Plattsburgh State - Dr. Drew Waters

Mbira: from the class of lamellaphone, idiophone linguaphone. 22-24 metal keys mounted on a square box, each tuned to a different pitch. Played with the fingers and thumb.

Chuning: sound quality-pitch level, sound projection, quality of tone, and overtones.

Polyphonic: simultaneous occurrence of two or more relatively independent melodies

Name three characteristics of music-culture as seen as an adaptive resource: restoring balance, enacting values and creating self; autonomy (self-governing) within community.

Jali: singular jalolu (syn:griots) plural-specialized sound artisans, musicians counselors to royalty, entertainers for the public and guardians of history.

Shona are primarily agricultural. They raise some cattle, sheep, and chickens. Women may supplement their income by selling pottery and hand-woven baskets that serve primarily as utilitarian objects. Men may work as blacksmiths or carvers by commission.

Traditionally, Shona peoples lived in dispersed settlements, usually consisting of one or more elder men and their extended families. Most decisions were made within the family, although organized political states were recognized as a source of centralized power.

They were headed by a paramount chief who inherited his position and power in the divine manner of a king.

Colonization

Beginning in 1890 and continuing until 1897, Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company (BSAC) colonized the areaand in May of 1895, the area officially became known as Rhodesia.After independence from British colonial rule in 1980, the country took its name from one of the greatest achievements in African history, a distinct part of its past. "Zimbabwe" means stone dwelling and the great collection of huge stone walls and palaces built from twelve hundred to about fourteen-fifty AD became known as "Great Zimbabwe." The fact that the country took its name from a period in its past is important. It stresses the importance of their history and the people who came before them, their ancestors. Naming the country Zimbabwe was also afro-centric in that it emphasized their African past and not their white, colonial past.

The mbira is firmly rooted in African mythology and is thought to have been with the Shona for more than one thousand years. The mbira can be found in much of the historical literature of the Shona. It is mentioned as part of the sixteenth century court of Munhumutapa and as a part of Shona military culture. The mbira is also praised heavily in Shona stories. Some accounts grant players of the mbira invincibility, some praise the mbira for its power to sooth the nerves (i.e., during a fierce storm), and others its power to calm wild animals of the African jungle.

The mbira can be found across Africa with a number of different names, such as sanzhi, likembe, and kalimba, but its construction is always fundamentally the same. The mbira consists of "hand-forged, tuned metal keys bound to a wooden sound-board" called a gwariva.

General Principles of African Music

[Correlations between economic modes of production, social structure, musical practices and style:

Music and the supernatural

Interactions with the dead occur through spirit possession, the spirit medium becomes possessed.

Not everyone who dies can return was a spirit. But if they do return, they select one person to be their medium for the life of that medium.

A Bira is a family-sponsored community event to summon, honor, speak with the spirit.

Good mbira playing and concentrated communal effort are essential for the success of the bira. The mbira playing, and energy are the reasons why the spirit decides to show up. The spirits are attracted by the music they loved when they were alive.

Belongs to the class of instruments called lamellaphones, linguaphone many different types according to arrangement of keys, scales and size.

Considered a highly developed classical instrument of the Shona . (The Shona speak Bantu and live in the SE part of Africa in Zimbabwe.)

Pieces are constructed so that the left thumb alternates with the right thumb and forefinger to play the melody.

the basis ostinato of an mbira piece is made up of a small number of short interlocking segments or phrases that are repeated in sequence. The two hands interlock to create a single melody. As the piece progresses, small variations (including traditional formulas and improvised lines) are introduced. Usually each variation is repeated several times before a new one is introduced. Gradual, subtle change is preferred to dramatic contrast; the latter is the unskilled, impatient player. When two players are present, they play complementary parts that interlock to create a whole. On part is called the kushaura (“to lead”) the other is called kutsinhira (“to follow”). The same structure serves as the basis for chimurenga pieces. Electric guitars and bass split the kushaura ostinato, while the keyboard plays the kutsinhira part. The drummer plays a hosha-like rhythm on high hat and Shona hand-clapping patterns are added. Mapfumo also uses the singing styles mahonyera, huro, and kudeketera. (demonstrate this transposition of style.

Hand-clapping, dancing and vocal melody patterns do not simply repeat, or play in unison, the mbira’s parts. They contrast the mbira’s parts in that they are individual clapping, sung or dance parts that fall in between central beats and pitches, or fill in the spaces. More interlocking.

This ability to add one’s own parts to enrich the whole is valued in this society.

Polyphonic, polyrhythmic character of communal music.

The BaMbuti “Forest People” Pygmies of the Ituri Rainforest

“Forest People” (Pygmies) are nomadic, semi-autonomous hunter-gatherers of equatorial rainforest areas. Communalism is a way of life because survival depends of cooperation. The key values of their society- egalitarianism, consensus, and unity- are reflected in their musical culture.

Performance of music is a non-specialist activity, centered on vocal music (everyone can sing) and involving the whole community.

There are hardly any indigenous “Forest People” (Pygmies) musical instruments. Principle instruments include woodwind instruments such as: whistles, flutes made form cane, trumpet-type instruments.

As well as those instruments that are more percussive and used in a time-keeping roles: rhythm sticks and shakers.

Is the principle style of music, at the core of their culture. (note this for essay, think of comparisons). Many roles in “Forest People” (Pygmies) culture are non-specialized and not gender-specific. But, some of their music rituals are differentiated by gender:

There are two ceremonies of importance, both of which are concerned with resolving crises and returning the band to stability. The molimo ceremony is performed primarily by men and is associated with singing and the use of a particular type of
horn, called the molimo horn. The molimo is particularly associated
with death, but it may be performed at any crisis, such as a poor hunting season.

 The elima ceremony is performed primarily by women and is associated with life-cycle crises of particular concern to

In musical terms, song forms are vaired but follow 3 basic principles encountered in Shona Mbira music: there is an emphasis on ostinato, interlocking parts (using hocket technique in which singers alternate short melodic fragments to create a melody), and call-and-response forms. Yodeling is also used by some pygmie groups.

Listening: within the Mbuti chorus (def: a group of people singing) a dense layered sound is created by the members singing simultaneously.

An individual might begin or lead a song, although throughout the song different individuals may fluctuate between a lead role and supportive role. Voices move in and out of the background. This musical style and practice is a reflection of the specific egalitarian nature of “Forest People” (Pygmies) social and economic life just as ostinato, density and interlocking are consistent with other African societies.

“Forest People” (Pygmies) and their relationship with the Spiritual world

Like the Shona, musical performances involve a communication with the spiritual world. “Forest People” (Pygmies) believe that they cannot completely see, comprehend or give a sungle name to God. They view the forest as a benevolent provider of their lives and livelihood, associating divinity with the forest an entity considered to be living and divine.

They sing to it every night to wake it using the molimo ceremony. This ceremony may last several months.

A long, tubular trumpet, called a molimo as previously mentioned, is used to create the sounds of the forest and answer the men’s singing.

