Full Description
This vivid introduction to the music of South India discusses historical and contemporary performance, cultural history and geography, and the social organization of performance traditions. It focuses primarily on Karnatak concert music and its formal conventions, modes of performance, and cultural influence within the context of the religious, historical, and political landscape of South India.
Contents
Forward:
Preface:
CD Track List:
1. Song in South India
Bhajan (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:
Kriti:
Evolution 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, Function:
Summary
2. Key Concepts in Karnatak Music
Tala: 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 Speeds:
Raga: Melody in Karnatak Music
Scale:
Note (Svara) and Solfege Syllable Names: Kiravd=ani and Kapi Ragas: Raga as a "Vast Ocean"
Ornamentation (Gamaka)
Phrase (Sañcara or Prayoga): Phrases in Kiravani and Kapi Ragas
Functional Notes--Svaras Holding Particular Functions
Integrated Melodic-Rhythmic Training
Summary
3. The Karnatak Concert Today
Presentation and Discussion of the "Main Piece" of a Concert
The Setting:
Tuning Up:
Beginning: Kriti as an Orally Transmitted Composed Case of a Performance
Brief Guide to the Performance
Composition and Improvisation: Fixity and Fluidity:
Kiravani Raga Alapana: Aesthetics and Dynamics of Accompaniment
Kriti: The Core Component: The Pallavi; The Anupallavi and Pallavi reprise; The Caranam and Pallavi Reprise
Niraval
Svara Kalpana: Different Ways to Improvise: A Comparison of Niraval and Svara Kalpana
Tani Avarttanam--Drum Solo
Summary
4. Contextualizing South Indian Performance, Socially and Historically
Women 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 Festival:
Bangalore Nagarathnammal as a Performer: Sringara Bhakti: Being in Love with God; Listening through the Static: The Rise of Audio Recording
Men and Music: From Temple and Court to Public and State Patronage
Men's Performance in Precolonial South India:
The Hereditary Male Temple Service Musician:
The "Emperor of Nagasvaram": T.N. Rajarattinam Pillai: "The Audience Would Not Be Satisfied If He Did Not Play This Raga"; Alapana in Todi Raga
A New World of Performance: Concert Halls, Media, and Audiences in the Urban Environment
The Development of Radio:
The Recording Industry: Commodification and Resistance:
"The Effect of the Performance Should Be Such As to Keep the Listeners Spell-Bound:" Men Scripting and Singing Women's Inner Feelings
A Hereditary Music Family
A Dual Musical Enculturation and Education:
"I Am Going to Snub These Male Chauvinists":
Music and Gender Today:
Summary: An Ancient and Modern Tradition of Musical-Social Behavior
5. Regional and Modern Traditions: Contemporary Music Making in South India and Beyond
Music in Kerala
Idakka, a Pressure Drum from Kerala:
Kathakali Dance Drama: Character Types, Costume, and Makeup; Changes in the Twentieth Century
The Kathakali Music Ensemble
Kathakali Songs: Slokam and Padam
Performance of Padam from Nala Caritam
Music 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 India:
The Kannada Tatva Composer Sharif Saheb
Hindu-Muslim Relations in Karnataka State:
Katha Performers of the Kinnari Jogi Community
"Why Do You Worry/Yake Cinti?"
A Circle Completed:
Summary
Glossary:
Resources:
Index:
