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    Waseem Sadiq

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    : 4 The rag alone ‘Atypical instrumental recital of North Incian classcalmusic begins wih ' zection in which the rag is developed alone; there Is no ta, so the tabla player sts without playing throughous this section, which cantake Up ta half the tol performance. There are usualy three parts: alapjor and jhala. OF these aap i the longest and most important. The other ‘two could be omitted or a substitution made, but it would be very Unusual to éispense with alap altogether, and unthinkable to change the order. ‘The importance of alap I is with alap that the performance stats in a mood of tranquility and then very gradually increasesin tempo, dynamics, rhythmic compleuy land overall excitement. Its only in this way that the rag's beauty 21d Subleties can be revesled andexploredin depth. (ifeneasksa musica ‘question like ‘how does this rag go?" he will not sing or play jor, or jal, gat or tans, but instead akind of condensed alap) The slowness of tempo and absence of pulbe should net bepuile the listener int thinking that the musician is indulging in some kind of whimsical free fantasy It is precisely in afap that his knowledge of the minutiae which make uparag is most severely put tothe test. Within minutes ~ perhaps even seconds of playing he will ether create or destroy the ag. There fare musicians whe have enough technical mastery of their instrument ta win aver an audience with sheer vitosity in the latter stages ofa performance, even after an indifferent or bad alap, but 2 connoisseur Will not be sttisfied with such compensations. Not surprisingly, therefore, the anecdotes about the excellence of some or othe: great ‘musician (usualy of the past are more likely 0 be about how he could Sing one note ina special way, or improvise on three notes for an hol, rather than how fast he couldsing2 can This also reflects the apparen The rag alone 93 evelopment of North Indian classical music fom the slow, dignified derfmmeticulous, cowards 2 more overly virtuoso sile (a development a chis widely deplored by purists). Thus the old dhrupad veel style Pty now been almost completely superseded by khyal where the tiger is allowed much more freedom and where the vocal gymnastics scome into thelr wn. | do not wish to imply, however, that Kbyal is Grinferor gence, That would be a foolish disregard of Indian music way a5 well as disrespect to some of the finest musicians of this Sgnury. Nor should one necessary sec dhrupad and kbyal as frreconcilable opposites. The sigeificant point is that khyal singers are (hen held in special esteem when they have derived alarge measure of their art and knowledge of music from the dhrupad traciion, iis sil ienenally acknowledged that for the most reliable and pure version ofa fag one must consult a dhrupad musician. The kind of alap ~a slow, ferious and extended exposition of the rag, without rhythmic ccompaniment ~commonly heard ip instrumental recitals a farther legacy of dhrupad. This point is emphasised by Ram Narayan, and can tIs0 be applied to other leading musicians, for example Ravi Shankar find Ali Akbar Khan. The characteristics of ag, To discuss alap isto discuss the whole concept of rag. Since there is no adequate brief definition of rag — the shortest and least helpful to the ‘Westerner being the racitional Sanskrit aphorism ‘Rafjayatlitragah’ (that which colours is rag’) itis necessary to list the main elements tuhich make up this highly sophisticated melodic system. Once these ‘elatively simple theoretical points have been discussed it will be possible to proceed towards an understanding of the subtleties In pexformance. Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy has proposed the following chief characteristics (which | have paraphrased by which onerag canbe cstinguished from another: (1) scale; (2) ascending and descending line; G) transience; ( emphasised notes and register; (9) intonation and obligetory tenbellishments (1271: 45). The discussion should alsa include the time ‘lily when therag performed and ts mood, but toalarge extent the time of performance fs subsumed by number (@) bove, and the mood — 94 nian musi in performance Theregalone 35 Cor sentiment (asa in Sanskrit) is too conjectural and unreliable to serve t that most of the tuo hundred oF s0 rags of North Indian classical