Mande

West African Mande society is characterized by an elaborate social hierarchy in which occupational specialization is determined by heredity. The two main social categories are sula (“ordinary people”: farmers, merchants, etc.) and nyamalo (professional craft specialists) One specialist is the jail, a “wordsmith”- a professional musician/verbal artist who is simultaneously an oral historian, musician, singer-bard and praise singer. The social status of jails is ambiguous; while they are important and valued members of society because of their knowledge of history and power to manipulate words (either in praise or criticism), they are also looked down upon and treated as social outcasts (discuss).

The jail often accompanies his/herself on the kora, a harp-lute with 21 strings (arranged in two parallel rows perpendicular to the skin face of the gourd sound box) and with a range of over three octaves. Kora music consists of four components:

This example is one of the best known kora songs. It literally means “God has done it”

It commemorates the settlement of a quarrel between two brothers over the right to the chieftainship of Fuladu after the father died in the early days of colonial rule. The younger brother usurped the throne and had hios brother punished when he thought his life was threatened. This brought attention to the usurper and the British governor installed the rightful heir. Instead of punishing the younger brother, the new chief asks for an apology, saying that it was God’s deed.

The Ewe of Ghana have a complex political hierarchy with a paramount chief at the apex. Each district functions as an autonomous state with its own chief and system of clans, lineages and age sets. Among the Anlo-Ewe, voluntary dance-drumming clubs, the primary institutions for musical performance, have a hierarchy of their ow: chairman, secretary, dance leaders, drum leaders each with specific roles and duties. These semi-professional ensembles fall midway between the highly specialized jali and non-professional Pygmy.

Anlo-Ewe dance-drumming ensembles typically comprise gankogui (a double bell that plays an ostinato within a twelve-pulse cycle and serves as a point of reference for the ensemble), axatse (gourd shaker) atsimevu and goba (large barrel-shaped drums that serve the function of a chorus, p[laying a limited variety of patterns in a call-and-response fashion with the goba and atsimevu), and kaganu (small drum that plays single and repeated ostinato). The music displays the typical characteristics we have encountered elsewhere: call-and-response, ostinato, interlocking parts, improvised variation based on stock formulaic patterns, and a dense ensemble texture.

General African musical principles and aesthetic values are well represented in this example:call-and-response, ostinato, interlocking parts, improvised variations, and a dense, multi-layered sound.

Buganda

Buganda was formerly a powerful independent kingdom in the Lake Victoria region of East Africa. The court of the King (or Kabaka) was the major center of musical activity. A prestigious ensemble comprising several gourd trumpets, each of which played only one pitch, and a similar-though less prestigious- flute ensemble accompanied by four drums both played in strictly interlocking fashion. The large 22-key akadinda (xylophone) used the same technique. The akadinda keys, set freely on two perpendicular supporting logs, were played by six musicians. Three seated on either side of the instrument. The royal drums, part of the kabaka’s regalia, were a powerful symbol of royal authority. The most important royal ensemble, the entenga, was made up of 12 drums, played by four musicians, carefully graded in size and tuned to the local pentatonic scale, accompanied by three un-tuned drums.

Tuned drums are used by many African societies to “talk” over long distances. HOW? Such drum “languages are possible when the spoken language is tonal (the meaning a word depends on the relative pitches given to its syllables (like what other languages?)). Drums, and other instruments such as lamallaphones, can articulate verbal formulas by imitating tonal patterns. (the rhythms carry, but do not provide the information, it is the pitches) longer messages can be played by drumming the tonal contour of well-known stereotypical verbal formulas.

Important melodic instruments include xylophones, marimbas, musical bows, zithers, horns and flutes that play only one pitch, marimbas (technically lamellaphones, more colloquially “thumb pianos) and the kora.

Urban pop music traditions

Urban pop music traditions have developed in Africa in the last 40 years. Local input mixed with Western elements (brass instruments, electric guitars, basic harmony, etc) and Latin American rhythmis give each style a unique sound.

Highlife – mixes dance band instrumentation with s Cuban-style percussion. Plays North and Latin American genres (swing, sambam Cuban son and calypso give examples of each style from cds, a song each.) mixed with traditional themes and indigenous rhythms. E.T Mensah- key performer.

Palm wine music- played on acoustic guitar accompanied by various percussion instruments, this urban working-class style served as a basis for juju music.

Juju- mixes electric guitars and amplified vocals with a large percussion section that includes sekere (rattle) and an hourglass-shaped talking drum. Pedal steel guitar and synthesizers are recent additions. Combines the traditional function of praise singing the social dance-drumming. Although Western harmonies are used, juju is organized around a series of interlocking ostinato parts (played by guitars and drums) and call-and-response singing. Key performers: Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Ade.

Local likembe (mbira) dance music, accompanied by struck bottles and a drum, mixed with Afro-Cuban music is the basis of Congo-Zaire style. Acoustic and , later, electric guitars replaced the likembe. Organized around guitar ostinatos and improvised solos, a high, sweet singing style, and danceable rhythms, this style has widely influenced other Afro-pop styles. Key performers: Docteur Nico, Kanda Bongo Man, Franco and O.K. Jazz.

Syncretic choral styles (e.g. mbube, bombing, and isicathamiya) developed amid the dismal living conditions of rural African migrants who worked in cities and mines. These genres, which blended Westerns harmonies taught by missionaries with slow Zulu choral music characterized by multiple overlapping ostinatos, have been popularized on an international scale by groups such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In addition to vocal traditions, urban Black south African instrumental genres- such as “township jive” or mbaq’anga-blend electric guitars, bass, and drum kit with accordions, violins and penny whistles.

Zimbabwe

During Zimbabwe’s independence struggle, spirit mediums took on political importance as indigenous sources of authority. This generated interest in Shona ethnicity, religion and music, including mbira playing. New revolutionary songs (chimurenga) were created in the guerrilla camps and sung by urban pop musicians such as Thomas Mapfumo. Although mbira music is the basis of chimurenga, the traditional ostinato patterns are split between electric and bass guitar. A keyboard player adding a second accompanying mbira part is a recent development. The traditional hosha (rattle) sound is often played on high-hat cymbals. Key performers: Thomas Mapfumo, Stella Chiweshe

Nagauta: One of the principle musical forms in kabuki. This sectionalized piece can be used to accompany dance, recount action or set a general mood. Lyric genre of shamisen music. Nagauta music is played by the on stage debayashi ensemble: shamisens, vox and noh hayashi.literally “long song”

Kabuki is primarily dance theatre.

Nagauta means "long song" and its original role within Kabuki was to accompany the dancing.

- kabuki was first performed in 1596 by a female Shinto dancer Okuni of Izumo, on the banks of the Kamo River in Kyoto.

- Performances by females were banned and replaced young males who were replaced by adult males, exclusively since 1652

- The Edo period (1615-1868) a time of peace and prosperity saw the rise of the wealth of the bourgeoisie: their taste for lavish entertainment is reflected in kabuki and bunraku

- Elaborate stage equipment, scenery costumes and props with a reliance on stock character types and gestures

- Kabuki is primarily dance theatre. The dance is essential movement towards a climactic static pose called mie.

1) chobo, borrowed from the bunraku puppet theatre consists of: a shamisen player and a narrator who together advance the plot and relate events to the audience.

