British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Maria Lord
Reviewed work(s):
Inde: Percussions rituelles du Kerala / India: Ritual Percussion of Kerala; vol. 1: kshetram
vadyam; vol. 2: tayambaka
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 7 (1998), pp. 165-166
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060720
Accessed: 06/01/2009 20:01
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REVIEWS: RECORDINGS REVIEWS: RECORDINGS
of
song
titles
(often
in
many versions)
reaches 1515. The
eighth
and final
volume will contain the
remaining songs
(including
children's
songs
and
songs
of
parting) along
with indexes and
commentaries on the whole collection
and is
likely
to
appear early
in the
year
2000.
Volumes 6 and 7 continue with the
broad theme of
courtship,
love and
marriage begun
in volumes 4 and 5.
This results from an
early
editorial
decision to
arrange
the contents
by
textual themes
(for instance,
the
great
narrative collection that
parallels
the
work of Francis J. Child and Bertrand
Bronson is to be found in the first two
volumes). Arrangement
and
layout
follows that established in volume 1
with the melodies presented as
facsimiles of the fair
copies
made
by
Greig
and Duncan themselves and
associated texts set out underneath
each. A
system
of indexes makes it
possible
for one to locate items
quickly
in each volume and to relate them to the
manuscripts
themselves. As before,
Greig's
and Duncan's own comments
on each item are contained in the
"Notes" section at the back of each
volume, including
the sometimes
detailed commentaries that
Greig
published
with
song
texts that
appeared
in his
long-running
and
popular
column
"Folk-Song
of the
North-East", in the
weekly
issues of the Buchan Observer
between December 1907 and June 1911.
We must await volume 8 for the
general
commentaries and
analysis
of
texts and music in the collection as a
whole, and until it
appears
there is little
else to do than to
enjoy exploring
this
huge corpus
of
song
material collected
from one of the richest
song
traditions
in the British Isles.
Already
the
material is
finding
use
by
folk
singers
in Scotland itself
-
who are
feeding
their favourite
songs
and ballads from
of
song
titles
(often
in
many versions)
reaches 1515. The
eighth
and final
volume will contain the
remaining songs
(including
children's
songs
and
songs
of
parting) along
with indexes and
commentaries on the whole collection
and is
likely
to
appear early
in the
year
2000.
Volumes 6 and 7 continue with the
broad theme of
courtship,
love and
marriage begun
in volumes 4 and 5.
This results from an
early
editorial
decision to
arrange
the contents
by
textual themes
(for instance,
the
great
narrative collection that
parallels
the
work of Francis J. Child and Bertrand
Bronson is to be found in the first two
volumes). Arrangement
and
layout
follows that established in volume 1
with the melodies presented as
facsimiles of the fair
copies
made
by
Greig
and Duncan themselves and
associated texts set out underneath
each. A
system
of indexes makes it
possible
for one to locate items
quickly
in each volume and to relate them to the
manuscripts
themselves. As before,
Greig's
and Duncan's own comments
on each item are contained in the
"Notes" section at the back of each
volume, including
the sometimes
detailed commentaries that
Greig
published
with
song
texts that
appeared
in his
long-running
and
popular
column
"Folk-Song
of the
North-East", in the
weekly
issues of the Buchan Observer
between December 1907 and June 1911.
We must await volume 8 for the
general
commentaries and
analysis
of
texts and music in the collection as a
whole, and until it
appears
there is little
else to do than to
enjoy exploring
this
huge corpus
of
song
material collected
from one of the richest
song
traditions
in the British Isles.
Already
the
material is
finding
use
by
folk
singers
in Scotland itself
-
who are
feeding
their favourite
songs
and ballads from
these volumes back into a still
lively
song tradition, and the
song
texts
themselves
provide
remarkable
insights
into the
occupations, pastimes,
and
world view of the
essentially
rural
communities of the North East of
Scotland in the late nineteenth and
early
twentieth centuries.
PETER COOKE
University of Edinburgh
pcooke@holyrood.ed.ac.uk
these volumes back into a still
lively
song tradition, and the
song
texts
themselves
provide
remarkable
insights
into the
occupations, pastimes,
and
world view of the
essentially
rural
communities of the North East of
Scotland in the late nineteenth and
early
twentieth centuries.