music} |The ag after which the that is named, however, may not use exactly the same notes asthe derived that. For example cag Marva uses fewer than the seven notes, and rags Khama), Kafland Bhairvt use notes in addition to those given In the that Tt will be seen, apart from the convenient coincidence of the North Indian natural scale (Bilaval that) with the Western natural scale (C tmalor), that there are ather parallels between six of the thats and the |. Western (Church) Modes; the remaining four thats have no equivalents in Western music and consequent'y sound the most unusual and ( Otel Tiyan "inoue Rat eee tad GnoaeiMaehden ee) ‘ati eed Rea * Bhai E-mode (Phrygian) ines “The way the scale jsused inrag isvery important. Very few rags permyy straight ascent and descent of thesuccessive notes oF a complete thay Ir the rag s basicaly heptatonic it will almost certainly contain all the nates in descent (avroh) but omit one er two rites in ascent iaroh) for example ra Bhimplasi (Ex. 47) 2 SE where the ascent is pentatonic and the descent heptatonie. in a pentatonic rag the typical aroh-avrob is straight up and down using all fotes sincean ascending or descending line, like thorag sel, requires 8 minimum of five notes tarob-avroh is further complicated by the use of accidentals and crooked motion, An example isthe aroh-avrob or rag Darbari which ‘was taught to Ram Narayan by Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan (Ex. 48 ue Ss The most extreme example | can recall i given by Ram Narayan for ag Misra Bhaird. The basic scale of Bhairv is Bhatkhande’s Bhai that {see Ex 46), The word misra suggests a mixture, and means that a accidentals may be used, Here the aroh does contain all seven notesof hair, but tis sill much simpler than the avrah, which usesall welve notes in a very crooked motion (Ex. 4). bug f | \ i 1 | \ { | | | The rg alone 97 ISS in fat, Few traditional North Indian musicians would be happy with aeiple straight up and down aroh-avroh claiming that this would not Sipresent the tue line of theragasitis performed, or focus those notes ‘iit special importance. Ths leads to adscussion of thetwo important ites ina rag, called the vad and samvaci ‘vec) rag must have the nate, andall buta very few have either Ma, cerPa, or both, a pertect fourth o ith, respectively, above Sa; possibly Sloss notes could be replaced by Maa witone above Sa The drane Wiemslly reinforces the 5a and either Ma or Pa, though it must be sald atone of Ram Narayan’ favourite choices of drone notes (played on the ombura) is Sa and Ni, Inevitably, then, Sais an important indeed tesential, note in any rag. Paradoxically, however, there are rags in ‘nhich Sa & omitted for Tong stretches of melody, and otherwise Tendered without emphasls, Ar example isthe wall known rag Marva. 93 ‘Sweak and often omitted although itis presenti the drone. Marva isa special ease inthatilsscale (ee Marva that Lx 46) omits Paanddoes nt Contain the natural Ma, For one thing this means thatthe choice of a fecond drone note is most likely to be Ni (asi always is when Ram ‘Narayan plays this rag) and for another it means that there is no note in the consonant relationship ofa perfect fourth or ilth witha. This helps txplain why Sa is relatively weak: Indian theory has always recognised theimportance of the consonant intervals of perfecefourth and fifth (as well as octave) and this the bass of vadi and sarmvad. Nowadays these fre hwo notes in a rag which are generally, though not abways, a perfect fourth or filth apart. Of the two the vad i the more important, and is Complementedin the opposite tetrachord by thesamvadi. Any note ofa fag including Sa, is pote nally vac orsarmvadi.In the eatystagesof the dapthe vadi and samvadishould heesablished by such things greator intensity, longer duration, frequent repettion, and pauses after the note. The listener, however, must notbe blamed for uncertainties. [tls ‘gimptomatic of the rift between theory and practice that the adi and ‘ainvadi do not always emerge asthe strongest rotes ofthe ag, or the ‘musilans differ in their choice of vadi and samvadi for aparticulat rag, i or even that they differ In thelr definion af the terms. ‘To return to the example of fag Marva, the vad and sarvadi are sual given at RePand Dha respectively which means thatthe interval Setwcen them corresponds toaminor sixth rather than the customary = : 4% Indian musi in performance y crfec fourth o fifth Performances of Marve often seem to tresthe | Pee core than the RG®, Oneway this ay happen isi the note come, | pretest beatol the, ahich will automaticaly tend toaccentuatex, | ratact that this beat as we sal see nthe next chapter i called the TEs fasted Ram Narayan to propose one definition of sama ashe Sele hich alison thoser Withoutgolnginto the lity or otherwise Delhi tserion lihik he significant point shat here may now beg (, Sueccequalny between sad andsanivac, wo the extent that one may Eeconrutea wih ihe other. An example which supports ns was given fy Ram Narayan to show fom one can improvise otound the ad ans nna of ag Marc. He sang the phases in Ex 50 { ps0 inwhich Dha actualy occurs more times than Reb, akthough ReFisuse [ move as the nate on which phrases end. Besides vadl and samvadi mention should be made of anuvadl and vivedi, In ancient theory these referred to notes which were relatec by imperfect consonance (anuvadi) or by the dissonant Intervas tequivalenttoasemitone of major seventh (viva), Nowadaysthesetvo } ferms are not used 2 great deal, but when they are anuvadt refers to ( notes other than the vac and samvadi, and vivadi to notes which ate foreign to the rag bur which may be slightly touched upon te heighten the effect ofthe rag, 2¢ well sto demonsiratethe musician's commanc ‘of the material, What does not seemto have changed over the centurie: isthe underlying beliel ina hierarchy of notes. Interestingly, sn analogy Is made with social hierarchies. Kauimann quotes a Sanskrit vers, ‘which he gives the fllowing varslation: 'The vad isthe king of the Rotes; the samvadi is the minister; the vivadl is the enemy: and the muvee the vassal (1968: 6) ‘Although there are doubis about the precise definition and | Idenfication of vac and samvad!\t should not be assumed thatthe | whole concept has declined in Importance. There are numerois [ The ag alone 99 examples where a difference of vac and. samvadl is almost the sole etdrnso distinguishing between two rags, Bhupal and Deskor are both sratonie gs using the same notes: Sa Re Ga Pe Dhs (all natural) Frerefore, astraight up and down aroh-avroh is permittedin both. The Giierence between them is the vad} and sarmadi: Ca and Dha in hupall, and Oha and Ga in Deskar, respectively. Obvious a clear distinction between the relative importance of vad) and samvadl must be made fo these sags. Ram Narayan’s phrases 10 illustrate the diierence benween them focused immediately on Ga and used a slide from Padown to.Ga in the case of Bhupai, and brought outthe patterns DDhiSs Dha Re and Ga Pa Ga Dha in Deskar. similarly fin Marva the Ga B stressed there is a danger of confusing the rag with the similar 12g Puri. in a live performance there would be little chance of confusing ‘Bhupali wth Deskar, since the former san evening rag while the later isa matning one. Bhatkhande maintained thatthe position ol the var) and samvad) determine the time of day the rag should be performed, ‘and vice versa, Simply ifthe vadl is in the lower part of the octave {gurvang), which can be from Sa up to Ma or Pa, the rag is performed beeen soon and midnight, and itis in the upper patt ofthe ocave {ueang), which ean be from Ma of Pa up to 83, the rig is performed between midnight and noon. If the vadl is Sa, Ma, or Fa, then the rag ‘nay be performed in either period; in other wordk, vad alone will not deermine the time of performance. Bhupall and Deskar fi this feplanation: Ghupali, an evening raz, has Gz as vaal, which fs in the purvang, and Deskar, a morning rag, has Dla as vac which i in the ‘acang, tn practice, there must abviausly be a more specific time than merely some time during a period of owelve hours, and Bhatkhande’s feslanations do go furthers In some cases musicians cin be very precise: for example, Malkos is thought of asa midnight ag, Marva asa Sunset rag, Lalit asa dawn rag, and so on, but in practice one may hear 3 ‘ag performed three oF four hours away from is customary time. Few ‘musician, or theorists for that matter, are clear about the origin ofthe time theory, though Ram Narzjan is aware of the physiological changes through the day, mentioning pulse and breathing variations. Headmits, however, that he sdheres tothe ime theory because tie a radion he has been taught t@ respect and against which he sees no reason £6 400 Indian music in performance The ag alone 101 ‘rebel. This typical of indian musicians