2) larger subgroup- debayashi- consists of several shamisens and singers providing musical accompaniment.

o Off stage musicians called geza, sit in a room stage left and provide sound effects. Instruments include o-daikom, shamisen, nohkan, gongs and bells

Nagauta music is played by the on stage debayashi ensemble: shamisens, vox and noh hayashi. This ensemble has 3 main subgroups

Nagauta: loosely: a form of Japanese classical music

Background

The narrative tradition in Japanese music stretches back to the blind biwa players (A type of lute originating in the 13th century, and used to accompany extended narrative.) of the Nara period (7th and 8th centuries).

By the 13th century they were traveling throughout Japan recounting the tales of the battles clans, much in the same way that the troubadours moved within medieval Europe.

The origins of nagauta can be considered an extension of this 13th century biwa tradition.

The 15th century folk narrative form of joururi (A style of narrative with shamisen accompaniment originating in the 15th century that developed into the narrative tradition integral to both Kabuki and puppet plays.) also played a role.

The introduction of the shamisen into Japan (c.1560) was an important development and it eventually became the instrument to make the most significant musical contribution to nagauta and the kabuki theatre.

In early kabuki performances the dances were accompanied by short songs (kouta), but the desire to perform longer more involved dances provoked the need for more extensive music. The organization and linking of these evolved into nagauta.

Literally translated, nagauta means "long song" and its original role within kabuki was to accompany the dancing. However, it also came to serve the purpose of developing or underpinning the narrative of the plot. To this extent it serves a similar role to that of recitative in Baroque opera with the vocal line taken by the debayashi singer/s rather than the actor.

There are some common elements. All are used to support the action on stage and in particular, dance. There will be some element of narration.

All are organized into sections, or dan, and it is the organization of these coupled with their stylistic differences that tend to determine nagauta's classification
There are 5 types of classification within Nagauta:

Noh: (Style of drama developed in the 8th and 9th centuries for the entertainment of the aristocracy)

drawing on the sophisticated structures found within the Noh plays dating from the 14th century.

developed from the tradition of grouping together a series poems set to music. This was popular in the shamisen music of the late 17th century.

is influenced by the narrative gidayuu bushi form of joururi used in the puppet theatre.

growing from the need to provide a more suitable accompaniment for the dancing. The compositional elements of this style tend to underlie all nagauta.

containing an assortment of dan frequently taken from the preceding four types.

The debayashi (Large group of musicians at the rear of the stage) ensemble provides the main accompaniment to a nagauta. However, the hidden geza (Hidden music room stage right) ensemble may also contribute

Shakuhachi: An end blown flute, originally played by masterless samauri, four holes front, 1 back. The shakuhachi is an instrument of simple construction (four holes in front, one in the back) with a myriad of possible sounds and extremely complex technique.

Name one general characteristic of Japanese music: Deep respect of tradition within a creativity and flexibility

biwa: A type of lute originating in the 13th century, and used to accompany extended narrative.

Shamisen: Three stringed banjo like instrument played with a plectrum, of the chordophone classification.

Bunraku

- a golden period occurred around mid-17^th century with the collaboration between the singer Takemoto Gidayu (1651-1714) and the playwright Chikamatsu Monsaemon (1653-1724) together they founded a theatre in Osaka in 1685 (birth year of Bach and Handel)

- each puppet, 2/3 life size, is manipulated by 3 puppeteers, all in black, with the face of the senior puppetter visible to the audience.

- Narration is both sung and spoken by a tayu, accompanied by a single shamisen (as borrowed by the kabuki chobo ensemble)

- The special narrative style, called gidayu-bushi after Takemoto Gidayu, includes chants heightened speech and lyrical songs.

- Bunraku is the name commonly used for ningyo-joruri, literally puppets and storytelling. This simple name not only describes a puppet performance, but also alludes to its predecessors. There was a long tradition of traveling storytellers who used biwa as their accompaniment. There were also traveling puppeteers.

The chief manipulator holds the puppet from the back with his left hand by a special grip in the figure's chest and directs the puppet's right arm with his right hand. The second operator moves the left hand and the third, the legs. As a female doll has no legs as a rule, the third operator moves its skirt in such a way as to create an illusion of moving legs.

The joruri narrator, who tells the story to which the puppets perform, chants, shouts, whispers or sobs the dialogue for all characters appearing in the play.

The shamisen accompanist is no less important an element in the puppet show.

The shamisen provides not only a musical accompaniment to the joruri narration but also an indication, where appropriate, of the sound of rain or wind or other effects to heighten the atmosphere of the scene.

Most of the plays in the bunraku repertoire are classics written in the l8th century. Although about 50 new plays have been presented since World War II, most of them are not likely to be staged again, whereas most of the classics are certain of constant repetition.
One of the styles of Japanese puppet theatre dating from the beginning of the Edo period. The name came to be used as a generic title for all puppet theatre.

joruri : A style of narrative with shamisen accompaniment originating in the 15th century that developed into the narrative tradition integral to both Kabuki and puppet plays. Narrator tells the story to which the puppets perform, chants, shouts, whispers or sobs the dialogue for all characters appearing in the play

Heterophonic texture is most common in this music where 2 or more instruments play essentially the same melody, but slightly different versions.

Kyu means rushing: this section reaches the tempo only to slow before the piece ends.

Hichiriki- short double-reed bamboo oboe with a piercing sound, used in gagaku

Noh Style of drama developed in the 8th and 9th centuries for the entertainment of the aristocracy

General Characteristics of Japanese music. These date from the Edo or Tokugawa period (1600-1867). Deep respect of tradition within a creativity and flexibility.

Pitch

Western music is based on a 12 semi-tone system, divides the octave into 12 parts. A equal-tempered system, means all melodies can be transposed.

Japanese system is not based on an equal-tempered system, but a system that we used to use called the Pythagorian scale (Pythagorous) based on ratios of divisions of the octave. This is why our ears might consider this music out-of-tune although it is not. It may sound unusual because we do not regularly listen to these tuning systems.

Exact pitch distances differ in traditional music depending on the genre, school, the piece performed and the individual performers stylistic interpretation.

There are two important pitch concepts: the pentatonic scale: c-d-e-g-a, or all of the black keys, and the interval of a fourth.

The Japanese aesthetic sense favors the use of a broad range of sounds and tone qualities, especially “unpitched” sounds- those sounds that have such a short wavelength we cannot distinguish a sound. Snap of a string, wood clapping, breathing sounds, metallic sounds. This is direct reflection of Japanese poetry that honors the sounds of wind blowing or water flowing.

Melody/ Harmony

Repetition of melodic fragments repeated in part or in their entirety throughout a piece. Completion of phrases sometimes occurs at the beginning and at the end of a piece, lending an air of finality to the conclusion.

Heterophonic texture is most common in this music where 2 or more instruments play essentially the same melody, but slightly different versions.

Melodically, vocal music contains much ornamentation on single notes (demonstrate on piano)

Rhythm

There is a flexibility of pulse in Japanese music. In western music, there is a regular pulse occurring at regular time intervals (forming “beats”) in arrangements of 2,3,4, or 6 note groupings.

Without this structure, it may be difficult to listen to. But, without this regular structured pulse, Japanese music conveys a powerful expression of feeling. This breathless form of music is used in folk music and shakuhachi music.

If there is an implied beat music in Japanese music, it is organized in groups of 2, 4 or 8 beats.

Tempos, or the speed of the beats ranges from very slow to extremely fast, sometimes within the piece.

The most common musical form in Japanese music is called jo-ha-kyu (with a _ over the u). This form is based on rhythmic rather than melodic changes.

Kyu means rushing: this section reaches the tempo only to slow before the piece ends.

This tripartite structure applies to entire pieces as well as sections within pieces.

Shamisen- three-stringed, long-necked, fretless lute with skin covered sound box. Plucked with a large plectrum

Biwa – pear-shaped lute with four strings and four frets played with a small plectrum

Shakuhachi: end-blown flute with 4 fingerholes, one thumbhole and a notch ion the lip.

Ryuteki: large seven holed horizontal flute of Chinese origin associated with gagaku

Noh Theatre: Style of drama developed during the Muromachi period (1333-1615). It was exclusively the art of the samurai class.

It combines folk dances, musical theatrics and religious courtly entertainment from the medieval times.

Noh is a highly stylized form of dance drama in which the main actor, who is usually masked, dances to the accompaniment of chanting and instrumental music.

Noh drama was perfected in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by Kannami Kiyotsuguand his son Zeami Motokiyo, who refined who refined it into a serious Buddist art.

Noh received a great impetus under the patronage of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (shogun from 1368 to 1394). In the Edo period ( 1603-1868) the Tokugawa shogunate authorized five schools of noh for the entertainment of the samurai class.

The importance of the music is in its intervals between beats. Said to be like the dropping of rain from the eaves.

The division of seven syllables is called "yo," that of five is called "in"; the big drum is called "yo," and the small drum "in."

The seven syllables are the part of the big drum, the five syllables are the part of the small drum -- but if they come in succession it is too regular; so sometimes they reverse and the big drum takes the "in" part and the small drum the "yo."

The head of the chorus naturally controls the musicians. The chorus is called "kimi," or lord, and the "cats," or musicians, are called "subjects." When Minoru acts as head of the chorus, he says he can manage the "cats" by a prolonging or shortening of sounds. The "cats" must conform to him. The chorus is subject to the shite, or chief actor.

[NOTE: The privileges of acting as "cats" and as waki were hereditary privileges of particular families, just as the privilege of acting the chief parts pertained to the members of the five hereditary schools.] Minoru and other actors may know the parts [he means here the musical air] instinctively or by memory; no one has ever written them down. Some actors know only the arias of the few pieces of which they are masters.

Each "cat" of each school has his own traditions. When he begins to learn, he writes down in his note-book a note for each one of the twelve syllables. Each man has his own notation, and he has a more or less complete record to learn from. These details are never told to any one. The ordinary actors and chorus singers do not know them.

In singing, everything depends on the most minute distinction between "in" and "yo."

the band consists of jón þor (jónsi) birgisson (vocals, guitars), kjartan (kjarri) sveinsson (keyboards), orri páll dýrason (drums) and georg (goggi) holm (bass).

Sigur Rós ("Victory Rose”) sigur rós was founded in december 1994 and takes its name from sigurrós, one of the band members' (jón þór birgisson's) sister, who was born shortly before the band was founded. at first the band was called 'victory rose' (the first song they made was called fljúgðu), after the first song was released, they thought it was rather silly, as they've said, to be an icelandic band which sings in icelandic but has an english band name. so "victory rose" became "sigur rós".

they create a huge, remarkable sound considering the basic instruments used. jónsi often uses a cello bow to play his guitar, resulting in an effects-laden, atmospheric, totally unique sound.

his voice is probably the most unique thing about sigur rós: a falsetto somewhere between thom yorke (radiohead) and a choir boy.

the band have released three albums so far: #3 ( ), #2 ágætis byrjun and #1 von (def:hope)

Formed while each of the members were teenagers in early 1994, the trio's first recorded song earned them a deal with Iceland's Bad Taste label. Their recording debut LP, Von (Hope), was released in 1997,

they found their sound on the second album, the masterpiece that is ágætis byrjun (def: a good beginning/start). By the end of 2001 Ágætis Byrjun had won the Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music; it was also declared Iceland's Best Album of the Century.

sigur rós released their third album in october 2002, entitled ( ). the lyricless and titleless album was a 70 minute dark, raw and less accessible follow up to ágætis byrjun (#2) but met favourable reviews. The studio they record in is a converted swimming pool/bar (the oldest [pool in Iceland, 1933) in the Icelandic countryside

The majority of the material was honed on the road prior to being recorded at Alafoss, (or Sundlaugh) the group's studio located outside Reykjavik. The album featured a raw sound in comparison to its predecessors and scaled back the extreme highs and lows that were prominent on Ágætis Byrjun.

Live they are typically accompanied by the amina string quartet, who had recorded ( ) with the band and frequently accompanied them in concert since 1999. concerts are held in churches and alternative settings.

Birgisson simply used babble to come up with a vocal melody — words to come later — and ended up sticking with the babble. On "( )," their third album, they have refined and mastered this technique.

They view their work as very open-ended and open to personal interpretation.

The listener is invited to hear whatever words in the "lyrics" they please, and write them down in the blank booklet (there are no liner notes in () )— or they can dismiss it as stupid. The band sees the validity of both sides.

hopelandic- their own language of long drawn-out syllables this may prove to be a timely resolution to the problem of pop music's language barriers and overly obvious messages. "our lyrics are quite unimportant," [holm] "maybe this is the future."

a patient sense of compositional development. The songs stretch and arc like a film, a story, a slow journey.

The latter half of the () is comprised of moodier songs. Track eight is standout. It and its good sister, track four, masterfully integrate every unique element of Sigur Ros' signature sound.
track 8:

sigur rós was founded in december 1994 and takes its name from sigurrós, one of the band members' (jón þór birgisson's) sister, who was born shortly before the band was founded. at first the band was called 'victory rose' (the first song they made was called fljúgðu), after the first song was released, they thought it was rather silly, as they've said, to be an icelandic band which sings in icelandic but has an english band name. so "victory rose" became "sigur rós".

Bjork Gudmundsdottir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1965, where she grew up in a communal household (though not a hippie commune, she's keen to point out). Music was played 24 hours a day.

"I remember a queue by the record player," she says. "The record would finish and you'd be ready to put another one on."

At the age of five she was enrolled in music school where she studied flute and piano for ten years. Then at the age of eleven she made an album with the help of her mother and friends. A big hit in Iceland, the eponymously titled Bjork featured only one song written by Bjork herself, though she became an Icelandic celebrity on the strength of its success.

"I felt a lot of guilt," she admits. "I promised myself that I would never front anything unless I was the one who did it."

When she was in elementary school in Reykjavik, she studied classical piano and, eventually, her teachers submitted a tape of her singing Tina Charles' "I Love to Love" to Iceland's Radio One. After "I Love to Love" was aired, a record label called Falkkin offered Björk a record contract. At the age of 11, her eponymous first album was released; the record contained covers of several pop songs, including the Beatles' "Fool on the Hill," and boasted artwork from her mother and guitar work from her stepfather. Björk became a hit within Iceland and was not released in any other country.

