Area of study 4: World music

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Background information

Comes from Bukino Faso in West Africa

music plays an important role in society

used to communicate many feelings and emotions

used at social gatherings: celebration for harvests, birthdays, weddings, funerals, gathering of chiefs

music passed down through generations through the oral tradition

music often combined with speech and dance, falls broadly into 3 strands:

drumming, choral song and instrumental

Common features of African music:

ostinati

improvisation

cyclic structures

polyphony

cross rhythms

intertwining melodies

Instruments:

Balaphon - wooden xylophone

Flue - made from bamboo/horn

Djembe - drum

Dundun - drum

Maracas - shakers

Talking drum

Vocals

Agogo - cow bell

Categories of instruments:

Idiophones (resorant/solid) - balaphons, maracas

Aerophones (wind) - flutes

Membranophones (membranes/skins) - djembe, dundun, talking drum

Chordophones (strings) - lutes (not used in this piece)

Yiri by Koko

3 main ideas are used:

the balaphon ostinati - in combination, they produce a complex polyphonic scale

vocal line - simple pentatonic call and response structure

drum ostinati - play the same 1 bar pattern - little variation

Structure:

Intro

balaphon - chorus A1

balaphon - chorus A2

solo with choral responses

chorus B1 - chorus B2

balaphon - chorus A3

balaphon - CODA

Devices used in this piece:

syncopation

improvisation - at the start

tremolo - balaphon at the start

call and response - between solo and chorus

vocables - nonsense syllables

Rag Desh

Background information:

piece is from North India

based on 3 elements: melody (raga), rhythm (tala) and drone.

structure: alap, jhor, jhala, gat (but if the piece is vocal then gat is called bandish)

Instruments:

sitar - guitar like

tabla - drums

voice

sarangi - uses a bow

sarod - smaller and lower than a sitar

pakhawaj - double headed drum

cymbals

bansuri - wooden flute

esraj - bowed and fretted

tambura - provides the drone

Structure:

ALAP:

sitar player introduces notes of the chosen raga (indian scale/melody)

improvising freely

No beat/pulse, the only accompaniment is the tambura drone

JHOR

JHALA

GAT/BANDISH:

tabla player comes in

pre-composed, not improvised

gat - instruments only

bandish - with vocals

some improvisation

musical ideas passed around in a sort of musical question and answer

The melody - the rag:

set melody on which the music is improvised

like a scale - rag ascends/descends but pitches differ in either direction

number of notes: 5-8

each rag has a particular mood associated with it.

learnt through oral tradition

the rag we are studying is called Rag Desh

tonic: C

rag desh: C D F G B C Bb A G F E D C

traditionally a night raga

also linked to rainy seasons/monsoon

Drone

main emphasis is on melody

drone usually uses tonic and dominant of the chosen rag

played by the tambura

adds sense of tuning/intonation

adds to the texture of the music as a whole

sitar player works improvs around tambura

Rhythm - the tala:

played on the tabla

tala has a set number of beats called matras

first beat of the tala: sam

rhythms start and end on a sam

talas are different - length depends on mood of raga

jhaptal: 10 beat tala

tintal: 16 beat raga

keherwa tal: 8 beat tala

rupak tal: 7 beat tala

ektal tal: 12 beat tala

Anoushka Shankar (sitar):

uses sitar and tabla

alap, gat 1, gat 2

alap: sitar and tabla only. Sitar plucks, strums and bends notes

gat 1: jhaptal (10 beat tala)

gat 2: tintal (16 beat tala)

final part: sitar strums the drone strings

Mhara janam maran by Chiranji LalTanwar (voice):

uses voice, sarangi, cymbals, tabla, sarod and pakhawaj

alap then bandish

tala: keherwa tal (8 beat tala)

sarod and sarangi have solos

singer uses a lot of vibrato

Benji Wertheimer (esraj and tabla) and Steve Gorn (bansuri):

uses bansuri, esraj, tambura and tabla

alap, gat 1 (slow), gat 2 (fast)

rupak tal (7 beat tabla)

ektal tal (12 beat tabla)

Yiri by Koko

Rag Desh