Pakistani Music

Pakistan music and instruments

- Central asian music encompasses numerous different musical styles originating from a large
number of sources. Though pakistan is part of south asia, its western part is considered as
extended central asia

- Pakistan is known for its unique vocals. The distinctive pakistani sound was formed with multiple
influences not only from various parts of south asia but also includes diverse elements from
central asia, persia, turkey, and the arab world.

Pakistan is known for its two vocal styles

• Ghazal – when making a ghazal, your poem should contain atleast five or more couplets

- And it should have a rhyme or repeated refrain.

• Qawwali – is a energetic musical performance of sufi muslim poetry which leads listeners to a state of
religious ecstacy to a spiritual relation with allah (god)

Instrumental music of Pakistan

• punjabi music strengthens the necessity of musical instruments in Pakistan, it is a region in south asia
and is devided into west Punjab, Pakistan and east Punjab India. Bhangra is one of the most recognized
form of Punjab which is based on the drum rhythm of dhol
Pakistan folk music

• Timbre: smooth

• Dynamics: mezze forte or medium loud

• Pitch: low/lower

• Rhythm: rising

• Form: binary form

• Texture: homophonic

• Harmony: more two people sing on contrasting part

Significant instruments of pakistan

Chordophone / string instrument

• Chardha – the name comes from the Persian “cahar- da”.

- carved from a single block of mulberry wood

- its shallow round body is covered with goatskin, and has a “wing” on each side of the neck.

• Sarod – has a length of 100 cm or 39 inches long.

- its among the most popular and prominent instruments

- the modern version has 4 to 6 main melodic strings, plus 2 to 4 others but we may say that it has 8
total strings

- it is made of coconut shell, tun wood, shikri, and ivory

- has a deep drum-like body

• Rubab – is also populair in northwest Indian and may be the cancestor of the sarod.

- carrved from a single piece of mulberry wood and coverd with skin.

- has a membrane belly and commonl has two or three main strings

- it has a lively and percussive sound.

- doesn’t have fingerboard, the strings are being stopped by the player’s fingers

• Harmonium- a kind of a portable wooden box, it was originated in west Bengal

- it plays an major character in pakistani music

- used to accompany Folk, Classical, Sufi, and Ghazal compositions for both music and dance

- it is created using wood, metal, brass, and cloth

- the keys are played and bellows are compressed simultaneously

Aerophone / wind instrument

• Alghoza – a paired woodwind instrument. Is traditionally used by Baloch, Saraki, Sindhi, Kutchi,
Punjabi, and Rajasthani folk musicians.

- It consists of two joined beak flutes, one for melody and other for drone (a long and sustained
sound) and is played by placing three fingers on each side of the reed

Chordophone / percussion instrument

• Tabla – a pair of hand drum, the small drum is classified as Dayan and the big drum is called Bayan.

- is shaped similar like the bongos

- frequently played in popular and folk music performances in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan,
Nepal, and Lanka.

- one of the main qawwali instruments used by sufi musician

- is made of hollowed out wood, clay, and metal

• Dholak – a two headed drum

- has a length of 45 cm and 27cm in breadth

- it is widely used in Qawwall performance.

- each head has different sizes, the small drum head is made of goot skin for sharp notes, the bigger
drum head is made of buffalo skin for low pitch

That’s all for our presentation

thankyou for your attentiveness and discipline.