Kamanja

The kamanja is a stringed instrument belonging to the fiddle family that is found in Arab traditions.  It is a type of rebab/spike fiddle with a round body that appears shishkabobed by the neck.  The body varies from being intricately carved to less complicated models with only two strings.  The body can be constructed from a simple coconut shell or more detailed wooden soundbox.  The body is covered with stretched skin, often goat or cow skin, the skin being glued down.  The neck is thick and the pegbox usually bears detailed carvings.    

On average, the instrument is about thirty inches from foot to neck.  There can be two to four strings (most commonly four) and they are tuned in fourths or fifths.  The range is limited and is barely over an octave.  The bow is slightly more curved than ones used for violin.  The musician remains seated while playing and rests the body of the instrument on his or her knee or on the floor.     

The kamanja's origin can traced to northern Persia.  Documentation of the instrument was made by 10th century music theorist and philosopher Al-Farabi.  The kamanja is still common in the Middle East and Central Asia.  The name and the instrument itself is widely spread.  Various locations in India and Asia have instruments resembling the kamanja and identified as rebab.  This instrument became widespread during the Ottoman Empire and is used for ensembles and solos.  

Instruments were imported and adapted and the European violin began to replace the Kamanja in urban music beginning in the late Ottoman period.  

This video shows a casual solo performance from the "Kamanja Man." 

This instrument is still respected today.  Here is a clip of a masterclass at Julliard demonstrating the kamanja. 

Here is a trio with two kamanjas and a baglama.  

This clip shows the nature of a kamanja in an ensemble setting.  This is also the only video I saw of the player standing instead of sitting.   

Here is a really wise looking gentleman demonstrating his skill.  

Resources: 

https://books.google.com/books?id=TMdf1SioFk4C&pg=PA908&lpg=PA908&dq=kamanja+instrument+history&source=bl&ots=1JwQuw2VZk&sig=f0530KBHEOJM2FvEYIGlBdrf_WM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijlpL0iNLQAhXHTCYKHRZzDFEQ6AEIMzAE#v=onepage&q=kamanja%20instrument%20history&f=false

http://www.traditionalarabicmusic.com/Musical%20Instruments/Rebab.htm

https://books.google.com/books?id=j894miuOqc4C&pg=PA1531&lpg=PA1531&dq=kamanja+instrument&source=bl&ots=WNjnxoFeny&sig=avZmj684n7rjAenwkMw_2Nr7hkc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilxZ6Sh9LQAhVD5SYKHVKYAbwQ6AEIUzAP#v=onepage&q=kamanja%20instrument&f=false

There is evidence for opera as far back as the Tang dynasty when Emperor Xuanzong created a troupe to perform in his ‘Pear Garden’, to this day opera performers are known as ‘Followers of the Pear Garden’. The genre was furthered by later dynasties. In the Ming dynasty, Kunqu Opera became the most important form; the bamboo flute is used as a melodious accompaniment in these operas. Some of the best loved works were written for Kunqu Opera in this period; they all involve the mischievous monkey king.

More characters were added later like the Chou and Jing. Changes came with the formation of the People's Republic and later the Cultural Revolution. Traditional Beijing Opera was banned during the Cultural Revolution because the stories were about the old-fashioned structures of society. Eventually a new type of opera called Revolutionary Operas appeared. These broadly followed the classical form but were now based on stories where the bad guys were land owners, aristocrats and merchants. The music and movements came from the classical tradition, only the costumes and narrative were modern.

Chinese opera plots come from many different well known stories in Chinese culture. This is a scene based off of the Legend of the White Snake.

The costumes and makeup are the only thing needed to identify a character in Chinese Opera. White make-up is used to clearly identify the villain. Black is for kind but forceful characters. Generals and warriors have bright red and yellow make-up while red indicates loyalty and courage. Generally the good characters have simple, smooth patterns of make-up while the evil ones have complex designs.  

Here is a video of the opera Peony Pavilion. The accompaniment and music is the most important part of the operas. People go to the opera to solely listen, and it is seen as a very spiritual experience.

This video explains keeping Chinese Opera alive today, and its significance to the people of China.

