Indian Music: Nationalistic or cosmopolitan?

When we think of nationalistic music we so often refer to music that emerged during the Romantic Era. We think of music from such countries as Russia, Czechoslovakia, Scandinavia, Spain, the United States and Britain. Considering that musical nationalism is a style, incorporated in music by a composer/musician, that expresses the characteristics of their own country, it is clear that many other countries and cultures express this style in their nation’s music. Indian classical music certainly pertains to this nationalistic style, as it expresses Indian culture, incorporates folk music and inspires religion. Furthermore, the music of India is easily distinguishable through its strong and manifest trademarks, much like the spices of curries or the exotic colours of silk saris worn by South-Asian women, which immediately indicate where the music is from. On the other hand, much of Indian music represents a universal idea of the world rather than the mind of the composer. Perhaps then it could be argued that the music is more cosmopolitan than nationalistic?

Indian culture is pluralist and the different cultures and races that have co-existed in India have influenced each other greatly and more specifically influenced each others music. India hosts fifteen major languages, almost as many alphabets and dozens of regional dialects. Indian civilisation is so complex and new things are constantly influencing the country, which greatly contrasts with the somewhat monolithic nature of much of the rest of the modern world. In spite of these influences and changes to India, through all the changes of time and history, the traditions of Indian culture, society and more importantly music have continued to persist. It seems the ancient and old have managed to exist alongside the modern.

I will now explore some of the history of Indian music and it’s influences and eventually come to a conclusion as to whether Indian music is purely nationalistic or just cosmopolitan.   India has a continuous history that stretches back 5 thousand years and its music is one of the oldest unbroken traditions of the world. Indian classical and folk music has always been very closely related to religion and this style of music was inspired by the ancient sacred Sanskrit scripts of the Hindus, the Vedas. One of the four Vedas, the Sama Veda, which is believed to originate from 1000 BC, consisted of hymns or chants to be used at religious ceremonies, which are still used to this day. Bhajans are religious, devotional songs that are rooted in Vedic tradition. Bhajans were primarily sung as an offering to God and would either be sung by a soloist accompanied by violins, flutes, harmonium and drums or sung in a congregational call-and-response manner.

Hindus believe that music is patronized by the goddess Saraswarti, the consort of Brahma, who is often represented in the form of an image seated upon a lotus flower playing a stringed instrument. There are two main forms of Indian classical music. Hindustani music, developed in North India and Carnatic Music which was developed in South India. Hindustani music was developed after the subcontinent was invaded by the Moguls (whose culture was derived from Persia) from the 13th century onwards. The Mogul Empire was in power from the early 16th to the mid 19th centuries and caused considerable cultural interchange. Persian and Arabic architects, painters, poets and musicians migrated to be influenced by the arts. Musicians were influenced by each other and would experiment with each others instruments. Mogul emperors introduced the mode of singing as well as several of the modern ragas, which contain a mixture of Persian and Indian influences. Furthermore, the sitar was introduced from Persia and adapted by the Mogul emperors.

The classical music of Southern India, Carnatic music, was named after the Carnatic plateau which dominates the middle of the inland south. Its roots lie in the distant past in courts and palaces of rajas and maharajas. It has a history that can be traced back to 2500 years ago. Carnatic music is centralised on vocal music and many of the song texts refer to events in the two Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which were written from oral sources between 400 B.C.E and 400 C.E. The Puranas, an ancient Hindu literature, were filled with myths of Gods and Goddesses of popular Hinduism. These stories would often occur as themes for Indian music and dance. All compositions in Carnatic music are songs or melodies with words. The composer is normally also a poet who writes his or her own lyrics. Sometimes the song text focuses on love but is more likely to focus on religious themes. 

Many Westerners would consider Indian classical music and folk music to be the same thing and all to be classed under the title of ‘folk music’. However, Indian classical music is very different to folk music. Indian folk music was the oldest form of Indian music. Before instruments were invented, people would sing and compose songs while they worked. Folk songs are often associated with agricultural work, games and weddings and were an important part of Indian culture. Pilgrims would sing songs called ‘chindus’ when travelling to sacred places. Folk music survives through being handed down vocally from generation to generation. Here are three examples of different types of Indian folk music;

The Kummi:This was a song and dance performed without musical instruments and was very popular among women and girls.

The Villadi-Pattu: This originated among various hill-tribes. It is a very ancient type of folk song used in the extreme South of India.The Villadi-Pattu had educational values for illiterate people in villages who did not have the advantages of cities. It seemed to be dying out before the advent of political independence. Since independence, this form of folk music has developed in order to educate the villager in the subjects of public health, sanitation, social welfare, morals and religion. 

The Bhajan:As I mentioned earlier this was a form of religious song used not for entertainment purposes but for means of corporate expression of the worship of some deity. It was used for religious devotion with a focus on elevating the human consciousness of the audience which would allow them to understand the eternal essence of the universe.

Like most folk music around the world, the popularity of Indian folk music has been weakened by the arrival of movies and pop music. However, it does still prevail and the songs and chants are still handed down from generation to generation.  There have been numerous influences on India and its music over the years. As I mentioned earlier, influences from Persia as well as English colonists who brought railways, democratic systems of government, bureaucracy, universities and European instruments such as the violin, harmonium and clarinet. India was colonized by the British for close to two hundred years and during this time no aspect of Indian society was left untouched. Modern Indian law, education, medicine, literature and art all manifest colonial influence.

The only form that does not bear colonial influence is Indian classical music, both Hindustani music and Carnatic music. However, there has still been a significant influence from the West on Indian music, for example, the presence of certain instruments brought over from the West, and the film/Bollywood and pop music industry. These crossovers are due to the globalization of music through television, movies, CDs and cassettes. Furthermore, there have been connections discovered by South Indian musicians since the 1970s between jazz improvisation and India’s classical music traditions. This then allowed ’fusion’ to be discovered and many Indian classical musicians, such as Ravi Shankar, worked with American and European jazz and rock musicians. John Coltrane had hoped to study with Shankar for a period of 6 months but sadly he died before the lessons could go ahead. However, Coltrane found a way of incorporating the music of India into his compositions even before studying with Shankar. Indian instruments like the sitar and tabla feature on recordings by pop stars. George Harrison studied the sitar with Ravi Shankar and was greatly interested in Indian classical music and religious philosophy.

After studying the various types of Indian music,  and through finding out their influences and purposes, I have come to the conclusion that Indian music is neither singularly nationalistic or cosmopolitan but rather a mixture of both. It is clear that Indian classical music certainly pertains to musical nationalism, as it incorporates many of the characteristics of Indian culture. For example, religion, which has always had a considerable influence on music from it’s very earliest stages. Furthermore, the folk music educated people about morals and the correct ways to live out their lives. On the other hand, the music, much like the culture, can be seen as cosmopolitan because of it’s diverse range of influences from other countries and the fact that the music can be perceived as more of a universal idea, open to every race, rather than a national one. Through music, ‘human consciousness can be elevated to a degree which allows one to understand the eternal essence of the universe as a whole‘, and this appears to be the more apparent aim of Indian music. Therefore, the music seems to hold on to its traditional characteristics, while being open to influences from other cultures and allowing the music to be accessible to all.