Those fewwhoactively oppose {| gamak, inits general sense, ‘ornament’ or’embellishment issomething fhe time theory do 29 mainly on grounds that il force many rans ng, ablivion 1s concert times become more standardised. (They aso col tnvlous eyes at South Indian musi, whichis not restricted by a ime theory) This appears to be a plausible argument, but R overlook, eran poins Radio broadcasts of music in India commence stabout? fim, and continue, a intervals, unt about Tl p.m Allright public. { concerts are atl quite common, ae are morning. and_alternony concerts, especialy on Sundays. Commercial recordings make rag, of Any time of day svalable. Here, of course, the time theory canbe doubly violated, fist by the musician who may well ecord ag aan unsuitable tine, nd secondly bythe istener who maylien to tatany time The practic of mixing two 29s, for example the moming Bhairav with the evening Bahar, s another way of avoiding theresteiction ofthe. [ timetheory Another way sregmala,akind of medley of rags which may be from any tine of day? ‘There are all obvious arguments. From a musican’s point of view, however, there are considerations which may escape te layin Rom Natayanirsststhat even fcertanragsatepertormediessinpubliethey | willnor necessarily dhappear, because they must sil form part ofthe ‘musician's repertoire he is to maintain the rag tradition. Since Indian | \ ‘musicians on the whole seek to uphold the tradition of keeping rags “pure this means that they must know not only the specificrag but alse all ether rags which are closely related to itand with which ican easy becontused, Therefore, to playaneveningrag correctly one must know 1ags from other times of day. Deskar were a rare ragit would sill have to be in the musician's mind when performing Bhupali otherwise he ‘could find himsel na no-man’s-land between the two rags, er, warse sill, be found there by the more knowledgeable members of his audience. In the preceding discussion of Bhupal, passing mention was made ot 4 downward slide trom Pa to Ga, which helps characterise the 2g Indian music has a great variety of ornaments, and to do justice t this subject would require 2 chapter on its own. Collectively these ‘Ornaments are known as gamaks, but gamak alone can alzo efer to one particularornament,which may bedese lbed asa slow orfsstoscilation about a note, usualy extending to the note above or below. To call | Sip misnomer. Undoubtedly gamak does beautify @ note, bu such Enalshwords suggestsomething addedandinessential, whereas emake fan be an integral part of ¢ note and not to use itwould violate the rag. ‘his isa difficulty of Indian music which musi be mastered end not used indiscriminately. Apart from ceriin rags which have particule gamaks fon paniculae notes different instruments as well as eferent wentes of tnusi, instrumental or vocal, tend to specialise in specifc emaks, On the sarangi the main ones, according Ram Narayan, are gennah itself and mind, which isa slide in one direction between tie notes, (The inference isthat if these are the most important ones on the saranglits because they are the most important ones in vocal music, Mence in Nth Indian classical music in general) Because of is lack of frets and the relative lack of friction between fingernals and string, and because itutes a bow, the sarangi is not only able to produce extended and susined mind but also to come nearest probably af all Indian insiumentsf0 reproducing all the garnaks of that most vesatile and fiee of lastruments in Indian musie: the human voice. When an Indian musician talks about gamak he Usually emphasises rot only the correct movement of the gamak but ako the carrect Ironation. This isa subject ta be approached with the urmost caution, since it has been at the centre ofa fierce controversy for many years, ‘ancient theory divided the octave into twenty-two not necessarily ‘jal satis. The word srut is stil commonly used tolay. As we have slready seen, however, the octave currently divided into only twelve named degrees. It wotld seem, logically, that there cannot be a fixed scale of tventy-two srutis, otherwise one would expect each sruita be defined and included in the nomenclature, In fact there is no standardisation and the stutis have taken on @ new, mare flexible meaning, without~and this must be stressed disanpesring altogether Fev, if any, musicians would totally disclaim the importance of srs, but they tend to give conflicting, often purely personal, definitionsand numbers. According to Ram Narayan, Ustad Abdul Wabid Khan used 10 say he had his own set of iwenty-twosruts.Itseems thatthe musicians Piary concern & nor with an overall arrangement of mieratones within an octave but rather with the intonation of particular notes. Thus ‘one may speak of the Rein rag Das asbeingslghtlyMatterthan the Re in 182 Indian music in performance ag Yaman (both Re's being natural or of the Re? inrag Bhairav ab ery fat, Such examples are common and exsily obtained trom Jusicians, Perhaps sti should consequently be regarded as inflex.on Within a limited concext rather than as some abstract and rigid system of tricrotones. The following remark made by Ram Narayanis most telling In this respect: ‘Some people will talk about, say, number threesrutifor ‘Malkos, But if you don’t feel comfortable and convinced why should You sing that number three srutit’ The lack of agreement on their precise nature and the lack of consistency with which they ae used in performance prevent sruis from being a reliable distinguishing factor Between ays. Those traditional musicians who have aclear conception Gf ruts and a high degree of consistency in their use may be done an injustice by these remarks and by the conclusions of recent researcht bout the truth may be tha this aspect ofthe ‘purty’ of rags is declining the fastes, : Iti significant that the objections to the use of the small indian harmonium, now probably the most widely used instrument in Non India, centred on its inability te render the gamaks and satis. A good player ean crest the illusion of certain garnaks, but there Is no way of changing the twelve pitches to the octave without dismantling the instrument. Ic is the fexibiity and freedom of choice allowed by traditional Indian instruments and the human voice thats particulary missed on the harmonium, though this unsatisfactory state of affairs has ‘evidently been endured with a considerable amount of enthusisin ‘Sut ike vad and sarvadi, i an example of an ancient theoreti! concept vestigiously present in madern Indian music but with altered meaning and importance. Another concep, from the same source, namely Bharata’s Natyasasta,fsrasa, the aesthetic basis ofthe ats. The Natyasasira was primarily concerned with the dramatic ats, andit in connection with them that eight,asas, or sentiments, were expounded. These were! Sringara (love) Vira (heroism) Fasya (humour) Bhayanaka (terror) Karuna pathos) Bibhawss (disgust Raudea (wrath) Adbhuta (wonder) Tr The ag alone 103 ase should not be confused with emotion. ‘an ordinary emotion funaval may be pleasurable o: painful; but a poetic sentiment (rasa), tvarscending the limitations of the petsonal attitude, I ited above such pain and pleasure into pure joy, the essence of which is its relish {sell (5. K- De 1963: 13) This helps explain why santa, calm based on indifference to wordly things, became the ninth rasa, and even why that, religious devotion, became, according to some, the tenth. The sceptic may reasonably ask how, far example, disgust can be insilledin f lstener to music, except in a negative way, but a more pertinent {question would be whether aparticularrag can suggest partcularcase {onsistenty, to the exclusion af all others, and insuchavay thatthere rnodoubt among all she listeners what thatasa is. The answre: is without ny doubt no. Very few musicians consider rasa important beyond subscribing to the belief that rag hasan aesthetic bass and dose ereste ome mood, (This mulch is canveyed by the Sanskrit definition of rag. {quoted on p, 93). Ram Narayan claims thathis musi all devotion, so Allthe aszs become one: Bhakti, This should, he says, be the basisnot ‘only of Indian music but of any classical music “The essential Sa ‘The foregoing discussion of rag is intended to give an idea of the knawiecge a musician must have befare sterpting lap, a5 well es to explain the necessity for concentration and humility. According toRam Narayan, the function of ap feta bring out the rut and personalityof the 1. For sruts! one should perhaps read: subtleties and intricacies ‘intonation, ornamentation and note values, Theattention todetalin the performance of rag suggests the analogies of looking through a mnjeroseope or running a film in slow motion. Itisonly in alap that such ‘meticulous care can and should be lavished on the rag. Ichas already