Indian classical music

[Chris Chovit <cho@gomez.jpl.nasa.gov>]

I noticed from the looper index that several folks were interested in
Indian Classical music.  This is exciting to me -- and I would like to
start a thread in this direction, beacuse I feel that this music (ie. the
premises behind this music) is very condusive to looping.

 [I'm sure traditional Indian classicalists will shout "blasphemy" for this
statement, since improvisation is such an important part of the music --
but I don't think that looping and improvisation need be mutually exclusive
-- I'm sure many of you will agree with me on this, as many of you have
stated the desire for continuously altering or varying loops, instead of
using pure repetition].

Let me describe briefly what I understand as the basis of (North) Indian
classical music:

1.  The music is based primarily on rhythmic and melodic content, not
harmonic (as in the European tradition).

2.  The rhythmic aspect of a piece is based upon a "tal", or rhythmic
cycle.  This is defined by a pulse tempo and a number, where the number
represents the number of pulses in the rhythmic cycle.  Most Indian music
uses cycles of 24, 16,  12, 10,  8, 7,  or 6, but any number (integer > 1)
is theoretically OK.  The "one" or first beat of the rhythm cycle is called
the "sum".  The key to musical interaction is for all the musicians
involved to hit the sum.  Within the rhythm cycle, the musicans may go off
separately, with incredible rhythmic complexity and improvisation, but you
can be sure that he will end up (along with the other musicians) right back
on the sum.

3.  The melodic aspect of a piece is based upon a "raga".  A raga can be
thought of simplistically, as a melodic scale, but it is more than that.
Often, there will be a "ascending" and "descending" scale, meaning the
performer will play one set of notes when ascending in pitch, and a
(slightly) different set of notes, when descending.  There is more to a
raga than just the notes, though -- you can have two different ragas using
the same notes, by having different "tal's", or even by virtue of the way
they are performed (ie. the themes used) -- and this seems to be tied in to
the "emotional impact" or feel of the raga.

4.  Within these rhythmic and melodic constraints, the performer is free to
improvise, and to embellish basic themes -- so no two performances are the
same!!  To me, this is a major distinction between the Indian and European
classical traditions.

I don't mean to oversimplify the rich complexity of Indian classical music
-- there are many other forms, structures, and aspects to the music (I'm
sure plenty, of which, I am not aware).  But I mainly wanted to present the
basic rhythmic nature of the music.

So, since the whole concept is based on the rhythm CYCLE, you can see why
this may be condusive to looping.  By combining multiple loops of various
lengths, there will always be a sum (ie. beat "one"), which will occur at
the GCM (greatest common multiple) of the individual loop beats.
Improvisation would surely be different than in a classical raga, but there
is plenty of room for improvisation using current loopers.  Each loop can
be generated spontaneously, and then multiple loops can be combined in
different ways.

I'll write more later about using Indian music ideas with loopers/delays.
I'm curious what others have to say on this topic...

- chris

---------------------------------------
Chris Chovit
cho@gomez.jpl.nasa.gov
---------------------------------------