different from the sitar
in that it has no sympathetic strings and that the frets are not raised and movable. Also
it is held across the lap as opposed to being held like a guitar (as the sitar is).

Sitar Player

The Sitar is a primary melody instrument in the Hindustani tradition. It is perhaps the
most famous Indian instrument worldwide, made famous through Western musicians
interest, such as the Beatles. The sitar is different from the veena in two significant
ways: 1) unlike the veena, the sitars frets are raised off fingerboard and are adjustable;
and 2) the sitar has sympathetic strings (tuned with knobs along the side). These strings

are not played but vibrate in sympathy with the melodic strings, and they give sitar its
characteristic sound. The sitar is held similar to a guitar (though more vertical).

Violin

The Violin is used as a secondary instrument in the Karnatak tradition and is

commonly used for accompanying voice. It is not usually played with the veena or sitar.
The instrument itself is the same in construction as the Western violin, but it is not
usually held the same way. Instead it is often played by a person seated cross-legged on
the floor; the instrument is propped between chest and ankle, which allows the fingering
hand to slide up and down the fingerboard.

Venu Player

The Venu is the Karnatak term for their flute. (It is known as the Bansuri in the
Hindustani tradition.) The venu is a transverse (cross-blown) flute, made from one
piece of bamboo. It has finger holes but no keys (like the Western European flute has).
The playing technique for the venu is very complicated and virtuosic. The performer
must be able to bend the pitches to create microtonal steps. He or she does this by
changing their embouchure (shape of the mouth) - this can be done to change the tone
quality as well as the pitch - or by covering only parts of the holes.

Tanpura Player

The Tanpura or Tambura is a lute-shaped chordophone that is usually held upright

on the lap. It usually has four strings, constructed to produce a softer tone and sustain
sound, and no frets. Its function is a drone instrument; it drones two or three pitches
from the raga: the primary pitch and usually a fifth and an octave above that. The player
plucks the strings with the right hand on the neck. They use only one hand to play
there is no need to stop the strings - as they pluck each string in turn repeatedly.

Mridangam Player

The Mridangam is a Karnatak double-headed drum. It is held and played in the

performers lap. One head is smaller than the other head and has a higher pitch, the
larger head has a lower pitch. The smaller head has a spot of vegetable paste in the
center of its head (which looks like a black hard spot); this spot gives the instrument its
trademark sound.

Tablas

The Tabla is a pair of single-headed drums, associated with the Hindustani tradition.
Both drums have a spot of vegetable paste in the center of their heads (which looks like a
black hard spot). The treble drum, called the dahina (meaning right) can be tuned,
and usually is tuned to the tonic or fifth by adjusting the tension of the strings. The bass
drum, called the baya (meaning left) is not precisely tuned, but gives a bass
resonance. Both drums are played with the hands.

HOW MUSIC IS TIED TO THE CULTURE

Dancers at the Navarathri Festival

It is a rare thing in cultural studies that the links between music and a given culture are
so completely outlined in a single text. But this is the case in Indian culture. The
document, known as the Natyasastra, is the oldest document on the performing arts in
the world. The Natyasastra, attributed to a sage named Bharata, is a theoretical treatise
that addresses drama, music, and dance. The exact date of its composition is unknown;
it is believed to have been written sometime between 200 BCE and 200 CE and is
believed to have been based on earlier texts. The Natyasastra is of utmost importance to
Indian classical musicians because it is one of the first major texts that address music at
length, providing detailed descriptions of classical Indian music, instruments, and
music theory. (For example, the concept of musical modes that evoke certain emotions,
which evolved into what are now known as ragas, is described in the Natyasastra.) It is
the ancestor of both the Karnatak and Hindustani traditions.
An important part of the connection between music and culture described in the
Natyasastra is rasa. Rasa is the experience of aesthetic pleasure. According to the
Natyasastra, there are eight principal rasas: love, comedy, pity, anger, heroism, terror,
disgust, and awe. They are achieved through bhavas, or portrayals of emotion through
music or acting.
The information in the Natyasastra forms the backbone of the classical Indian
understanding of music, dance, and drama. People interested in the classical Indian
music tradition usually have at least a basic understanding of these principles. But
classical music in India is similar to classical music in the United States. It is
appreciated only by a small, educated segment of the population. The majority of
people in India today listen to folk, popular, and folk-pop music. The music that reaches
the masses in India today tends to have a combination of traditional and mainstream
international elements. (We will see an example of this in our section on Music in a
Changing World.) While the classical music is now heard in concert settings, the
popular music is heard in dancehalls, in the streets, in festivals, in recordings, and in
films.