bbeen stated thatthe kind ofalap one usually hearstoday, including that played by Ram Narayan, comes from dhrupad singing, where the rag Unfolds slowly, note by note. Taking a basic range of two octaves the normal procedure is to establish the middle Sa, gradually work sdonmatds to the lower Sa, then return tothe middle Sond gradualy Work upwards to the Sa an actave above, and heyond it ad lib, The {question arises that ifthe notes of the ra are only gradually revealed 104 Indian music in performance hen does the rg become established? Ir might seem that even ithe ‘Sz,and the vad and sarnvadiare brought outin the beginning tases they should be) the listener cannot be sure of therag untilhehas heart allits notes, Its further testimony to the extraordinary refinement ang subtlety of rag that in fact itcan be revealed from the way the very sy ‘ote is played or sung. Obviously this postulates not only an excelng ‘musician but also 2 perceptive and knowledgeable listener Ran, Narayan believes that Sa is different in every rag. He played the following examples to demonstrate how he would establish Sa s the beginning of an alap In various rags. |aitempt below to capture the fessence in notation and verbal descriptian, but of eaurse examgle ite these should be hearé. Fist of al, rag Gaur Sarang (&x. 5- 5 The Sa should be ‘very straight and powerful’ in Ram Narayan’s words, Itis approached by a quick lisando (mind) from Pa below, held loud, and tals off toa very short Nia semitone below. Next rag Multan ly 52), Ee Sais approached by aquick glisando from Ni semitone below, and & held fora shorter duration and atamuch lower dynamic level than the Sa of Gaur Sarang. It tals off to Nia semitone below, which is sight longer, ince clearer, than in Gaur Sarang. Next rag Patdip (Cx.53, 82 is approached in two stages: by a quick glisando from Pa to N {below which s held beforesliding quickly on to, which sisef held bur only very slightly longer than the Ni. Also there is a gradual | | | } | | The ag slone 705 vinwendo throughout the phrase, from the attack on Pato the fade- ut on Se Further examples were: in rag Yaman Sa should be approached NIRE 0; nag Darbari with a slight inflexion {com the note above, in other swords avery fast slide down from Re; while in rag Bihag it should be ey lous. Ti Bam Narayan’s ideas were taki to thes logical conclusion any rag could be distinguished from any other by the way thie one note is jntaned; such factors as thet, aroh-avroh, and vadi-samvach would be subsidiary. This is very much in keeping with the musician's concern for {putly of rag the absence of confusion with ther rags soit must be pure trom the very beginning. In practice, however, the process of ftablshing the rag unmistakably in the minds of the audience will tually take 2 litle longer. The outline of alap This 's fixed in the musician’s mind before playing: i will have been lear from his teacher, anditison this kind of skeleton thathe grafts his ‘ov expression and variations. This isnot to say that the teacher would have nocontrol over how his stuclent presents a fnishedalap, but there areinstances wherathe teacher may give only thebarestoutlinef rag anéleaveall the resttothe student. Thisis atthe oppositeextrome from siting together for hours working on every detail of @ performance, hich isthe more waditional method af tesehing, and it ust be sei that only he who has mastered at least one rag by learning al its details fromhis teacher can create his own material rom the outline af a rag am Narayan told me how he was ance given only two days’ aotice to aj rag Puri. on Lahore radio, Since he wasnoteure of therag hewent to Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan and explained the situation. The ster, who usually ook a long time over teaching, gave him the fllawing outline (ex 54, sills 106 Indian music in performance Not only was this methad of condensing so much into a fee phrases spanning hardly more than an octave unusual, but also the fac that ‘Abdul Wahid Khan told him to write it down, From this outline he Could, if intelligent enouzh, elaborate the rag for hours, making » Complete performance except for the short composition which woul have been learned separately. twas not necessary to say what wore the aroli-avroh or vad and saravadl since allthis information is contained in the outline, One can make out an ascent-descent pattern, abe circuitous, and tendency