So at the age of 13 she started forming punk bands. First came Exodus, then Tippi Tikarrass, then K.U.K.L., a band that recorded two albums for the label run by the legendary UK anarchist band, Crass. "When I was a punk there was no such thing as Icelandic music," she says. "We had to invent it."

In 1986-7, Einer Orn, Siggi Baldurson and Bjork formed a new band, called The Sugarcubes, with Thor Eldon, Magga Ornolfsdottir and Bragi Olafsson. From their first single, "Birthday", they were a band with unique qualities, combining a raw post-punk feel with touches of experimental sonority, affecting melodies and Bjork's extraordinary, exultant singing. The Sugarcubes put Icelandic music on the world map.

SOLO CAREER

By 1992, after 4 albums, The Sugarcubes were ready to split. Their last release - a remix project - reflected Bjork's growing involvement in the UK dance scene. Beginning a lengthy professional relationship with Graham Massey, she had recorded with 808 State, singing on two tracks on their EX:EL album. Then Debut, released in July 1993, changed everything. Produced by Nellee Hooper,( with Nellee Hooper, a producer who had formerly worked with Soul II Soul and Massive Attack. ) The first result of their partnership was "Human Behaviour," which was released in June of 1993. "Human Behaviour" became a Top 40 hit in the U.K., setting the stage for the surprising number three debut of the full-length album, Debut. emerging as a leading producer after an apprenticeship in Bristol's vibrantly eclectic hip-hop scene and massive success with Soul II Soul, and featuring the string arranging and tablas of Talvin Singh and brass arrangements by Bjork and Oliver Lake, the album introduced Bjork as one of the most unusual solo artists and distinctive vocalists to appear in years.

"With Debut I was obviously a beginner," Bjork admits. Her producer set up strange recording environments - a beach at night, a cave full of bats - in which she could test her limits. "Nellee Hooper was very supportive in helping me to deal with the world," she says, "the studio, my sense and longing for adventure." Despite the experimentation, more likely because of it, Debut was full of hugely accessible songs such as "Human Behaviour", "Venus As A Boy", "Big Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy", that still rank as favourites. . At the end of the 1993, NME magazine named Debut the album of the year, while she won International Female Solo Artist and Newcomer at the BRIT Awards; Debut went gold in the U.S., and platinum in the U.K.

Since Debut, her work has always followed her heart. Early days in Reykjavik listening to her grandparents' jazz collection, her mother's rock records, her classical music education, the songs, sagas and poetry of Iceland, anarchist punk bands and arguments about art were all carried with her into the musical vibrancy of London's stylistic, ethnic and artistic mix. Debut sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide and was followed in 1993 by Post, an even bigger success that added Graham Massey, Howie B and Tricky to Nellee Hooper's production skills. More big songs emerged from the album, including "Army Of Me", "Isobel", "Hyperballad", "Possibly Maybe", "I Miss You" and "It's So Quiet", a rare cover version that became Bjork's most successful record.

After Post's bigger beats, deeper sub-bass and the cartoonish big band outburst of "It's Oh So Quiet", Homogenic , released in 1997, was more experimental in its contrasting textures, more bold in its intensity and structure. Produced by Bjork with Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth and Howie B, this was a project through which Bjork began to feel more confidence in the breadth of her own ability. "Debut was the first time I talked about arrangements," she says. "Towards the end of Debut I talked about rhythms and towards the end of Post I got braver in that way and produced more. Maybe Homogenic was the first album where I knew how the whole production, the big picture, was going to be before it started. With Debut and Post, sometimes I would have half the song and I would ask someone to complete it, so it was like a duet a collaboration. I guess in Homogenic I started to get a little more bossy." Songs like "Joga", "Bachelorette", "Hunter", "Alarm Call" and "All Is Full Of Love" proved how productive that new independence could be.

In conversation, Bjork speaks often about courage and cowardice, both of which figure large in the moral framework of her creative decisions. Characteristically, she has always pulled back from situations where celebrity or habit threatened to reduce her freedom, or she has expanded into areas of high risk where the potential for learning outweighed the possibility of losing credibility or commercial leverage. Her decision to both act in the starring role and compose the soundtrack for Lars Von Trier's film, Dancer In The Dark, for example, exposed her to vitriolic criticism from some film critics yet earned respect among those who recognised her need to move forward and take on new challenges. Her choice of collaborators over the years - fashion designers Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, photographers Nick Knight, Stephane Sednaoui and Nobuyoshi Araki, video directors Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonz, percussionists Evelyn Glennie and Talvin Singh, remixers Dillinja, Funkstorung, Mika Vainio and Underworld - is a reflection of this desire to work with artists at the cutting edge.

With Vespertine, as ever, she had a sensitive ear for who or what is the hottest noise: the ferociously detailed micro-rhythms of the San Francisco duo Matmos, Matthew Herbert or Thomas Knak contrasting with the fragile acoustic beauty of harp, music box and clavichord. Despite rhythm tracks constructed by teams that defined state of the art beats, this was a collection of overpoweringly emotional songs. "Hidden Place", "Pagan Poetry", and "Cocoon" overflowed with gorgeous melodies and exquisitely inventive arrangements. Immediately recognisable as the creation of Bjork, Vespertine was a distinct progression in her own work, emphatic evidence that she is totally beyond comparison with anybody else in her field.

Late in 1996, Björk released Telegram, an album comprised of radical remixes of the entire Post album in the U.K.; Telegram was released in America in January 1997. Homogenic, her most experimental studio effort to date, followed later that same year and spawned many remix releases in the next few years to follow. In the spring of 2000, she was named Best Actress by jurors at the Cannes Film Festival for her work in Lars von Trier's Palme d'Or-winning Dancer in the Dark. Selmasongs, her score for the film, reunited Björk with her Homogenic collaborator Mark Bell and arrived in the fall of 2000, just in time for Dancer in the Dark's U.S. release. The full-length follow-up Vespertine was released one year later. She released a Greatest Hits collection and the Family Tree box set late in 2002. After performing a few dates in 2003, Bjork geared up for a busy 2004, which included the release of her all-vocals and vocal samples-based album Medulla and a performance of one of its songs, "Oceania", at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Innovator in terms of manipulating technology (and other artists) to shape her art.

Grasps the studio as a tool, stretches her creative edges with every album she produces while redefining new sounds.

Able to keep her artistic integrity intact while maintaining her pop sensibilities.

Exploration of the human voice. How far can sounds produced by the be organized, manipulated, organized, accepted by the listener?

Björk is all about TEXTURES, exploration of sound textures, juxtaposition of those textures within and between songs.

4 bachellorette epic large sounds sound scapes/landscapes. Areflection of where she is from. Her environment

6: five years electronic sounds decaying or breaking down: post modern soundscapes.

Trak 1 army of me Again, grinding, buzzy post modern electronica juxtaposed with her glossy, smooth, compressed, echo chambered voice

Isobel Into 7: studio orchestra sound undermined by djeridoo then accompanied by drum machine. How does she make this work?

The collection and archiving of Icelandic Music

The Icelanders began archiving and collecting their music relatively later than other Nordic countries.

