Music in South India: The Karnatak Concert Tradition and Beyond: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture / Edition 1

by T. Viswanathan, Matthew Harp Allen

Overview

Music in South India is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visit www.oup.com/us/globalmusic for a list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study.
Music in South India provides a vivid and focused introduction to the musical landscape of South India, discussing historical and contemporary performance, cultural history and geography, and the social organization of performance traditions. The book centers on Karnatak concert music, a unique performance practice that juxtaposes gorgeous musical compositions with many different types of improvisation. T. Viswanathan and Matthew Harp Allen first compare two types of song—bhajan, a structurally simple devotional genre, and kriti, the primary concert genre—and also analyze raga and tala, the basic elements underlying Karnatak music. They go on to examine the evolution of Karnatak music during the twentieth century, paying special attention to gender and caste and illuminating these issues through case studies and historical recordings (on the accompanying CD) of a small group of enormously influential musicians. In the final chapter, the authors move beyond Karnatak music to address other aspects of South India's rich musical environment, such as its thriving popular music scene (based on cinema music); regional traditions ranging from the sacred to the secular, many of which integrate elements from dance and drama; and contemporary composition.
Featuring numerous listening activities, Music in South India is packaged with an 80-minute CD containing examples of the music discussed. The CD includes a full, uncut concert recording of a kriti performance, which shows how Karnatak musicians weave together composed and improvised elements to create extended performances.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195145915
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/04/2003
Series:	Global Music Series
Edition description:	Book and CD
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	1,010,357
Product dimensions:	8.28(w) x 6.06(h) x 0.34(d)

About the Author

Wesleyan University (deceased)

Wheaton College

Table of Contents

Forward, Preface, CD Track List1. Song in South IndiaBhajan (Devotional Song), Songs and Singing, Meaning of the Text: Devotion, Love, and Praise, Celebrating Tyagaraja in the United States and in South India, Languages of the Region, KritiEvolution of Kriti, Text and Context—a Continuum of Performance from Devotion to Virtuosity, Music, Language, and Politics, The Tamil Music Movement, Muttuttandavar (Seventeenth Century)The Text of "I Trusted You/Unnai Nambinen" (CD track 3)The Musical Setting of "I Trusted You/Unnai Nambinen" (CD track 3)The Group's Progress Through the Kriti, The Ensemble, The Instruments: Violin (Chordophone); Mridarigam (Membranophone); Tambura (Chordophone) and Its Sruti, Drone, FunctionSummary2. Key Concepts in Karnatak MusicTala: Meter and Rhythm in Karnatak Music, The Five "Families" of Rhythm and Drummers' Thinking, Hand Gestures and Vocalized Syllable Sequences for Commonly Used Td=alas, Tala Exercises in Three SpeedsRaga: Melody in Karnatak Music, ScaleNote (Svara) iand Solfege Syllable Names: Kiravd=ani and Kapi Ragas: Raga as a "Vast Ocean"Ornamentation (Gamaka)Phrase (Sañcara or Prayoga): Phrases in Kiravani and Kapi RagasFunctional Notes—Svaras Holding Particular Functions/Integrated Melodic-Rhythmic TrainingSummary3. The Karnatak Concert TodayPresentation and Discussion of the "Main Piece" of a Concert, The Setting, Tuning UpBeginning: Kriti as an Orally Transmitted Composed Case of a PerformanceBrief Guide to the Performance, Composition and Improvisation: Fixity and FluidityKiravani Raga Alapana: Aesthetics and Dynamics of AccompanimentKriti: The Core Component: The Pallavi; The Anupallavi and Pallavi reprise; The Caranam and Pallavi RepriseNiravalSvara Kalpana: Different Ways to Improvise: A Comparison of Niraval and Svara Kalpana/Tani Avarttanam—Drum Solo/Summary4. Contextualizing South Indian Performance, Socially and HistoricallyWomen and Music: The Devadasi and Her Community, Women's Public Performance Circa 1900, Loss and Recovery of a Woman's Work, "Now We Women Have a Platform to Commence Singing"—Bangalore Nagarathnammal and the Tyagaraja FestivalBangalore Nagarathnammal as a Performer: Sringara Bhakti: Being in Love with God; Listening through the Static: The Rise of Audio RecordingMen and Music: From Temple and Court to Public and State Patronage, Men's Performance in Precolonial South India, The Hereditary Male Temple Service MusicianThe "Emperor of Nagasvaram": T.N. Rajarattinam Pillai: "The Audience Would Not Be Satisfied If He Did Not Play This Raga"; Alapana in Todi RagaA New World of Performance: Concert Halls, Media, and Audiences in the Urban Environment, The Development of Radio, The Recording Industry: Commodification and Resistancei"The Effect of the Performance Should Be Such As to Keep the Listeners Spell-Bound:" Men Scripting and Singing Women's Inner FeelingsA Hereditary Music Family, A Dual Musical Enculturation and Education, "I Am Going to Snub These Male Chauvinists", Music and Gender TodaySummary: An Ancient and Modern Tradition of Musical-Social Behavior5. Regional and Modern Traditions: Contemporary Music Making in South India and BeyondMusic in Kerala, Idakka, a Pressure Drum from KeralaKathakali Dance Drama: Character Types, Costume, and Makeup; Changes in the Twentieth CenturyThe Kathakali Music Ensemble/Kathakali Songs: Slokam iand PadamPerformance of Padam ifrom Nala CaritamMusic of the Cinema in South India, The "Company Drama" and the Silent Cinema, Early Sound Films: The "Mythological", The "Social", The Playback Singer, The Cinema and Karnatak Music: A Parting of Ways"When I Say Come/Ba Ennalu"Cross-Cultural Composition and Collaboration"Can There Be Release/Moksamu Galada?"Tatva, a Regional Performance Tradition in Karnataka State, The Deccan Plateau: Meeting of North and South IndiaThe Kannada Tatva Composer Sharif Saheb, Hindu-Muslim Relations in Karnataka StateKatha Performers of the Kinnari Jogi Community"Why Do You Worry/Yake Cinti?", A Circle CompletedSummary, Glossary, Resources, Index