Music and Language - an interesting nexus
I am not about to deliver a discourse on the nexus between music and language - that is way out of my league in any case and i have neither the knowledge, nor have I done enough research to propound theories. but one of the many advantages of writing a blog is that you are free to think out aloud.
Rather, I have here some interesting (in my view) questions that occured to me as i was walking back home this afternoon from the dept (the somewhat unfavorable weather rendered it almost impossible to have a desire to get back to the dept). and some loud thinking as a consequence.
many people have commented about a specific composer's work in several languages. in today's entertainment industry in india, it is markedly visible since some (film) composers have been able to cross the 'language barrier' while some others, though extremely appreciated by some have almost gone unnoticed by the others. if music were really universal language, why this anomaly, if anomaly is what it is?
in some sense, the 'appropriateness' of the score to the language seems to be entering the equation here. for instance, tamil and telugu, two languages i am well conversant with, almost form a clique of sorts; what works in one language (musically), works almost all the time in the other too. hindi seems to be a sort of antipode. of course, punjabi, gujarati, and some other 'north indian' languages probably would elicit the point better but i don't know any of those languages. bengali music is something that has almost gone synonymous with 'Rabindra sangeeth'; the influence of Tagore's work there almost seeps into all modern forms of bengali music. I am not sure how relevant my points might be in reference to music scored in bengali. but for the time, i shall concentrate on the tamil-telugu pair in contrast with hindi-urdu.
1) It is quite clear that music written in a classical carnatic mode works well for tamil-telugu but almost never for hindi, and almost certainly never for urdu. why?
2) An interesting counterpoint: carnatic music and its principles work well in the context of sanskrit, which is in many ways quite close to hindi. why this difference? note that while telugu in its literary form borrows liberally from sanskrit (so that the comparison between chaste telugu and sanskrit is appreciable), tamil does not. tamil and sanskrit are so distinctly different languages - any linguist will affirm the same -and yet the same principles (of carnatic music) work well in both langugages. why?
conversely, hindusthani music might work quite well in tamil-telugu (i haven't listened to any serious attempt in this direction, but it seems to me that it just might). why?
obviously i do not know the answers to any of these questions. nor am i attempting to answer them. i just wish to understand my questions a little better, invoking Polya's principle: if there is a problem you cannot solve, there is a simpler problem you cannot solve.
getting to carnatic music, one of the most important features of this style of music is of course, the presence of gamakas or what are called microtonal infuxions by musicians, especially in the west. This, of course is an attempt to describe what a gamaka is but it is my contention that this is not a very precise definition, despite the vagueness of language. Rock musicians certainly play a lot of 'microtonal influxions', especially on lead guitar (listen to some of Slash's work for GNR and you will know what i am talking about). but these, though terrific pieces of musicianship and no doubt exhilarating, will not qualify as gamaka-playing, so i guess my discontent with this description is not totally unfounded.
to understand what a gamaka really is, i make an analogy. while one lets the tones slip by freely (drop or ascend), one gets the feeling that the musician is tugging or reining his voice at certain places in a stronger fashion than at others. and it is there that the gamaka is really experienced. so i wish to define a raga per se as the following:
A raga is a ordered list of closed balls (as sets) of frequencies, each centered at a distinct frequency with the properties:
a) the last frequency = double the first frequency (though that is not necessary),
b) Each closed ball has a distinct set of distinguished frequencies.
condition a) is clear.
the closed ball reference is basically this: while we let a smooth transfer from one frequency to another, we allow for 'errors' within the context of each swara. this is not merely to allow bad singing into the equation! it is my experience (while playing on the keyboard) that sometimes a different key brings the flavor of the song better, even though the different note is not a part of the original raga. That is probably why, carnatic musicians feel the need to have 16-22 notes to describe all carnatic material, when the even tempered clavier model of a keyboard allows only for 12. i am also not being precise about how much of error is permissible because that would involve writing some concrete numbers here, and i don't. i am merely going by intuition.