Composer Bjarni Thorsteinsson collected and edited melodies and published them in what is now the primary source for this music: Icelandic Folk Melodies. This was published between 1906 and 1909.

There were problems concerning the notation of this music, like most aural traditions. Traditional western notation is not advanced enough to notate this music. As a result, we are left with imperfectly notated theories of the music. True metric rhythms and microtones suffer the most. Tempo, tone of voice, affectations of the voice cannot be notated, those qualities that were more remarkable than the melodies themselves.

By the end of the 19^th century recording technology was introduced to preserve this dying, ancient artform.

Organist Jón Pólsson was the first Icelander to record the human voices and popular Icelandic folk songs.

Close to 200 of the cylinders were made by these two men and are stored at the National Museum of Iceland.

In the 1950’s tape recording technologies were introduced and used to archive this music by Hallfredur Örn Eiriksson. He recorded speech, singing and chanting of old “rimur.”

Helga Jóhannsdóttir and Jón Samsonarson, a husband-and-wife team were involved in the taping of this music, with Hallfredur, working at the Árni Magnússon Manuscript Institute.

The people of Iceland no longer identify with the true folk music of Iceland. Performance practices dropped off, the tradition was not passed on, introduction of Western instrumentation and composition practices, introduction of modern technology.

Folk songs today in Iceland refer to derivatives of the Central and Western European tradition introduced to Iceland in the 19thC, leading to the composition of now-established folk songs. Icelandic national poems were often set to European melodies. Not uncommon throughout the world. Folk singing these days consists of poems by nationals sung to foreign folk melodies or to melodies by indigenous or foreign composers.

Few Western nations have lost as much of their cultural heritage in such a short time as the Icelanders in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries.

1) The ancient foundation of the culture: medieval forms and ancient traditions still had a strong influence on popular music and its performance. (and with that the forms of communication: aural, non-written: later conflicted (weaker) with introduction of modern communication). Whereas such ancient influences disappeared in other European countries. (Contrast to Japanese music where tradition is valued and maintained in a very modern world)

2) Music did not develop in Iceland as it did in the rest of Europe. To those Icelanders who listened to/appreciated/studied European music and traditions, their folk music was considered chaos.

3) the arrival of Magnús Stephensen’s organ in 1801, the organ of the Reykjavík Cathedral in 1840, and the arrival of reed organs in the churches of Iceland after 1870. The arrival of non-indeginous musical instruments.

Before the arrival of Western instruments into Icelandic churches, people would sing their worship music individually without what we would consider “listening to” others. They would not sing in unison with each other. Multi-heterophony (define: multi-different) many different voices singing the same song. The point for the worshippers was to worship with full intensity. This was eventually replaced with the traditions that most of us might know.

Englabörn opens with a voice reciting “Odi et Amo,” a Latin poem filtered through a vocoder and supported by a trembling cello

Jóhann Jóhannsson is both prolific and eclectic in his artistic endeavors, composing soundtracks, installations, operas and poems, proving that Jóhannsson has already completed a lifetime’s repertoire. He is also part of the art collective Kitchen Motors whose collaborations have resulted in chamber operas, books and radio programs. His compositions for Englabörn are haunting and lovely – contrasting the notoriously violent play the work is meant to accompany.

The music is as mysterious as the composer himself. The leitmotifs (a theme , or other coherent musical idea, clearly defined so as to retain its identity if modified on subsequent appearances, whose purpose is to represent or symbolize a person, object, place, idea, state of mind, supernatural force or any other ingredient in a dramatic work.) are introduced early as simple, skeletal structures that evolve over the disc’s sixteen tracks.

Englabörn is Jóhann ´s first solo album. It is derived from music he wrote for an Icelandic play of the same name. The music was revised and restructured to make it stand as a work on its own and not simply function as a collection of cues. The music is written for string quartet, piano, organ, glockenspiel and percussion. These elements were processed and manipulated, adding delicate electronic backgrounds to the otherwise entirely acoustic recordings. One song, "Odi et Amo", is a setting of Catullus´s famous poem.

"This was a happy accident, I'd written the music and wanted a computerized counter-tenor vocal singing a Latin text and was looking through a collection of Latin poetry when I remembered this poem from college and it did fit the melody perfectly and was also thematically perfect for the play. It´s in the final scene. What I really like about it is the harsh contrast of the computer voice and the strings, the alchemy of total opposites, the sewing machine and umbrella on a dissecting table." "In reality I was thinking of something entirely unrelated to the play most of the time I was writing the music, almost as a distancing technique, to create the total antithesis of what was happening on stage."

"The plays is extremely violent and disturbing and basically when faced with the script I decided to work against it as much as possible and just try to write the most beautiful music I could. That approach seems to have worked, at any rate, the music got really good reviews, the leading drama critic calling it "the most beautiful I´ve heard in Icelandic theatre." I must say I´ve never had such a strong reaction to anything I´ve done before, strangers have actually stopped me in the street and hugged me because of it...! Bizarre.. It is gratifying though, because it´s probably the most personal thing I´ve done, this stuff is very very close to me. I think it´s probably completely devoid of irony (rare for me); I was almost embarrassed to play it to people at first."

Jón Leifs

Jón Leifs was born on May 1st, 1899 (d. 1968) in Iceland. He studied and composed in Germany from 1916 until 1944, returning to Iceland for the remainder of his life.

In the spring of 1926 went with the Hamburg Philharmonic on a concert tour to Norway, the Faeroes and Iceland, thus giving Icelanders a chance to hear a live symphony orchestra for the first time.

In the 1920's Jón Leifs began his studies of Icelandic folk songs,(nationalist composer) and in 1925 to 1928 he collected, and recorded a considerable number of them and published his observations in Icelandic and German periodicals (ethnomusicologist).

Except for brief visits to Iceland, Jón was active as a composer/conductor in Germany until 1944. Upon his return to Iceland, he became an indefatigable organizer, founding the Icelandic League of Composers in 1945, and nine years later, STEF (the Performing Rights Society).

He composed about 70 works and published dozens of papers (scholar/academic) we are listening to geysir. This piece is programmatic in that it is a musical representation of a geyser. It is swelling right now…..building…earth’s core blah blah blah…explosion I’m sure…boiling water all over the villagers…sounds like another..no…scalded survivors packing up and sailing to Greenland or Norway…9 year old kid on boat looks back…sees very soaked village…into sunset…fade to darkness…credits roll

Gafer

Director.

His musical genre is uncategorizable, since he consciously rejected influences from other composers or schools. The basis of his music was the Icelandic folk song, a source from which he found rehabilitative power. The Icelandic "part singing at the fifth" was the source of his harmonic language, as well as the accentuated meters. His music reflects Iceland and its ancient history and, when Jón Leifs was composing, Iceland's struggle for independence from the foreign domination that had oppressed its people since the 13th century.

"The Icelandic heart can be neither understood nor interpreted except [he composes] in connection with the forces of nature, [very much aware of himself, as composer, in his environment] earth and sky, and the rough though bountiful seas that restlessly surge about the land...[Jón Leifs' music is unclassifiable. He]... stands alone amidst an ocean of ideas, somewhere between, or beyond the composer's mainland. He seeks his material from the harsh nature of the historic island that is Iceland”

Part of the uniqueness of Icelandic music is its use of "tvísöngur" -- "twin song," singing in parallel fifths. The basis of this musical form lies in medieval European church music. Also distinctive is the secular music's "rímur" sung ballads, sagas, which use inflections that follow the words in the text. Jón Leifs' "Saga Heroes" is a good example of this.

"Geysir" Op. 51(9.46) (1961) is inspired by the incredible forces of nature which give rise to the power of the Icelandic geysers. Intended to portray the insignificance, weakness, and helplessness of humans as compared to power exerted by a living earth. Leifs was aware of the vulnerability of human beings when confronted by such powerful forces. Written in 1961, it was not premiered until 1984.

Opus 11 Icelandic Folk Dances (12.25) (composed between 1929/31)

Four movements based on melodies given to him by rímur poets, some of the melodies he composed himself. His most widely performed work. In the spirit of rímur, these pieces are simply constructed, with a direct presentation, without embellishment or sentimentality. This piece represents a culmination of his lifelong interest in Icelandic folk music and culture.

Rimur, plural for rima, are a genre of literature peculiar to Iceland. These narrative poems can be traced back to the 14^th Century.

The oldest ríma tells a story about Saint Olaf, King of Norway, dated from 1375.

In rímur, the heritage of skaldic poetry with its heiti and kennings, merged with the narrative forms of the chivalric and romantic poems of the South.

Heiti are synonyms of common words and used only in poetry. Example: jór for hestur (horse) and rekkar for menn (men).

Kennings are poetic devices used by the ancient Norsemen. For example, a skald (Norse bard) could say: "The brave warrior thrust his sword into the cowardly heart of his enemy"

But it would be more poetic to say: "The valiant apple tree of strife thrust his wand of battle into the melting life muscle of his over-bearer"

Micro-tones could not be played on organs and most other instruments.
Players were trained in the Western tradition on Western instruments.

The Music

Most musical performances took place at home, where “rimur” were chanted, hymns were sung and many forms of folk music were performed. Luckily this tradition was not completely dead were archivists began their work.

The poems take precedent over the melody. The melody serves the words, acts as a vehicle, elevating it above everyday speech. As a result, just the preservation of the text does not completely capture the art.

Icelanders have always sung or chanted this way since the settlement. It was not until the late 19^th C that Icelanders began composing melodies for their own sake.

“rimur” melodies are varied and full of interest. Most who chant these “rimur” apply more than one “stemma” or tune, which adds variety. There are many repetitions of the long poems, but there is a sort of hypnotic quality that lies in the cumulative affect of this repetition.(African rhythms)

Poetry performed within a very narrow musical range by unaffected, natural voices that echo an ancient kind of singing. We hear trained voices performing melodic songs; different keys, such as the old liturgical modes and the major/minor key system of the post 17^th century.

To understand the structure of these pieces that don’t parallel our modern notions of form, listen to the “tenor” or main recitation note of each line as well as the final note of each line. These two notes create the formal pattern of the songs, paralleling the patterns that developed under the influence of medieval liturgical song (the Gregorian chant) which lasted until the 16^th Century.

In the 17^th century and thereafter, another form of this music developed built on the major/minor key system. It is possible to refer to music before 1600 as “the older form” and after as the “younger form”

Melodies adapt to the metrical forms of the poetry. Text and melody are interwoven into a unity such that it is difficult to imagine another melody for the poem or another poem for the melody.

Skuli studied acoustic and electric bass in Iceland and attended Berklee College of Music.

After graduating in 1991 he cut a series of CDs for Extreme with the group Mo Boma, whose work reflected world music influences while exploring electronic effects and ambient moods.

Sverrisson composes by expanding on a combination of several cells (short musical moments produced by his electric bass in a variety of ways) , and at other times he creates a structure first and then fits cells into it. The composite becomes a piece of orchestral textures and timbres.

He does a lot of overdubbing but creates all sounds on mainly plucked and EBow'd Curbow basses. He sometimes uses “prepared bass”—objects attached to the electric bass or stiking the ebass — alligator clips ,bells and other metal objects.

Yeah no, Allan Holdsworth, Chris Speed, guitarist Brad Shepik, and drummer Jim Black (playing jazz/west-Asian/ Balkan influenced music), avant-garde performer Laurie Anderson, Pachora, The Commuters, Ben Monder, Icelandic guitarist Hilmer Jensson

"My work is like an audio snapshot of the inner architecture of sound," says Skuli Sverrisson of his CD Seremonie [Extreme], one of the most innovative electric bass offerings you're likely to hear this year. In fact, you may not realize you're hearing electric bass. "I want to squeeze as many sounds out of it as possible," says Skuli, who is inspired by rock and jazz improvisers as well as academics such as John Cage. "When you include all of the harmonics, the electric bass is a wonderfully rich sound source with an incredible range. You can create vibrations by bowing, plucking, feedback, and striking the strings with a variety of objects."

Since his teens the Iceland native has been exploring electric-bass sounds and recording them in small units he calls “cells”, analogous to motion-picture frames. "I started isolating the intriguing bits and creating a library of cells," Skuli says. "It's not so much about manipulating with signal processing as it is isolating what the instrument already does. A cell can be a sustained harmonic, a combination of pitches, or a rhythmic figure."

General Cultural Points

Basic philosophies and beliefs of Hinduism still flourish. Gods are worshipped in temples, homes, ceremonies and religious festivals.

The order of caste- a social clan into which one is born- still play a role in status, professions, politics and marriage, and household customs.

Many musicians belong to castes associated with music in the south: Brahmin, Devadasi, Pillai and many others.

Indian civilization has seen great religious development. Religion and the arts, especially music and dance, have always been inseparable.

The four Vedas and the later Upanishads contain religious and abstract philosophical thought and are filled with the myths of the gods and the goddesses of popular Hinduism. These stories and adventures occur as themes in sermons, storytelling and, importantly, in music and dance.

The Four Vedas, the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. The Vedas are the primary texts of Hinduism. They also had a vast influence on Buddhism and Sikhism. The Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas, was composed about 1500 B.C., and codified about 600 B.C. It is unknown when it was finally committed to writing, but this probably was at some point after 300 B.C.

The Vedas contain hymns, incantations, and rituals from ancient India. Along with the Book of the Dead, the Enuma Elish, the I Ching, and the Avesta, they are among the most ancient religious texts still in existence. Besides their spiritual value, they also give a unique view of everyday life in India four thousand years ago. The Vedas are also the most ancient extensive texts in an Indo-European language, and as such are invaluable in the study of comparative linguistics.

Oral Traditions

Indian classical music is passed on as an oral tradition. This tradition lives primarily in the hands, voices, memory and creative imagination of individual human beings.

In this tradition, the music cannot be frozen in time by being written down or by visual representation. The music lives uniquely every time it is performed.

What We Hear

1) melodic variations of each line (called sangati) only the end of the line is changed and each new variation is repeated once.

2) The accompanying percussion instruments (which mark the 8 beat tala) change between sections( in the pallavi section, a mridangam (double headed barrel-shaped drum used in Karnatak music) is used; in the anupallavi, a kanjira (tambourine-like instrument ) is used; in the caranam, both are combined.

Key Concepts

Layers of Musical Activity

In every concert, each musician has a specific role to play. These roles create musical texture, described as functional layers.

The Melodic Layer

· the principle melodic soloist dominates the ensemble. Back-up musicians support the principle melodic soloist.

· Principle solo melodic instruments include the violin, the bamboo flute and the plucked veena

· The next role would be the melodic accompanist, usually the violin. The violin is used mainly because it is always used to accompany a vocalist and most concerts feature voice.

1. play along on all the songs, following the notes of the soloist instantaneously

The Sruti (shroo-tee) Layer

· The tambura is a four-stringed plucked instrument tuned to the tonal center and a fifth above. The buzzing timbre is created by inserting a small length of thread under each playing string on the top of the bridge. By placing the string on exactly the right nodw, a rich blend of overtones is picked up on each string.

The Percussion Layer

· The double-headed barrel-shaped mridangam (mrih-dun-gum) is the principle accompanying percussion instrument in Carnatic music. The right drumhead is tuned to the the tonal center of the melodic soloist.

· It is played with the palms and fingers of both hands. The player is capable of producing up to 15 distinct sounds on the drum heads.

If the ensemble is large, there may be secondary melodic and/or percussion instruments added

Raga

Pages 210-213 “music of the whole earth”

Melody in Indian classical music is based on the raga (literally, “that which colors the mind”) which like the maqam is an extremely complex expressive territory connected with colors, seasons , the time of day, and moods as well as with purely technical musical elements.

Classical Sanskrit theory divided ragas into families, each with a “father (the dominant male raga) his “wives” (feminine ragas) and “children” (subordinate ragas)

Present-day north Indian music uses a classification in which all ragas are based on 12 that’s or major modes.

2. by a vocabulary of emphasized and deemphasized tones, inflections and characteristic musical phrases

3. by mood or other characteristics such as auspiciousness or supernatural power, sweetness, gravity (some ragas are deep, some are light) and potential (a major raga can be explored for days, a minor raga can be found out in several minutes)

In south India about 350 ragas are in common use, with perhaps about 60 predominating in concert performances and in musical compositions.

Tala

Outline the form as listed on these pages. Use paragraph and chart descriptions.

North and South Indian traditions

Similarities between Karnatak and Hindustani Music

Carnatic music (English spelling) shares many theoretical sources with the north. The Natya Sastra by Bharta, an extensive detailed treatise on theatre, dance and music, dates from between the second century B.C.E and the fifth century B.E.

From the beginning of the 13^th century, scholars began to notice a difference between the classical Hindustani style of the North and the Carnatic style of the South.

Generally, the North style and its instruments –the sitar and tabla- have been more greatly influenced by Persian and other pan-Islamic cultures. In Hindustani music, expansive improvisations move gradually (over and hour or more) from near immobility to sections of great speed and virtuosity.

- The modern style is traced back to an 18^th Century singer-saint, Tyagaraja (1767-1847)

From the 13^th Century on, North Indian came under political, religious and cultural influence of muslim invaders from Persian.

Karnatak Music

-This tradition encompasses Dravidian-speaking Hindu areas of South India (including Tamil areas of Sri Lanka)

-Contemporary repertoire and style developed in Tanjore between the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

- the leading musician, Tyagarajam was neither from a family of professional musicians nor employed by a court (unusual at the time) but was a Brahmin singer-saint whose musical career was a by-product of his life as a devotee of the deity Rama. His compositions, and those of his contemporaries Syama Sastri and Muttuswami Dikshita, still form a significant part of the repertoire of modern performers. Today, Karnatak music is patronized by the urban elite particularly of Madras.

Instrumentalists play vocal tunes and try to maintain the articulation determined by the pronunciation of words in the original text. The most common Karnatak instruments are

There are five different types of improvisation used in Karnatak music. The first two are in free rhythm, the others are accompanied by the mridangam and/or secondary percussion which mark the metric cycle.

- Both niraval and svarkalpana are sectioned by returns to the composed line, the beginning of a line must be caught with extreme precision at the correcy place (eduppu) in the rhythmic cycle.

Typical Karnatak Recital

Karnatak recitals include several items starting with simple, pre-composed pieces with little elaboration, moving to more complex improvisatory structures, and continuing with short fixed compositions. A typical performance might include one or more of the following:

- Kriti Performed with little or no improvisation Simple kritis consist of three sections 1) pallavi, 2) anupallavi, and 3) caranam (pronounced charanam) All are accompanied by percussion in a regularized meter (tala). The first portion of the pallavi serves as a refrain, recurring at the end of all three sections. The texts are usually devotional

- More Complex Kriti preceded by ragam and tanam, and elaborated with niranal and svarkalpana

- Ragam-tanam-pallavi a long, largely improvised piece that may be sung or played with augmentation/diminution (trikala) of pallavi theme (usually a line from a kriti) as well as niraval and svarakalpana. This is the ultimate test of a musician, requiring exceptional training, great confidence, and spontaneous creative ability.

- Short lyrical pieces either from the dance repertoire (e.g. padam, javali, or a fast tempo tillanam) or from Sanskrit devotional verses.

-Simple kriti sung by ramnad Krishnan from Kaccheri. Nonesuch H-72040, A/1 ca. 3’30”

kriti “Aksayalinga” (nonesuch Kaccheri) – has a 7 beat tala, starts with a ragam and tanam sections. The caranam section uses niraval and svarakalpana improvisation. Remember that the niraval retains the duration of the melodic line, but varies the pitch content while svarakalpana uses solfege syllables and becomes a kind of virtuosic dueling.

-This tradition encompasses Indo-Aryan speaking areas of North India ( including Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sinhalese areas of Sri Lanka). To a lesser extent, Nepal and Afganistan may be included in this area.

-Centered historically at the Mughal court of the Emperor Akhbar, the most famous (court) musician was Tansen.

-Since Islam was the religion of the Mughals, Hindustani musicians were predominantly Muslim, passed their traditions through hereditary lineages, and –because they were essentially professional entertainers- were ascribed low social status.

-The dissolution of the mughal court in the 18^th century led to a dispersal of musicians to other centers of patronage.

The improvisation preceding a composition is similar to that of the Karnatak tradition.

However, once the tabla enters and the metered section begins, there is less pre-composed material and more free improvisation within the rhythmic cycle.

- After a pause, the metered composition begins again in a slow/moderate tempo, but will gradually increase in intensity as the piece progresses.

- in gat-tora (an instrumental gene), the soloist and tabla player exchange roles, one improvising for a rhythmic cycle or two, the other playing a fixed melody or rhythmic pattern. Because either soloist or the drummer is always marking the tala cycle, it is much easier to follow in North Indian performances than in south Indian.

- At the climax, both soloist and drummer engage in a duel, the intricate rhythmic patterns becoming shorter and shorter to the end.

Typical Hindustani Recital

Unlike the Karnatak recital which comprises a succession of pieces by a single performer, The Hindustani recital is devoted primarily to one genre and will often feature a string of artists to create greater variety.

Musical Ethnography