DANCE IN INDIA

East India Dance Recital

As we learned in our study of the Natyasastra, music in India goes hand in hand with
dance and drama. They are all performed for the purpose of experiencing rasa. In the
United States we tend to think that dance is intended primarily for the purpose of
entertainment. We either attend performances where dance is performed for our
edification and pleasure, or we take part in dance, often on weekends at parties or clubs,
and sometimes at special occasions, such as weddings.
We have mentioned dance, but we have not yet defined it. Dance, simply defined, is
rhythmic and patterned body movements set to music. But this very loose definition is
just about the only thing that we can find in common in dance practices around the
world. Most cultures have a dance tradition associated with their musical tradition, but
the dances vary greatly from one culture to the next. Some dances are very graceful and
slow, while some are very fast and energetic. Some require great restraint while others
are performed with abandon. Some require great skill and extensive training, while
others are quite simple and thus easily engaged in by the novice. Some dances are
choreographed, that is, they follow specific prescribed movements, while other types of
dances allow greater flexibility for the dancer to improvise their own movement. Some
dance genres depict stories (e.g., ballet), while others are more abstract.
One can dance either to perform for others (including deities, demons and spirits as well
as other people) or to take part in a social experience, that is, for one's own pleasure
with other people. People dance, not merely for entertainment, but for a variety of
reasons, including, but not limited to, religion, courtship, assertion of gender identity,
and ostentatious display (often in courts). And like music itself, dance often reinforces
boundaries between social groups, who view their dance as an emblem of their identity.
As you can see, there are many different factors to consider when analyzing dance. So
far we have been talking in the abstract; this is because it is difficult to describe the
possibilities in much greater depth without the need to engage in specific case studies.
So we will turn now to our case study to better understand the conception of dance in
Indian culture.
BHARATA NATYAM

Vedam Dance

In this case study we are going to examine first a classical, then a folk tradition of Indian
music and dance.

There are eight dance forms that have been given classical dance status by the National
Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama in India: Bharata natyam, Kathak, Kathakali,
Mohiniyattam, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Odissi, and Sattriya. Our case study will focus on
bharata natyam. Bharata Natyam is a classical style of Karnatak dance, danced in
homage to Shiva, the Hindu lord of dance. (In his manifestation known as Nataraja, the
lord of the dance, Shiva is popularly depicted dancing a cosmic dance in a circle of fire
on the small body of a demon who represents ignorance.)
The current manifestation of bharata natyam is derived from some of the oldest and
most popular Indian dance forms. In fact, many of the ancient sculptures in Hindu
temples were based on dance postures. Bharata Natyam represents a synthesis of the
classical arts of India: bhava (emotion or expression) or abhinaya ('the art of
expression'), raga (melodic framework), and tala (rhythm). In fact, some people believe
that the word Bharata is actually an acronym for the three syllables: bha standing for
bhava (emotion), ra for raga, and ta for tala. The name comes from Bharata, the author
of the treatise the Natyasastra, and Natyam comes from the Sanskrit word for drama or
performance. The origins of this dance are actually in the Natyasastra.
In the past in South India, trained dancers were traditionally required at temples for
various religious rituals and ceremonies. This was based on the belief that Hindu deities
were guests in their temples and, as such, were to be offered pleasures such as music
and dance. Kings and courts patronized the temples as well as the traditions associated
with it. Dance in the temples was traditionally performed by devadasis, or "servants of
the gods." These dancers would commit their lives to dance as a form of religious
devotion. They would be dedicated as children to the service of the temple and receive
an intensive training in the art of dance. They were considered "married" to the temple
deity; therefore they were not allowed to marry in the usual sense. Because they lived
outside the traditional role of the Indian woman they were regarded in an unusual way.
While they did not have the "respectability" of most Indian women (devadasis often
became concubines to prominent men), at the same time they were considered good
luck because they could never be widowed. Their presence was therefore desired at all
rites and ceremonies. When the devadasis were invited to the courts to dance, their
purpose and techniques changed. In the temple the devadasi performed sacred dances
for the deity, but in the court she danced for entertainment.
During the time of British rule, bharata natyam, was outlawed because it was believed to
be a dance of seduction. In the early 20th century, however, the growing middle class
took over the patronage and development of bharata natyam. Intellectuals worked to
remove the stigma associated with the performing art and raise its status. Bharata
natyam is no longer performed in temples but rather is performed on stage, and it has
been popularized through television and film. Now women of the middle class may take
up the career in dancing without loss of status. In fact, there are now more middle-class
women (not only Hindu but of other religions as well) dancing than women from the