the distinguished set for each note refers to frequencies where you sort of 'rein' in, or abruptly arrest the smooth flow. It is in these abrupt arrests that a gamaka is felt and that set of distinguished frequencies shall be called the set of gamakas.
this viewpoint has certain benefits. it explains why a certain raga can sound different from its parent raga, although they share the same set of notes. it also explains why two different ragas which share many similar notes are yet different in their renditions. for instance, it is easy to spot that one is singing/playing Kalyani and not Sankarabharanam, even without the only different note, namely, Ma(1 for Sankarabharanam and 2 for Kalyani) does not feature for a while. it also explains a point prasanna once made on his FAQ section: one of his readers had asked him why, the hawaiian or fretless guitar would not be a more appropriate instrument for playing carnatic. prasanna answered saying that the microtones are better brought out only with a fretboard - in my terms, i guess a fretted guitar can bring out the abrupt arrests better than a fretless guitar and i guess that is what prasanna too was saying.
so if we share this belief, a verse is better suited to carnatic music if in its flow, it allows for abrupt seizures.
I believe that tamil-telugu have that sense of staccato effect in speech and sound which is probably the reason why carnatic music works well in these languages. i suppose the same is true for sanskrit too though i have to think a little harder to justify the same.
what then, is the problem with hindi?
hindi is probably influenced more by urdu/persian which probably slice away at some of the 'sharp ending sounds' of sanskrit. urdu is as such such a soft language which is probably why the mode of 'ghazal-writing' is only for urdu. that should explain perhaps why carnatic music might work on tatsam hindi but almost never with urdu.
of course, i haven't proved anything but am just suggesting a line of argument. it would be interesting to have counterviews on this.
3 comments:
Good approach. Basically two thoughts have been given- the nexus between language and music and another variation in frequencies
Variation in frequency can be either unconscious deviation which is an aberration and an error which can under no rule be justified since an error is an error. Variation consciously brought in is in the form of 'Ragamalika' which is approved and is still in practice. Here we are not mixing the Ragas. The identity of ragas in Ragamalika is still maintained. It is more a piece of decoration , an art of nice blending without losing the identity of the raga. Raga malika is also familiar in Hindhusstani classical music and goes by the name 'Raga sagar'.The ragamudra is to figure there and the selection of raga in Ragamalika should suit the melody, rhythm, and bhava of the song such that there is no violent fluctuation in the frequency.As opposed to this is "Struthi bedha" a technique skillfully deployed by GNB School. In this deliberately one departs to a like Raga with just a minor change of one note and after travelling for a few seconds the musician naturally turns to parent Raga. This was stoutly protested by the traditionalists. This is a deviation from the 'Sampradaya'. GNB tried and in the face of stiff opposition, he halted it. But subsequently, MLV reintroduced this and despite opposition, implemented it in her concerts. This has been accepted as a practice of swara singing evenm though musicians wedded to traditional school like KVN and others did oppose it even after its formal entry. This largely displays the dexterity of the artist in having command over the Raga.Gamaka is voice modulation and what is referred to as 'ahahakara'. Gamakas are in the form of musical embelishmentsand take the form of shakening or fluttering of swaraswith adequate vibrationsin bring out the musical excellence in the krithis. (this is the definition you will find in Dr. Bagyalakshmi's book on Carnatic music compositions.)In what are called Kampita Ragas, Gamakas are indispensable. Examples are in Todi, Kalyani, Sankarabaranam, Bhairavi etc.,In some ragas like kathanakuthukalam there is a trace of western style and in such ragas there is no scope for Gamakas. Conversely, western classical and gamaka do not go together or in other words, carnatic music befeft of Gamakas lead to a different class of music by itself. I do not know whether this strong statement has a support in the musical research or is it just one aspect of western Vs carnatic music I do not know. In ragas like Bhilahari, Saveri etc., some swaras are Gamaka based while others are not and these are called 'Ardhakampita Ragas'.Decorative angas of krith rendering covers usage of Jati or Solkattu, Swarakshara where the swaras like "ni pa da me " etc., In Dikshadar's we can find muscial extravagence of this type as could be seen in Thiyaga raja yoga vaibhavam in Anandha bhairavi where words like " sam, prakasam, tatvaprakasam,saka;atatva prakasam siva satya sakal;a tatva prakasam" figure with beautiful addition of one word over the other.This kind of decoration is kithis coming from musicologists. Musicians add glamour through the usage of Brigas. GNB and MLV are known for their stylish music in this.