for phrases 10 centre on Ga with Ni as2 Secondary resting note. The very fist phrase, a mere three nots, fstablishes the telationship of these two notes; the next phrase Confirms it, and the next wo emphasise the importance of Ga. Ss, ‘Obviously a weak note in thisrag, is omitted from these inital phrases ‘would be reasonable, and correct, to assume that Ga and Ni are the vac nd samvadi respectively. It should also be clear that mere repetition nota reliable indicator of vad orsarnvadl, since Ma occurs more often than either Ga or Ni, yet isa relatively weak and unstable note 3 DBhrases must always move on from it to their completion. The ont [phrase which does not end on Ga 0: Niendson the upperSa. This nate Faust always be treated carefully. In this caseit is approached Ma Dia Ma®Ni Ni Re $2, Alap, which graduslly climbs upto this note, achieves akind of climax when it's sounded for the fist ime, and a large part the musician's artis achieving the maximum effect by exploring ways approaching it without violating the rag. Thai portion ofthe alze which ‘moves in the upper part ofthe octave and touches the upper Sais calles ‘the ana, and that portion which moves in the lower partof the octave {usually from Sa up to Pa, or Ma if Pais absent or particularly weak) s «alle stay. Since the upper Saisso exposed partly because rings out | | | | | The rag alone 0? pore on instrumentsand requires a greater efor tosing, the antra isa metre test ofthe musicians imagination nd undestanding of he a8 The seme does not apply so precisely to the middle Sa which his a Jrlerentcualtyand-vaiue tit shouldbe acknowledged here that there certain rags like Adane-Babarand Sohn whichshoulé gtualy start. ine upper cegister but most follow the gracualy ascending pattern jue ascussed) “Abdul Wahid Khan soutline of rag Purye served asamedeloftherag tromwhich Ram Narayan could genecatehisown material In hs vords, tehad the pertectformo! ene agin lesson af ten minutes. teould be thkenasthebasis for slap, ashes already been said but in order to show in more detail the sages of a ypical al, Ram Narayan gave the folowing outline in rae Yama which bs tactionally regarded as @ rentvely cosy rag 10 learn. from time to time he gave verbal Splanations, which are included In quotation marks with my oven commentary Ex 55) $8 “his last phrase, ust 0 say! have completed fone stage ofthe alepY’ is Gale mukhra Its costomary to diside thealap into sections by theuse lamukhr, he characteristics of which ae the repetition ofSaandthe | : 408 Indian music in peeFormance The rag alone 109 temporary use of a pul. Inthe firs wo phrases, Ram Narayan un, again to focus ON Pa. After ths eame Ex. 53 trnaments, but subsequently omitted them. Sa, a relatively Weak nox, ates Isentirely omitted until the mukhra. Nils emphasised 10 he extertihy | gg58 fone may think itis the vad, whereas itis the sarovadi and Ga isthe va, ‘The phrases move inthe lower actave, gradually extending downward, In performance they would probably reach the lower Si. The ap continued a5 in Bx. 38. lis again emphasised, but an octave higher than in the fst ction. it es ‘effect of increasing the expectation forthe upiper Sa, Then, 0 ae ‘you must know the antra™ (Ex. 60.) ie : "This isthe most appropriate way to touch S2"The emphasis on Niagaln teases a were, the upper Sa, which, when it finaly comes, fs sung, with extreme delicacy ‘resolving’ immediately back on to Ni. With this tne has “the complete rag, and the algp is finished! Of course, this tutline would be slightly altered and expanded in performance, aenost {ertainly going well above 52, and could last for anything between tout ten minuces and an hour The previous example was sung in quite slow, even notes. In practice, slap has no recognisable pulse; it moves slowly and durations are Uneven, depending on how the musician wants o convey the relative [ inporince of the nots. The brief mukhira alone introduces aregul e | mibeinsuch away that a strong beats suggested atthe end of t and { tabla player sometimes responds by softly tapping thesmalieroFhis ‘wo drums at that point (marked x in Ex. 61) “This chapter i finished’ (again by a mukhral. The vadi, Ca, is established, The music has begun is slow ascent from the region ofthe middle Sa, it continued as in &x. 58 depends on your intelligence.’ He then resumed (€x. 57) east { rated as an aborevated version ofthis one | ese 3 : | ‘The mukhra sung by Ram Narayan in the rag Yeman phrases can be Fais established, and further phrases would be added to this brief one, | 9 ae aa 110 Indian muse in performance Jor ala and tans The next section ofthe performance, called or, i characetied by { raul pileg Citouehett sectors ray sles eatked off Norse tiher by amok phi nih cvea faster tempo wil ec s fathering moment tis nerestng vo not ha Ram Narayan spot Elboth ap and ores having tal He dd not mean inthe fteralsonet Since inthis kind of aap thetabl player remains silent and thee ns Girt lua ih a cae egy eral Whats maanes that durations and rests aresgnificantand should not be thought ole purely arbitrary. for susulyslow tabegn with, butgradvalyinceaes Pec ange preparrg ieway or newest even faster secsce am Narayan ela tater portion of lap wkh tht does nog however repest the sume gradual unfelding ofthe rag over the a fange ofthe incrument orice, but tend concentrates on smal fattersof notes, perhapsas ew astwo or three Another featuteofjy, Rfough net obligatory, he ue ofgamake= pronounced sats routed notes whichis ery dient tonotate accurately Ramm Naryen tea brief examples ol ar, rag Varian’ 3. ©, ( | ( hich fs essentially a patern of three notes (Ni Re and Gal, and 6.6 a > ese ttn rea permeaerien eee eee sane ote eet ee ee BO ee ed paranoia eso Te ee ete SE sete | “ Therap alone m1 sings (cikaril and with very litle melodic development. The great siyai player Ustad Bundu Khan developed a kind of Jala for his RErument, where a stopped note is played with three fingers in rapid fuccesion, followed by the open string, for example Ex. 64 ® On the sitar or sarod the samme passage would be played as in £65 fam Narayan practised Bundu Khan’sjhala but discarded it feeling itto bemore suited to plucked instruments. efor finaly eliminating hala fram his repertoire he devised other kinds, which closely resemble some of bis paltas (8x5. 66-8. 566 112 Indian music in pedtormance ‘The thd example (Ex. 68) apar from being excellent practice materia fs 40 much lke a tan that it provides a link between jhala and ter ty latter being substituted by Ram Narayan for the former. The word tar comes from aSanskit root meaning to stretch, Literally then, theragi, streiched or extended over a wide range and usually at great speed, ‘Ram Narayan sang an example of tan in rag Yaman. He broke oft ster the last note, and this could well happen in performance, in which cage another, moze complete tan would quickly follow (E69) x69 Such rmsic s much better sulted te the rang! than jhals. Tete prestvarety ol ans dasiied according othe shape and artcusen Mich ace sade of erin the secon ofthe pertornance th a Berparirvent and incre vil be atl on tre tubject in Ore nets Chapters. The tas in he section preceding the en of the bla should te diferent since they are not governed by ain iferen ag ao, tmusthave dierent tans, because atan must obey the les of Ireap Dough mon tons ae Gl fast and fb) use many notes inf succession thercare exceptions, Aton could haveasfew osthree noes, Fit itwould be followed by alonger one, A tan could aoe with gamak.” Rar Narayan'sexample ofthis sounded no faster thanalip[ ff jor phrases, but moved freely aver a wide range, whereas aap phrases tend to concentrate onvery few notesat atime, andjor on smal note pattecns, exch one usually within a restricted range of about 2 fourthor fifth, Also, thetan was more fluid, in other words played legato With several notes to the bow, whereas jor phrases are short with rests Between them, and use many bows, often one per note Of the three sections, alap, jor and tan (er jhala) alap isthe mast Important. Some kind of alsp, however brief, is necessary, but 2 Performance may exclude either jor or fans (without fal) or both. thelr Yalue, apart from extending the perlormance, i to create vasiely ané show the technical capabilities ofthe instrument and its player. The) Sinners ce, Ee pierre ta oe ee | limitations of a strict discipline appealed to him. He agreed thai he does {not have the entire performance mapped out in detail in his head, in ie ; : 114 indian muse in performance an alap outline is expanded underlines the importance improvisation, a well as indicating its nature in Indian music. Much 4 depends on the musician's intelligence and imagination since these. {qualities which will enable him to extend and vary the material without

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