Indian Bhangra

The Bhangra is one of the oldest folk dances in the world. It comes from the Punjab in India, and was sung and danced at the end of the harvest season by farmers to celebrate and give thanks for the harvest.

Some key features

Dhol

• Dance rhythms were played on a dhol, a double barrelled drum banged with two sticks.
• It was introduced into British popular music in the 1970s, using western instruments such as electric guitars, bass and keyboards.
• In modern western bhangra the looping beat of the dhol has been replaced by a drum machine.

Indian classical music

The classical music of India is extremely old, having developed in temples and royal palaces over 2000 years ago. The music is closely related to the Hindu religion, with performances often having a spiritual significance.

Indian classical music has three parts: raga, tala and drone.

Raga

Sitar

• It is played by the solo instrumentalist or singer.
• The solo instrumentalist often plays a sitar.
• The sitar is the best known instrumental used for solo improvisation.
• The sitar has a gourd sound box and a long neck with moveable frets [Fret: A ridge across the fingerboard of a stringed instrument. ].
• It has 7 main strings, one of which is the main melody string while the others play drone notes.
• The main string is often pulled to bend notes.

Tala

Tabla

• A drummer plays the tala on the tabla.
• Tabla are a pair of single headed drums.
• Different parts of the drum-head make different sounds.
• The drummer improvises around the tala.

Drone

• This is performed by the Tambura player.
• The Tambura is similar in shape to the Sitar.
• It is played vertically.
• It has 4 strings, each tuned to the notes of the drone.

Key musical features: India

Raga

The term raga means a scale of notes or series of motifs. A raga is a long piece of music with the melody improvised on the basis of a given pattern of notes.

• The raga is the scale used in Indian music. The 7 notes of the scale are known as Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni.
• Ragas are placed in three categories: odova or pentatonic (5 notes) / shadava or hexatonic (6 notes) / sampoorna or heptatonic (7 notes)
• Every Raga must have at least 5 notes, starting on Sa, one principle note, a second important note and a few helping notes.
• The ascent and descent of the notes in every raga is very important. Some ragas in the same scale differ in ascent and descent.
• Raga can also mean mood. Different types of raga were composed for different occasions and times of day.

Listen to this example of a Vibhas or 'morning raga'. Its mood is the beauty of the early dawn.

Tala

Tal means 'clap', and tala refers to a repeated rhythmical pattern of beats.

The rhythms are made of different parts:

• Tali: This is the pattern of clapping. Each tal is characterized by a particular pattern and number of claps.
• Khali: In addition to claps, there are also a number of waves. These have a characteristic relationship to the claps.
• Vibhag: Each clap or wave specifies a particular section or measure. These measures may be of any number of beats, yet most common 2, 3, 4, or 5 beats are used.
• Matra: This is the beat. It is subdivided if required.
• Bol: This is the mnemonic system where each stroke of the drum has a syllable attached to it. These syllables are known as bol.
• Lay: The tempo. The tempo may be slow (vilambit), medium (Madhya), or fast (drut).
• Sam: This is the beginning of the cycle. The first beat of any cycle is usually stressed.
• Avartan: This is the basic cycle.

Drone

Drones are prominent in Indian music.

• A drone is a sustained note(s) played throughout a section or through the entire piece of music.
• Drone notes are usually the tonic [Tonic: The main note, or key-note of a key from the key gets its name ] and dominant notes, or the two notes in the raga that sound the strongest.

Listen to this extract of classical Indian music, the Raag Bhairvi. While you listen, try to identify:

• the drone notes played on the sitar
• the raga played on the sitar
• the 'bending' on notes on the sitar
• the slow tempo (vilambit)
• the peaceful and serious mood

Indonesian Gamelan

Gamelan music comes from two of the Indonesian islands, Java and Bali.

