The introduction to Indian Music introducing ragas begins by describing what a raga is not: a scale or a mode. It goes on to point out the essential features of raga music, the use of micro tones, ascending and descending scales, and then the introduction of rhythms, drones, and improvisation. It gives musical examples of each of these elements, and later goes over the construction of the music’s form and dynamics. Lastly, it distinguishes itself from Western musical practice, advising listeners not to approach it with a classical ear nor to confuse it for jazz music.

Rag Bhairav begins with flutes over a low twanging drone. The tempo is slow, and the dynamics are low. The movement of the flute seems to mirror the movement of the sitar part of a raga. The tabla comes in, and the piece seems to pick up a little more. The voice of the flute sounds similar to the timbre of the Bulgarian music we studied. If it weren’t for the tabla and the twanging, I’d say it was Turkish.

Tongue Twister is several people vocalizing rhythms. It sounds almost like scatting in jazz, but I have a feeling these are incredibly elaborate forms that they’ve internalized. I don’t think they’re saying anything, but I can’t be sure. The male voice and the female voice seem to trade off, with the female often coming in for brief interludes in harmony with the male. The rhythm speeds up, and the two seem to trade off more often. The piece ends with both singing, and rather abruptly.

Tihai 1 sounds like a vocal illustration of a particular rhythm. I can’t make out the rhythm, but it seems to have a first and second section. Tihai 2 sounds much the same to me.

The musics I listened to for today were pop musics, and therefore fundamentally cosmopolitan in today’s reckoning of the term. They generally seemed to adapt Andean folk forms in one of two ways: either they adopted the structure of earlier existing regional forms and translated them to a more modern instrumentation or they adopted the melodies from earlier styles to existing contemporary forms. An example of the former was Valacia, by Chico Los Destellos. In another version, the piece is done entirely on high register string instruments. In this one, electric guitar is the primary mover in the piece. Chicha music, as demonstrated in El Arguajal by Los Shapis uses a latin-jazz ensemble to recreate a local sound. Vocals are included, as are electric guitars, shakers, and a western drum kit. Another of their songs incorporates electronic music, yet still comes across as distinctly influenced by regional aesthetics. Another song called Technocumbia was more hip-hop influenced, with a flute break. Rossy War’s Nunca Pense En Llorar was a full blown modern Latin R&B jam. Finally, Explosion’s Valio La Pena Esperar leads me to believe that they are some kind of modern Peruvian version of the Highwaymen, featuring Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and others.

Adhan (Call to Prayer)

I hear a single male vocalist, singing verses of uneven length with periods of silence (also, I think, of uneven length) interspersed between verses. The language is unfamiliar to me, but, from my limited exposure, sounds like Arabic. The clip sounds “Middle Eastern” to me, whatever that really means. It sounds vaguely plaintive and perhaps a little alarming, even haunting. At the same time, it is beautiful and sounds inspiring.

The Call to Prayer (ringtone)

I hear ambient noise at the beginning, maybe two drone notes? I can’t really tell. A male voice is singing over the background sounds, a similar sound to the prior vocalist. I don’t know why, but the voice sounds brighter over the other tones. A piano comes in at the end, which throws me for a loop a little bit. It is playing in a pleasant harmony with the other sounds, but seems a little out of place in the piece.

I’m guessing, by the titles, that these pieces are what I would call “religious music”. I’m also taking a stab in the dark here and say that they’re the Islamic call to prayer. Wikipedia confirms my suspicions.

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