traditional lineage of performers. There are academic and commercial dance institutes
not only in India, but around the world.
Bharata natyam consists primarily of angular movements conceived spatially along
either straight lines or triangles. It involves very specific eye, neck, head, and hand
movements along with choreographed movements of the arms and feet. One of the
primary characteristics of bharata natyam dance is the use of hand gestures known as
hastas. (Hasta is the Sanskrit word for "hand.") Each hasta has its own specific
meaning. Many hastas are well known. For example, one of the standard hastas is
joining the first three fingers, symbolizing the sacred syllable "Aum." Hastas can be
combined to create new meanings, as can be seen in this video.
There are three main elements of bharata natyam performance:
1. Nritta is an abstract dance that involves pure dance movements to a given
raga and tala. The dancer performs rhythmic patterns that reveal the beauty
of the form through a series of dance units called jathis.
2. Natya or Abhinaya is the art of expression, or the dramatic art of storytelling.
The goal of the dancer is to express emotions through dance. It involves a
combination of hand and body gestures, poses, and mime.
3. Nritya is a combination of nritta and natya or abhinaya. In nritya a dancer
performs to a poem, conveying the poetry through her facial expressions,
hastas, and body movements. The purpose of this dance is to create rasa (or
aesthetic pleasure) in the spectator. The themes for nritya are often taken
from Hindu epics.
LISTENING EXERCISE

This listening exercise is actually a video exercise. Because we are focusing on dance in
this lesson, the importance of our exercise is as much to view the dance as it is to listen
to the music. The music you will hear accompanying bharata natyam in the following
excerpts is Karnatak music. The accompanying ensemble includes the vocals, veena,
flute, violin, and mridangam. The musical ensemble is further accompanied by the
footsteps of the dancer and bells the dancer wears on her ankles.
A typical performance includes several different components, including a traditional
opening prayer to the Hindu deity Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles, and a devotional
song to Lord Shiva. Other components include but are not limited to:

Alaripu ("opening lotus") - This is a nritta dance, which serves as a "warmup" dance. The tala is presented and punctuated by rhythmic syllables sung
by the instrumentalist or dancer. The piece becomes increasingly complex as
it progresses.
Jatiswaram - This is a nritta dance performed to a raga and involving more
complex rhythm and more elaborate footwork than the alaripu.

Shabdam - This is the first story-telling piece of the program. The dancing
incorporates symbolic gestures to convey the text of the poem or song.
Varnam - This is the centerpiece of a bharata natyam performance. This
nritya dance is the longest - it can last up to an hour in length - and most
complex dance of the entire performance. In this piece the dancer tells a
story through hastas and dance gestures.

You can see in these dance videos the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) variations in
musical accompaniment and dance movements. As we have learned, bharata natyam is
a now considered a classical dance form, so the people who tend to watch it and perform
it are educated to notice the subtle differences in raga, tala, and bhava

MUSIC IN A CHANGING WORLD

Bhangra Dancers

While bharata natyam has undergone some change over the centuries, particularly in
regards to the people who perform it and the context in which it is performed, for the
most part, the dance itself has changed comparatively little. So we are going to turn to
another example of Indian dance, called bhangra, which has experienced significant
change since its inception. Unlike bharata natyam, bhangra can be danced as a social
dance, though there is now also a performing tradition that goes with it.
Bhangra originated in the 15th century in Punjab, a region that straddles the border
between India and Pakistan. It was traditionally performed during Vaisakhi, a Punjabi
harvest festival. The word bhangra comes from bhang, the Punjab word for hemp, one
of Punjab's many important crops. Bhangra music is a very energetic, upbeat type of
folk dance music. Historically it is a social dance with typical dance movements,
including raised arms and elevated shoulder and leg movements, but no specific theory
or systematic teaching of dance steps. Bhangra is now danced competitively as well as
socially. Dance competitions, which have been held in the Punjab for years and are now
held throughout the Punjabi/Indian diaspora as well, involve slightly more complex
dance movements, but it is still in essence a folk dance.
Bhangra is, in its original definition, a man's dance. There are dances related to bhangra
that are performed traditionally by women, but these are known by other names (such
as the giddha). Bhangra now, however, is used as a general term that comprises a
number of distinct but related dances of the Punjab region. Each of the dances,
including the Dhamal, Jhummar, and Luddi, which are men's dances, and the Giddha,
Saami, and Kikli, which are women's dances, have their own rhythms and dance
motions. For example, dancers perform the dhamal in a circle, with their arms held
high and shaking their heads and shoulders, while for the luddi the dancers place one
hand behind their heads and one in front of their faces, swaying their heads and arms in
a snake-like manner while dancing around the dhol player. Now bhangra dancing
incorporates all the different dances, and has added, at least in the dance competitions,