Some key features

• Gamelan orchestra are usually percussion based (the word Gamelan means 'to hit with a hammer').
• Heterophony: a texture in which two or more voices or parts elaborate the same melody simultaneously, often the result of improvisation [Improvisation: The creation of a musical passage by a musician whilst it is being performed. ], and is often heard in Gamelan music.
• Some varieties feature bamboo flutes (suling), bowed strings (rebab), or vocalists in a prominent role.
• Other instruments include mettallophones, gongs, cymbals and drums. They are often very ornate and brightly painted.
• The Indonesia double-headed drum is called a kendang. Players sit cross-legged on the floor and with drum resting horizontally across their lap. Sometimes the drum sits in a frame. The drummer has a very important role as they direct all the other players using special signals on the drum, so they know when to speed up, slow down, change tune or finish a particular section.

Listen to this example of a Indonesian Gamelan, with the distinctive sound of metallophones and gongs.

Comparing the instruments of Java and Bali

Comparing the gongs of Java and Bali

Key musical features: Gamelan

Indonesian music does not have the same scales as Western music, and is rarely written down. Here are some other key points:

• Gamelan music often consists of tunes that are played over and over again (cyclic melodies).
• Typically, a fast interlocking pattern (played on the pemade and the kantil) is layed over the melodic patterns played on the ugal.
• Western musicians who wish to perform Gamelan use a number notation system instead of the Western staff notation.

Tonality

Two different tuning systems are used in Javanese Gamelan: slendro and pelog.

• Slendro is a 5-note system of whole tone and minor third intervals [Interval: The distance between two pitches or notes. Usually expressed in terms of steps. ].
• The order of intervals is: 2 3 2 2 3 (2=whole tone, 3=minor 3rd).
• Starting at C the staff notation would be:

• Pelog is a 7-note system, although only 5 pitches are typically used at one time.
• The order of intervals is: 1 2 3 1 1 2 2 (1=semitone, 2=whole tone, 3=minor 3rd).

Integration into popular music

Many modern composers have been influenced by Indian and Gamelan music. Examples include The Beatles, Ravi Shankar, Talvin Singh and Nitin Sawhney.

The Beatles

During the filming of 'Help' George Harrison was asked to hold a sitar as a comic prop.

George developed a keen interest in this instrument and arranged to meet the famous sitar player Ravi Shankar in London in 1966. Ravi Shankar agreed to teach George Harrison how to play the instrument so he went to India for a seven week course.

At this time the other Beatles also visited India where they developed the distinctive sound that was used on the Sergeant Pepper album. Two Gurus can be seen on the cover of this album. In the track Getting Better All the Time you can hear a tambourine drone and there is a sitar playing in the track Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

Listen and notice the Indian influence in Love You To:

Ravi Shankar

Perhaps the most famous populist of Indian music in the West.

Born in 1920 in India he moved to Paris in 1930. By the age of 25 he had already established himself as an accomplished sitar player.

He appeared at the Woodstock and the Monterey Pop Festivals. Being broadcast to millions of people lead to massive notoriety and his first Grammy Award in 1966. Downbeat Magazine also voted him 'Recording Artist of the Year' as well as 'Musician of the Year'. He received his second Grammy in 1972 and has received many honorary doctorates from numerous institutions.

Talvin Singh

Talvin Singh is a classically trained tabla player from the East End of London, who began to mix Asian and Western music while performing at the Blue Note Club in Hoxton.

In 1999 he won the Mercury Music Award for Best Album with his record OK, which blended Indian Classical and Western dance music, and was very influential.

Sample question

Now listen to this extract of popular Indian music. In the exam you will hear the extract 3 times.

Write a paragraph describing what you hear. In your answer try to refer to:

• the instruments used
• the mode [Mode: A scale pattern made up of intervals of whole and half steps. ]
• the rhythm and dynamic [Dynamics: The volume at which a note is played. An example of a dynamic instruction is forte which means to play loudly. ]
• the musical form

Sample answers, grades and comments

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