PETER COOKE
University of Edinburgh
pcooke@holyrood.ed.ac.uk
Recordings
Inde:
percussions
rituelles du Kerala /
India: ritual
percussion of Kerala;
vol. 1: kshetram
vadyam;
vol. 2:
tayambaka. CD, VDE-Gallo CD-
971-2
=
AIMP
54-5; 72 min., 71
min.; 1998.
Recordings,
notes and
photographs by
Rolf Killius.
These
very
welcome
recordings
will be a
valuable resource for
anyone
with an
interest in South Indian musics.
They
were
recorded
by
RolfKillius in
1995-6, as
part
of a
project
with the National Sound
Archive. All but one of the
items, the kulal
paittu (for
which a
performance
was
specially arranged),
were recorded live
during temple
festivals in central Kerala.
As a
package
the discs
present
a
good
introduction to the different
types
of
Keralan instrumental
temple
music.
However, in order to
give
the listener a
wide selection of
genres
(some
performances
of which last more than 2
hours),
volume 1
presents only
the final
sections of each of the
genres.
While the
practical
reasons for this are obvious on a
70-minute
CD, the
performances
are
inevitably misrepresented;
the
unfolding
of the
pieces
over a
long
time-scale is an
essential
part
of their character. It would
have been
particularly interesting
to hear
the
"alapana"
section of the kulal
pattu.
On the
plus side,
volume 2
presents
a full
Recordings
Inde:
percussions
rituelles du Kerala /
India: ritual
percussion of Kerala;
vol. 1: kshetram
vadyam;
vol. 2:
tayambaka. CD, VDE-Gallo CD-
971-2
=
AIMP
54-5; 72 min., 71
min.; 1998.
Recordings,
notes and
photographs by
Rolf Killius.
These
very
welcome
recordings
will be a
valuable resource for
anyone
with an
interest in South Indian musics.
They
were
recorded
by
RolfKillius in
1995-6, as
part
of a
project
with the National Sound
Archive. All but one of the
items, the kulal
paittu (for
which a
performance
was
specially arranged),
were recorded live
during temple
festivals in central Kerala.
As a
package
the discs
present
a
good
introduction to the different
types
of
Keralan instrumental
temple
music.
However, in order to
give
the listener a
wide selection of
genres
(some
performances
of which last more than 2
hours),
volume 1
presents only
the final
sections of each of the
genres.
While the
practical
reasons for this are obvious on a
70-minute
CD, the
performances
are
inevitably misrepresented;
the
unfolding
of the
pieces
over a
long
time-scale is an
essential
part
of their character. It would
have been
particularly interesting
to hear
the
"alapana"
section of the kulal
pattu.
On the
plus side,
volume 2
presents
a full
165 165
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.7 1998
tayampaka performance
from which the
listener can
gain
a sense of how the other
pieces might develop.
The discs
present
a
variety
of Keralan
instruments which are
highlighted
on
different tracks on volume 1; the
maddalam
(barrel drum)
on track 1 and
the centa
(double-headed cylindrical
drum)
on track 4
(and
on volume
2).
The
paicavadyam
ensemble is featured on
track 2,
here
consisting
of: the two
variable tension
hourglass drums, the
timila and itakka
(which
has no
connection with the
"talking
drums" of
Africa,
as claimed in the
text);
the
trumpet kompu (which
the text
reports
as
playing
three notes,
elsewhere said to
play
in
pairs
on sa and
pa);
the
maddalam; and the ilatalam (flat
cymbals),
which
appear
on all tracks. The
oboe kulal
appears
on track 3. The term
kulal,
more often
thought
of as
referring
to a
(Tamil) flute,
is used here for an
instrument
very
similar to the
widespread
mukhavlna. Interestingly,
there are
striking
similarities between
passages
on
the kulal
recording
and that of the
Karnmatak
ndgasvaram repertory.
Although
the notes are
generally
clear
and informative the
description
of form
and talam is a little
sketchy (17-18,
volume
1).
A fuller outline of the
processes
at work can be found in Rolf
Groesbeck's article in
Ethnomusicology
1999 ("Cultural constructions of
improvisation
in
Tayampaka:
a
genre
of
temple
instrumental music in Kerala,
India", 43.1:1-30).
The transliteration is inconsistent in
places (between
the dental
tlth)
and a
stricter
approach
would have been
welcome (c instead of ch for instance).
However, these are minor details which
do not
seriously
detract from these
highly
recommended discs.
MARIA LORD
The New Grove dictionary
of
music and
musicians
Lord_Maria@macmillan.co.uk
166