Coming to language and music, I think it goes essentially with the culture of the land, the excellence of the language, Naturally melodious languages go well with music. English being a trader's language we cannot find such natural beauty in that. Persian or or Urdu lend to musical melodies as rightly said by you in the context of Gazzles. Marati is not a soft spoken language as Bengali. But yet abanghs are rich in marati music. Swara variations are not largely considered as misfit in Hindhusthani classical music. The weightage to laya and struthi is more than swaras. In that way carnatic music is relatively more disciplined, uncompromising in its core values and hence probably is not that extensively used all over the globe. Presumably, perfection and discipline will have large appreciation and relatively less following. When it is sung for the pleasure of a king as in the case of western classicals there would be more flexibilty and larger following. I donot have theories to substantiate this kind of conclusions.
Reg. your question as to how Tamil though divergent in structure and style from Sanskrit could naturally match with Carnatic music I could get some basis taken from Tamil litewrature which reveals some astounding facts bringing out deep similarities in the musical content. It dates back to Silappadikaram.
Even in Sangam literature including Pattupattu and Ettu Thogai there are enough musical references revealing the depth of musical information even in the distant past. In Silapadikaram, some seven ladies are seated in a circular way and seven musical names had been given to them. The names given are as under:
Kural (relevant to Sa), Tuttam (Ri), Kaikilai( Ga), Uzhai( ma), Ili (pa), Vilari (da), Taram (ni)
Positioning of Swarasthanas is also indicated as 'Next to Kural (Sa) tuttam and Taram on either side(ri and ni)are placed'Kaikilai (ga) is on the left hand side of Tuttam (Ri)
In the definition of Pann or Raga it is said that " Nar perum Pannum Gathi nangum meaning that there major classification of Pann is Four and further classification is four gatis.There is a reference that some Swaras have 7 sthanas, some are with 6 swaras, some with 5 swaras and some with 4 swaras. These are the four gatis he refers. Leaving apart 4 swaras, there is a striing comparison with Sampoornam, shadavam and oudadham as is refered to in music literature even as of date. There were 103 Panns which some research scholar compared with 72 mela Karthas and totally over 10,000 ragas Apprx.
The swarasthanas indicated for each of the regions like mountain areas (Kurinji) forest areas, agricultural land areas, water areas, dry areas have separate music tunes, music instruments and special ragas. Some of the identified Ragas are Hari kamboji, Bhairavi, Kalyani, Todi,Sankarabaranam etc.,
We had stringed instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments. There is a reference that In a bamboo holes are made and bees make musical sounds etc., This is available in Sangam literature like Mullai Pattu and Perumpanatrupadai both coming under Pattupattu.
Similar to the musical excellence of Dikshader in the Anandabharai kirthana I referred to earlier, there is also a reference in Tamil verse which runs as under:
Koduththanai, Pasupadam Koduththanai, Arjunanukku Pasupadam koduththanai etc.,I think this would answer how Tamil which is aparently looking very different from Sanskrit could have striking similarities in Carnatic Musical notes.
With love Appa and Amma
Niranj - nice thoughts. Having vowel endings was always considered important for writing songs. Telugu manages to have vowel endings and so does the Italian, so its easier to sing in them.
I think its also about getting used to. We are very accustomed to hearing carnatic in tamil and telugu only. It might take some time for people to get adjusted to carnatic tunes in hindi. On that note, if you liten to some of lucky ali's work, he does some interesting carnatic tunes sometimes in hindi songs!
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