Glossary

Music of India, Japan, and southern Africa	Since the thirteenth century in India, the musical styles have been identified according to practices found in the north, known as Hindustani music, and in the south, known as Karnatic music. The art music of India is based on ancient traditions, associated with great artists, and founded on a long-standing theoretical system, and it has been written about by Indian scholars for centuries. An aesthetic basis called rasa underlies all Indian art music. Rasa is not just the music but the power of the music to convey thoughts, feelings, moods, and images. Indians value the relationship of their music to nature, to religious or philosophical; beliefs, and to time-the stages of life, the seasons of the year, the hours of the day. The art music of India is essentially highly developed melodic music. It is primarily improvisatory. This is music is based on a system of organizing music by means of an established melodic pattern known as a raga and a rhythmic pattern known as a tala. In Hindustani India, the sitar, tabla, and tambura are the three instruments used. Cassettes and film music are the two forms of music dissemination that reach the widest market. Japanese music should be seen as well as heard because it is entwined with visual and dramatic effects. Today, Japanese music exists side by side with music from western European culture. The Japanese value small-group performances-all the parts heard separately, rather than merged. One listens for the skill and beauty with which a musician manipulates traditional materials rather than exploring new ideas. Most Japanese music is learned by memory, from master teachers known as sensai. The music of sub-Saharan Africa has greatly affected American culture. Spirituals, blues, jazz, ragtime, and gospel all have roots in the music of southern Africa. African music is not for audiences who sit quietly and listen. Music in Africa may be performed in an open area with people all around rather than on a stage with an audience separated from the performers. African music is created to include more than music. Music is created for specific purposes, and it is seldom performed out of context. Traditional music still occupies a position of great importance in the cultures of black Africa, and it is an art in which nearly all Africans participate. Africans use an enormous variety of musical instruments, the most common being percussion. Instrumental music is important in musical life, perhaps as important as vocal music. Common instruments include drums and rattles of all sizes and shapes, one-stringed bowed fiddles, musical bows, xylophones, mbiras, natural trumpets, and flutes. Rhythm is the heart of African music; it is a more integral part of the music than melody or harmony. Traditional African music is usually performed by drum ensembles, although solo singing is common and is often accompanied by drums or other folklike instruments. Singing tends to be earthy in quality, melodies have a limited range, and harmonic progressions are unimportant in traditional African music. African music usually is fast moving.



Non-Western “classical” music	In all eastern European countries, including Russia, the tradition of western European concert art music flourishes, including music from composers such as Tchaikovshy, Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev, Chopin, and Dvorak.



Non-Western “popular” music	The most popular styles of African music are highlife, juju, and Afro-beat. Indonesian popular music is like popular music anywhere: diverse, commercial, hit oriented, start oriented, and distributed through the mass media, sometimes internationally. Most of it includes Western instruments, rhythms, and harmonies. Two of the most popular genres are kroncong and dangdut.



Cultural context	The functions of music (why music exists in a culture), performance practices (setting, dress, degree of formality), and the relationship between performer and audience may differ among cultures. These issues are common to all cultures and provide a common vocabulary for studying world music. All cultures value, use, create, perform, and listen to music in a variety of ways.



Performance contexts	The Japanese value small-group performances-all the parts heard separately, than merged. A public performance will involve from one to three musicians, except for the larger nagauta ensemble associated with Kabuki theater. Traditional music is typically performed in traditional garb. African music is not for audiences who sit quietly and listen. Music in Africa may be performed in an open area with people all around rather than on a stage with an audience separated from the performers.



Instruments and instrumental ensembles	In Hindustani India, the sitar, tabla, and tambura are the three instruments used. Africans use an enormous variety of musical instruments, the most common being percussion. Instrumental music is important in musical life, perhaps as important as vocal music. Common instruments include drums and rattles of all sizes and shapes, one-stringed bowed fiddles, musical bows, xylophones, mbiras, natural trumpets, and flutes.



Polyrhythms	Much African music combines simultaneous lines of different rhythmic patterns in a context where the beats of the different instruments may not always coincide; this results in polyrhythms and an irregular rhythmic feeling.



Raga	The basic means by which the melodic or pitch aspects of the classical music of India are determined. Ragas convey not only melodic shape but mood and aesthetic character, and they provide the basis for extended improvisations. The moods they represent usually are related to temporal elements, such as seasons of the year or times of day (morning or evening ragas).



Tala	The basic means for organizing the durational aspects-the rhythm and meter-of the classical music of India. They involve cycles of counts with regular or irregular subdivisions. For example, a 16-count cycle may be subdivided 4+4+4+4, or a 14-count cycle may be subdivided 5+2+3+4.



Western influences	Black African cultures are affected by urbanization, the media, cassette recordings, and playback technology, Christianity, and Western-style education. In time, people who were exposed to Western cultural practices influenced the development of music in Africa. African composers created choral music in Western classical style. African popular songs followed Western styles while retaining some African elements. Western harmonic practices and Western instruments, mainly the guitar, became common. These outside influences brought native Africans new ways of viewing their world, new tastes in music, new relationships between performers and audiences, and new ways of appreciating music performed in new contexts. Changes in music reflected changes in society, and new songs reflected these changes, expanding the repertoire of traditional African music. Western music greatly influenced the popular cultures of Africa. The most important influences were American jazz, rock, and soul; African-Latin music from the Caribbean region, particularly calypso, reggae, and the rumba; and the Brazilian samba. Indonesian popular music includes Western instruments, rhythms, and harmonies.

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