acrobatic stunts, such as two-person towers, pyramids, fast spins, and a stunt known as
the peacock, in which one dancer sits on another dancer's shoulders and another dancer
wraps his legs around the dancer's waist and hangs upside down.

THE INSTRUMENTS OF BHANGRA

The traditional musical aspects of bhangra music include singing along with an
instrumental ensemble consisting of traditional Punjabi instruments. The form of
bhangra songs tends to revolve around bolis, which are poetic couplets. The lyrics of
bhangra tend to address the traditional harvest celebration, love and relations, Punjabi
history and cultural pride, and relevant social issues.

The primary instrument that gives bhangra its characteristic sound is a drum called
the dhol. The dhol is a double-headed membranophone measuring around fifteen
inches in diameter. One head plays a lower (bass) frequency and the other plays a
higher (treble) frequency. The dhol has a very crisp sound, due in part to the technique
of beating it with sticks rather than the hand. Because the dhol player moves around
while he plays, the instrument is strapped around his neck to move with him as he
moves.

Dhol

A variety of other drums can also be used in a performance of bhangra. These include
the dholaki, which is like the dhol but smaller and plays a higher-pitched syncopated
rhythm, the damru and dhad, which are small hourglass-shaped drums, the dafli,
which is similar to our tambourine, and the tabla, which sometimes plays an
accompanimental role.
Idiophones are also an important part of bhangra music. They are often incorporated
into the dance. In particular, the supp, which is a type of interconnected clapping
sticks, and the chimti, which is essentially a large set of metal tongs that have metal
disks attached to it, add not only a sonic dimension but also a visual one in bhangra
dancing.

Supp and a Chimti

Several traditional Punjabi and more generally Indian chordophones can be used in
traditional bhangra music. These include several types of single-string folk
chordophones, such as the tumbi and the ektara, and more complex chordophones,
such as the sarangi, which has three strings that are played with a bow and up to 35
sympathetic strings (that is, strings that are not played but vibrate in sympathy).
Aerophones such as thealgoza, a double flute that is sustained by circular breathing
(inhaling through the nose while simultaneously blowing out through the mouth into
instrument), may also be incorporated into a traditional performance of bhangra.

BHANGRA MUSIC

Bhangra dancing remained a folk tradition until the second half of the 20th century.
With Indian independence from Great Britain, the Punjab region experienced a raised
sense of cultural identity. But the evolution of bhangra into the modern style actually
happened around thirty years later and far from South Asia. Following World War II,
Great Britain invited people to come to replenish the depleted work force. Thus many
Punjabi immigrants began settling in Britain during the second half of the 20th century;
with them they brought their musical traditions. It was not the first generation
immigrants but their children who developed the bhangra sound. By the 1980s a new
style of bhangra music and dance had emerged in Britain, which represented the newlyforming British-Asian youth subculture, a subculture proud of their South Asian
heritage. Throughout the remainder of the 1980s and 1990s in Britain, bhangra
increased in popularity and purpose, serving as the focus of a new positive and selfassured sense of identity for South Asians struggling to survive in mainstream British
culture.
Bhangra also evolved in its sound through its incorporation of other musical
instruments and genres. During the 1980s Western drumtracks and synthesizers were
blended with the traditional Punjabi instruments, and the traditional sound was fused
first with disco beats and later hip-hop, house, and even reggae (which artists claim
have blended easily due to the fact that both of them use syncopation).

