Indian music has various types of music ranging from classical music to film music. Even through both of these music forms are very popular the back-bone for any variation originated from Indian Classical Music. When you start to analyze the Indian Classical Music you come across another diversion in type of Music, one being Hindustani Music and the other Carnatic Music. The main difference being Carnatic Music originates from South India whilst Hindustani Music originates from North India. Since Dallas area has an enormous number of Indian families, Indian Classical Music has been incorporated into the society. Within the Dallas region, Carnatic Music is more popular due to the geographical origins of these Indians. Due to my growing interests to learn the basic structure of Indian Classical Music, I therefore choose one of the divisions namely: Carnatic Music as my music ethnography research within the Dallas area to compare it with India from where its origins can be found.
Methodology:
One of the most useful places that came across for this research paper would be recourses that I found on the internet. Even though at times clarification was required due to my lack of knowledge about Carnatic Music, I was able to approach people here whom are being taught Carnatic Music and/or my mom who is a professional singer to clarify these doubts. The event which I attended was conducted by a young artist who had just finished her requirements to be classified as a professional singer. This event took place at the McKinney Performance Art Center on a Saturday. The setup of the stage was very basic. In the center of the stage was where the singer sat and around her there where various instrument players. They had a few statues of Indian Gods to show respect to the Indian God of Music (Ramachandran). I was able to interview one of my own cousins who is about to finish her training to become a classical singer. I went down to her house during one of the weekends to be able to approach and talk to her freely about Carnatic Music.
Ideas about Music:
Carnatic Music had been originated from various Hindu manuscripts but was developed by Purandara Dasa, who is noted as the god father of Carnatic Music. It all started back in 16th century back in India but has slowly spread due to the migration of Indians from India whom at times carry the culture along with them. As mention by Ms. Ramachandran, “Since Carnatic Music has a very strict structure about how to do things, there are not too many difference on the structure and belief in the Dallas area” (Ramachandran). The beliefs still remains that the guru (teacher) is like god to you. The trainee must listen to all orders that are been proposed, it is thought be disrespectful to not order commands and at times can lead to the guru discontinuing their teaching. Since Indian Classical Music in general had originated from Hindu traditions people still try to maintain this by not change any of the themes and objects being sung about. To list a few subjects the songs are based on: 1). Hindu Gods, 2). Nature and its beauty and rarely 3). Human feelings. As mentioned before due to the standard structure Carnatic Music world wide, defines music as one that contains of śruti (the musical pitch), swara (the musical sound of a single note), rāga (the mode), and tala (the rhythm). Especially in the Dallas, the type of dress is valued more due to the different class of Indians found here then back in India (Ramachandran). But they still value the artist’s talents without any sort biased feelings. Carnatic Music is not performed often in the Dallas area due to lack of performance halls. To overcome this requirement people perform during general parties / gatherings. The performers are always allowed to perform when and where they wise to perform.
Activities Involving Music
With today’s media growth everything is almost available everywhere. Due to the genre of Carnatic Music namely: Classical, there are only limited ways a Carnatic fan can get hold of one. Places where you can find things concerning Carnatic Music are limited to few Indian Shops, concerts, or family gatherings. Some people on the other hand bring a hand full of C.D. when they visit Indian and distribute copies amongst known people. Since the number of listeners is limited, popular download places such as iTunes do not offer a wide variety of songs to pick from. Within the Dallas area there are a very few professional singers, this lack of professional singers is mainly due to the lack of mass audiences and opportunities to future their knowledge of Carnatic Music (Ramachandran). Due to this very reason many trainees are trained via phone by professionals in India. Since this music culture is based on Hindu traditions, one is taught not to look down at people from various other cultures. This culture is an open for all, if you interested to listen or even want to learn this culture there is no one that will stop you from doing so. From the event I attend I noticed that majority of the audiences were mainly elderly people with a very small number of youngsters. When I mean elderly people this would consist of people of ages 40+, even the youngster consisted mainly of people who are already learning Carnatic Music. Due to the lack of sufficient exposure to this Culture around Dallas area young people only are exposed due to parental interest (Ramachandran). The event I attended consisted of only of three performers mainly the singing herself, one the left of her was the mrdangam player, and to the right of her was the violin player. The existence of the violin player is mainly due to the influence of modernization on this Music Culture. As expected there was a consistent drone in the background even when the artists was not performing, this task was done by a modern drone box called sruti box. The only other person involved with the production of this concert was the sound system professionals.
Repertoires of Music
Due to limited number of listeners, this music culture can be right fully classified in the Classical genre. Since Classical Music is defined as “One that is performed by professionals but not a large audience” (Alves). The music sung by the artist mainly consists of the notes Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa but at times contains of lyrics. When the music composed contains only of the seven notes mentioned above the performer has the option to sing or play the notes on any instrument. One of the focuses of Carnatic Music is on the singing part, which can be considered the lyrics for this music culture. As mentioned by Ms. Ramachandran “The lyrics of the song try to express the mood and message to the listeners” (Ramachandran). Like all Carnatic singers the performers are given full freedom to either to sing a song sung by another professional or else make alteration to various pieces to their wish. Composition of Music in Carnatic Music is a never ending process since each artist is allowed to make continuous variations to the song. A song performed by an artist might never be the same song when he or she performs it again. Carnatic Music is passed on from generation to generation by the use of gurus; these are professional singers who teach youngsters. But now days within the Dallas area people have started buying C.D.s and trying to learn to sing by themselves (Ramachandran). According to my observations from the event, I noticed that concert have a very calm and peaceful environment where everyone sits and enjoys.
Material Culture
Since Carnatic Music has current requirements, every performance would include: instruments, Indian Gods, and a book with music score. The performers are expected to have their own Music Books and Instruments. Due to the lack of Indian Music Stores in Dallas area, people either buy books from India and ship them or get them personally by making a trip to India. The culture of sharing music scores is the principal method people within the Dallas area get music.
Conclusion
As you all may have noticed by now there are only a limited number of differences between the same Music-Culture in India compared to this Music-Culture in Dallas. One of the major differences can be found in the form of audience age group and the interest level amongst youngsters. Carnatic Music is only half of what is called Indian Classical Music, Indian Classical Music is huge ocean to research and analyze since the music composition are never kept standard.
To show examples of professional concerts conducted in Dallas I have added a few links to Youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2jiVG6TAo8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDZj6EPFVg0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilGdCGUn_Ho
Bibliography:
• Alves, William. Music of the Peoples of the World. Boston, Mass.: Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
• Janani Ramesh, McKinney Performance Arts Center, Dallas. Feb 27 2010.
• Ramachandran, Janani. Personal interview. 02 Mar. 2010.
• Carnatic Music - Soul of Soth Indian Music. Rep. Aug. & Sept. 2009. Web. 4 Mar. 2010.
• "Music Of India - College Essay - Cheezles." Free Term Papers, Research Papers, Custom Essays, and Book Reports OPPapers.com. Web. 11 Mar. 2010.
• "Overview of Indian Classical Music." David and Chandrakantha Courtney's Homepage-Indian Musicians. Web. 11 Mar. 2010.
• "Carnatic Music - An Overview." South Asian Women's Forum (SAWF) Home Page. Web. 11 Mar. 2010.
• "Carnatic Music: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article." AbsoluteAstronomy.com. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment