A Short Prehistory of Western Music, Chapter 3

28 P Tagg: A Short Prehistory of Western Music Chapter 3
qualified as ‘classical’ or doctrinally correct in India itself, they must adhere to one
canonical point set out in the sangŸta-þ˜stra: melodic construction must be governed
by one of the tradition’s raga-s. This rule is so important that the proper Hindi term
for canonically correct musical practices — þastriya-sangit, which literally means ‘scientific
music’ or ‘doctrinal music’ — is less frequently used than the expression
r˜gdar-sangit, meaning simply ‘music having a raga’. Indians also often use the English
term ‘classical’ when distinguishing the raga tradition from various forms of
popular music practice.
It is in this context worth noting that The Oxford Concise English Dictionary defines
‘classical’, with reference to music, as follows:
‘serious or conventional; following traditional principles and intended to be of permanent
rather than ephemeral value’… ‘representing an exemplary standard; having
a long-established worth.’ 59
In other words, calling þastriya-sangit or r˜gdar-sangit ‘classical music’ is quite accurate
because not only do buzzwords of higher and lasting value occur in the connotative
spheres of both terms: þastriya-sangit and ‘classical music’ also both allude to
notions of greater tradition, doctrine, convention, and learning. This observation is
substantiated by the obvious similarity existing between þastriya-sangit’s qualification
as ‘scientific’ or ‘knowledgeable’ music and such European language equivalents
of ‘classical music’ as musique savante, musica colta, música culta, E-
Musik, serious music and art music’. 60 Unlike most types of ‘popular’ and ‘folk’ music,
the musical practices qualified by such epithets as ‘classical’ are all associated
with doctrinal texts codifying the philosophy, aesthetics, performance, interpretation,
understanding and structural basis of the music in question.
To increase our understanding of such codification we shall next review some of the
most important structural principles of raga music, concentrating on the Northern
Indian (Hindi) art music tradition. We will start with tonal theory (nada, svara,
þruti, gr˜ma, th˜ta, r˜ga) and then discuss the rhythmic, metric and periodic parameters
(matra, t˜la etc.) of the raga tradition. After a short section about raga-music
instruments we will conclude this summary of music in India with a brief overview
of popular traditions of the subcontinent.
Tonal theory
During the first centuries of the first millennium CE, Indian theorists laid down
the basic notions of interval, rhythm and affect that form the basis of much of today’s
raga music. Scholars like Bharata not only classified rhythm and periodicity
according to a system that is still largely applicable to today’s raga music (p.33, ff);
58. The authoritative doctrine for dance is lumped together with that for drama: N˜tyaþastra. (see
p.25).
59. The Oxford Concise English Dictionary (Oxford, 1995:243).
60. Musique savante (French) literally means ‘knowledgeable music’, i.e. music for people in the know.
Musica colta (Italian) and música culta (Spanish and Portuguese) literally mean ‘cultured’,
‘refined’ or ‘learned’ music, i.e. music for educated and cultivated people. E-Musik (German) is
short for ernste Musik, meaning ‘serious’ music, i.e. for people who take their music seriously, and
is generally opposed to U-Musik, short for Unterhaltungsmusik, meaning ‘entertainment music’,
i.e. for those who are imagined as incapable of taking music seriously.