Around the turn of the millennium bhangra reached a turning point in terms of its
visibility in mainstream culture. International recording labels such as Sony and Island
began signing bhangra artists such as Bally Sagoo and Apache Indian, and BMG bought
Multitone Records, one of the major Bhangra labels. The new millennium has seen the
rise of "post-bhangra," which places more emphasis on inter-dance-genre dialogue. It
has also seen bhangra make a name for itself in North America. In 2001 Missy Elliott
released the bhangra-influenced song "Get Ur Freak On." This was followed by Jay-Z's
cover of Punjabi MC's "Mundian To Bach Ke (Beware of the Boys)" in 2003. These
recordings raised musical interest in bhangra, if not by the entirety of mainstream
culture, at least by American recording artists. Bhangra dance competitions have
become extremely popular among Indian communities on university campuses in North
America as well as Great Britain. Many universities have bhangra dance clubs, who
dance at competitions throughout the country. Because bhangra has been able to
successfully integrate mainstream musical styles while maintaining its unique musical
identity, it has earned credibility and appreciation outside the Punjabi community as
well as within.

SCENARIO: MALKIT SINGH

Malkit Singh with his ensemble Golden Star

With so many great bhangra artists, including but by no means limited to Gurdas Mann,
Daler Mehndi, Jazzy B, Bally Sagoo, Punjabi MC, and Apache Indian, making significant
contributions to this rapidly changing genre, it is difficult to choose one artist to focus
on as emblematic of bhangra. But one of the most significant and experienced bhangra
performers is Malkit Singh.
Malkit Singh is not a British-born Punjabi artist, but was actually born in the village of
Hussainpur in Punjab in 1963. In 1980 he attended Khalsa College, in the city of
Jalandhar in the Punjab. While in college he developed his skills in folk singing and
bhangra dancing. He also competed in and won many song competitions. One of his
collegiate competition awards was marked with a "golden star" pendant, which Malkit
then adopted the name for his band, the Golden Star, which still performs with him
today.
In 1984 he released his first album, Nach Gidhe Wich, which included songs from his
days of collegiate competitions, including "Gurh Nalo Ishq Mitha." The album met with
such commercial success in the Punjabi/Indian diaspora that Malkit and his band
decided to sign with Oriental Star Agencies (OSA), one of the two British bhangra record
labels. This precipitated a move to Great Britain to continue their career. Throughout
the 1980s Malkit released a series of hits, including "Tootak Tootak Thootian (Hey
Jamalo)," which became his trademark song. His international success continued
through the 1990s, releasing albums almost every year, including Midas

Touch and Forever Gold. In 2000 he was listed in the Millennium Edition Guinness
Book of World Records as the biggest selling bhangra artist in the world. His musical
career has continued to build since that time, with further hits, including "Kurri Patole
Wargi" from his album Nach Nach (2000), "Chal Hun" from Midas Touch 2 (2003) and
"Jago Aaya" and "Nachna Aaj Nachna" from his 2005 album 21st Chapter. And in 2002
his song "Jind Mahi" was featured on the soundtrack to the film Bend It Like Beckham,
which brought his music to an even larger audience.
LISTENING EXERCISE

This track comes from Malkit Singh's 2003 album Midas Touch 2. In this recording you
will hear a blend of traditional and modern sounds. Some of the traditional aspects of
the recording include:

Traditional instrumentation, including dhol, dholaki, and tumbi

Shouts by the ensemble ("oye")
Use of syncopation in the drums and shouts
Traditional lyrics that mention traditional Punjab ideas and terms, such as
bhangra and the giddha (the woman's dance described above)
Mention of the composer's name (in this case, Malkit) in the lyrics.

The modern components include the use of synthesizers and electronic manipulations,
though these modern components do not dominate the piece.
1

Malkit has produced more than 20 studio albums, with musical stylings ranging from
traditional and Indian film to rap and house, and has toured in over 25 countries. His
contributions to bhangra music have been recognized internationally, including awards
from the City of Los Angeles (for services to the Indian community), former Indian
Premier Mr. I.K. Gujral, who presented him with a Punjabi Cultural Award for services
to music, and Queen Elizabeth II of England, who awarded him the prestigious MBE for
his services to Bhangra music. While Malkit Singh's contributions to bhangra are not
extraordinary - as mentioned above, he is one of many bhangra artists who have
contributed to the evolution of the genre in past thirty years - he is iconic of the recent
bhangra phenomenon and how the Punjabi musical culture has created a name and a
place for itself in our changing world.
Chal Hun Lyrics