Cool Stuff 4: Indian Music

                                                                      

Namaste my fellow Valkyries!

(that's hello in Hindi)

                    

Can you guess where we're going in today's blog? Yes! it's Japan! Nah I'm kidding, it's totally India. I've always loved India's music and customs. Today we're digging a little bit deeper. I want to know what type of Indian music is out there, the exotic Indian instruments, and what goes on in Bollywood. Let's get into it.

Genres of Indian Music

    Indian music is divided into three main categories: Indian Classical, Folk, and Modern. So, classical Indian music is one of the most popular genres after western classical music. This music genre is also divided into two mainstream: Hindustani music, that is northern Indian tradition and Carnatic music that belongs to the South Indian traditions (Also if you'd like to know the differences between the two, there's a chart down below). Now, what are the characteristics of Indian Classical? Well, usually Indian classical music is monophonic (which is a melody and no accompaniment), and is melodically based on certain ragas and rhythmically talls. 

Difference Between Carnatic and Hindustani Music

Carnatic	Hindustani
72 ragas	6 major ragas
Instruments: Veena, Mridangam, and Mandolin	Tabla, Sarangi, Sitar,  and Santoor
Influences: Indigenous	Afghan Persian  and Arab
Only one particular prescribed  style of singing	Several sub-styles
Freedom to improvise	Scope to do variations  and improvise
Both Instruments and Vocal have  equal importance	More importance to vocal music

(Hindustani Vocals are more focused upon)

(Carnatic because of the Venna instrument the lady is playing)

    Next, we have Indian folk music. In folk music, there are seven different forms of it, but for my fingers sake I'm going to go into detail about three: bhangra, Rajasthani, dandiya (but if you wanna know the other four click here). But before we divide deep into these different forms, let me tell you a bit more about Indian folk music. Unlike, classical music, folk is centered around dancing, most of it is anyway. So In bhangra music, it's very upbeat and originated in Punjab, this form of music usually involves instruments like the dhol and dholak drums. Now, if you want a more western sound Rajasthani your guy. Rajasthani is all about symphony string, percussion, and string instruments, with a cup full of melodious renditions of folk singers. This form is also one of the most popular music forms in India. And last but not least is dandiya music. This type of music is the modern music side of folk that influenced traditional music. Below you'll see videos of that are dances and others are not. But try your best to listen to music in the dancing ones.

(Rajasthani)

( bhangra)

(Dandiya)

    And finally, we have modern Indian music, which is called Indipop, not Indie pop. Indie pop is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. While Indipop is Indian pop music. In 1966, pop music originated from a playback Singer named Ahmed Rusdi song called: Ko Ko Korina, in the South Asian region. And eventually, the music was adopted by India. In the 1980s Pop music in Indian started to become super popular guys like there were Pakistani singers, and siblings duos popping up, selling millions of copies. By the late 2000s, Indipop and Filmi music start competing. Due to the sudden rise of Film music,  many pop singers dropped their record labels and started singing for movies. As of today Indipop consist of remixing past Indian movie songs and adding new beats to them. Below you'll meet Chammak Challo, a famous Indian pop singer, enjoy :)

Interesting Indian Instruments

    So, there are A LOT of instruments in Indian and we've talked about a few in class, but really wanted to find some exotic ones and I found one that was pretty cool. The instrument is called the Morchang,  it's a mouth harp. The Morchang is mostly used in Carnatic music and categorizes under lamellphones which is just plucked idiophones. The instrument is made of metal, shaped like a horseshoe, and has two parallel forks that form the frame of the harp and the metal tongue in the middle. The instrument works by the musician hitting a little lever at the end of the harp, when it's hit it makes vibrations and the musician blows into it to make different pitches and rhythms. The act of playing this instrument is called the Morsing. Below you'll see a picture and someone playing the instrument. 

   

    

Bollywood

So for those who don't know what Bollywood is the name for the Indian movie industry. (you probably knew that tho) but something you may not know is that Bollywood movies are pretty sexist. Female Bollywood actress career usually starts slowing down when they hit their 30s or when they get married. Bollywood is all about showing the  "youthful" sexy bodies of women and 30 is considered old and undesirable in their eyes. Then in Bollywood movies, Heroines don't really exist. Women usually get roles that stroke the man's ego and aren't too loud, flirty, overweight, or funny. Commonly their characters fulfill the female stereotype: feminine, delicate, slim, sexy, quiet, a nice girl. Next, you have Bollywood movies that glorify domestic violence and controlling the women you love. The movies also justify hitting women as a way to display affection. (so affection am I right?) There are loads of other problems in Bollywood that revolved around sexism and even drug usage. It's pretty crazy guys, but their dances are off the chain. Below you'll see a picture from a Bollywood film, and a song that calls out the sexism in Bollywood :) enjoyyy

    

(Domestic violence) 

(this songs also says Vagina alottttt, so if you don't like it you should probably skip)

That's all folks... peace!

Works cited:

Shweta Mohtawww.technospot.in/about-shweta-mohta/A housewife with a passion for travel, et al. “Types of Indian Music.” Technospot.IN, 29 Aug. 2019, www.technospot.in/types-of-music-in-india/.

Admin. “Hindustani Music and Carnatic Music - Major Differences and Similarities.” BYJUS, BYJU'S, 9 Sept. 2020, byjus.com/free-ias-prep/difference-between-hindustani-and-carnatic-music/.

“Indian Pop.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_pop.

“Morsing.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Oct. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morsing.

Subramanian, Saranya. “10 Times Sexism in Bollywood Proved That We Need to Smash the Patriarchy.” Mirchi Play, Your Guide to Entertainment Online – Music, Web Series & Movies, 9 Sept. 2020, mirchiplay.com/humour/10-times-sexism-in-bollywood-proved-that-we-need-to-smash-the-patriarchy/.