Eternal India Encyclopedia

MUSIC

Eternal India encyclopedia

Folk and Traditional Music instanced above. Of course, it is not necessary that they be devoid of such content. But bal- lads are more concerned with advancing “the statement of fact” and to “help the narrative”. They are the unwritten history of the commu- nity; naturally, every people have their own heroes and heroines. A large class of songs can be classified as religious and festive. The number of religious groups, from the most elemental and anthro- pomorphic to the most refined, are so many; and the nature and number of songs are equally varied. The village goddess, perhaps, demand- ing animal sacrifice, has to be pleased if the com is to grow high, if small pox is not to visit the hamlet. Or it may be a prayer of the finest devotion and most subtle mysticism.

samaj and bhajana gosthi (devotional groups); they are, therefore, of necessity uncomplicated. Though the degree of sophistication of such music makes them suspect as folk songs, neither do they have the finesse and strictness of classical music; and hence cannot strictly be considered so. The above outline of the kinds of folk songs which one may come across in India has perforce to be sketchy; for this is a vast, ancient and variegated land. From Himalayan snows to tropical jungles, from the arid des- erts of Rajasthan to the fertile valley of the Ganga, from the stony plateau of Deccan to the sandy sea-shores of the peninsula, the terrain, the fauna, the flora and the human settlements differ multifold. What is of importance is to realize and acknowledge the fact that this music of the 'masses' is of the soil from which the art music of the elite has sprung and to which it has to turn again and again to obtain sustenance. We may not easily recognize the affinity of the more 'refined' ragas' to the 'cruder' folk tunes. But one can still find their patterns there in budding form. It would be more than absurd to call some of these tunes of tribes and vil- lages as ragas and their rhythms as talas, for they have not yet been given a grammar. Nonetheless, as we listen to a snake charmer on his pungi, we cannot but connect the tune with Nadanamakriya raga. The common lullaby, Bala jo jore in Marathi, has the nucleus of raga Sarang. Other patterns met with are those of Bhoop, Bhairavi, Pilu, Kafi of North India and Kuranji, Chenjuriti, An- anda-bhairavi of South India. Parallely, rhythmic archetypes of Trital, Roopak, Jhumra, Adi and Chapu are usual and it is from these melodies and beats that the great- est of concert music draws its life.

It is usual to distinguish between classical (or art) and folk music. But a definition of dis- tinction between the two has not been made so far, so that no clear line can be drawn demar- cating the boundaries. There are always forms like keertan of Bengal, abhang of Maharash- tra and padam of Andhra which are set in so- phisticated moulds, but yet are not considered strictly ‘classical’. The most widely accepted definition of a folk song is that it has no known authorship. We do not know who ‘wrote’ its text and who ‘composed’ its music, if these two things are separately done at all in a folk song. This anonymity of authorship has always been considered to be of prime importance for a folk song. But it is not always possible to accept such a sine qua non. The padams of Bhadrachala, Ramadas, the devaranamas of Purandardasa, the bhajans of Kabir, the abhan- gas of Eknath and Tukaram of Maharashtra - all these have entered the homes and hearts of untrained folk. The greatest significant quality of folk music is its social relation. Art music, on the contrary, has often no social function other than aesthetic satisfaction, if not mere entertainment. Ragas and talas, for example have no connection with sowing, reaping, war, marriage, child-birth and so on. In con- trast, folk songs have intimate associations with such group or individual activities. It is, therefore, easy to describe them in terms of functional categories. There is a song for every month, for every season. Ballads are an important section of a people’s music. They do not generally have the lyrical qualities of folk poetry as in songs

The demarcation of folk and art or classi- cal music in India is really vague. The kind of music which finds a place in village gather- ings, temple services, rural theatres as well as in concerts has a niche of its own; and it is sung and played, very often, in definable ragas and talas. There is then a necessity to distinguish between tribal and folk music on the one hand and the 'classical' music on the other, with a third category which, for a lack of suitable word, is sometimes called 'tradi- tional' music. Under the last fall keertan, tevaram, padam, abhang, various forms of theatrical music and so on, some of which have already been described briefly earlier. The religious music of the people offers a very rich field for the meeting of folk and classical art. Quite a number of songs are simpe tunes sung to the accompaniment of ek- tar (a monochord) and a chipla or kartal (clappers). Many are congregational, sung in

(B. C.D.)