Beijing Opera

     Beijing Opera arose in the late 18th century as a form of story telling. Opera combines different Chinese traditions including dancing, signing, music, and acrobatics. Beijing Opera plots focus on the roll between civil and marshall, focusing on historic and traditional stories with a mixture of serious and comic aspects. Sets are simple and focus on highlighting the performer. Spare staging calls for small and few props and specific music helps highlight the setting of the scene. Characters include; dan, the main female character usually a male acting in falsetto; sheng, the main male; Jing, the painted face character where paint colors indicate the characters moral; Chou, the male clown.
     As any western/european opera, music and singing is the focus of the tradition. Because Chinese is an atonal language, passages are recomposed and involve only six different pitches. Pieces are written similar to arias in a rhymed couplet form. The orchestra is not typically conducted in a western sense but conducted by a musician playing the ban, wooden clapper, and a small single sided drum. The sections of the orchestra also represent different characters. The percussion section represents the marshall characters, while the civil characters are represented by the strings.

This is a basic intro to what the characters and orchestra look like. 

This video takes you in depth into what each character does and explains the symbolism of some of their movements. 

In this video we see what a typical opera orchestra would look like. Strings and percussion are segregated sectionally and the man in the middle is playing the most melodic of the orchestral instruments, the jingju. 

This is a scene from a typical Beijing Opera. Notice the lack of large props and difference in characters. 

This is what modern Chinese opera looks like. This video was filmed during the 2016 Chinese New Year celebration. 

Li, S. (2003). Cross-dressing in Chinese Opera. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Javanese Shadow Puppets

     Javanese Shadow Puppet theater is an ancient form of storytelling focusing on stories of Indian Epics and old Javanese. This form of entertainment is run by one Dhalang, or puppeteer. The puppeteer makes his own puppets, is responsible for knowing countless amounts of stories, understand relationships between characters, and know each characters pseudonyms. A master puppeteer can make figures dance, fight, walk, and appear to show expressions such as laughing, crying, and nodding. 

    At a puppet show audience may be permitted to sit around the entire stage, this includes behind the dhalang. The dhalang sits in front of a light box to make the shadows, while next to him sits another box known as the kepyuk. The kepyuk is played by the dhalang to cue the gamelon that is stationed to the side of the screen. The gamelon is responsible for all music including the beginning talu, or instrumental overture, as well as music at other points throughout the entire show.  Shows can last all night long, with most lasting from 8 or 9pm to 4 or 5am.  

In this video you can see and hear the dhalang performing a shadow puppet show. The gamelon is playing in the background in coordination with the show. You can also see the puppeteers apprentice handing off different puppets to the dhalang. 

This video is what a typical gamelon would look like for a show, as well as a great example of a talu to open a puppet show. 

In this video we see views of a typical show from both the dhalang side as well as the shadow side of the screen.

This video shows both the viewing and making of puppets. Puppets are all hand made from rawhide and can take months to finish. 

The view from directly behind the dhalang shows exactly how much the puppet master works to manipulate the movement of each puppet. 

 Wayang, The Javanese Puppet Show | Java Indonesia. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2016, from http://www.javaindonesia.org/art-culture/wayang-javanese-puppet-show/ 

Jiangnan Sizhu Music Clubs

Jiangnan Sizhu music clubs are located in Shanghai, China.  China has produced a variety of ensembles throughout the years, genres composed of mainly string and wind instruments are identified as Sizhu musics.  Sizhu literally means “silk and bamboo” referring to the instruments and Jiangnan referring to the location in China (South of the River).  These ensembles generally consist of the dizi (bamboo transverse flute), xiao (end-blown bamboo flute), sheng (mouth-organ), erhu (two-stringed fiddle), pipa (four stringed plucked lute), sanxian (three stringed plucked lute) and yangqin (hammer dulcimer), accompanied by small percussion instruments such as a clapper.  These instruments are collectively owned and stored in a back room to be brought out during the weekly sessions.  Approximately two hundred musicians participate in these music clubs with regularity. The dizi assumes the lead role, usually deciding which pieces are to be played next.  One of the most interesting parts about the Jiangnan Sizhu ensemble is their repertoire.  Their core repertoire is called the ba daqu, the “eight great pieces”.  These songs are based on common Chinese melodies and are often repeated several times in a single session.  The beauty is found in the individuality with which each musician plays a well-known song.  

We saw this video in class but it is worth watching again.  This gives a visual to the tearoom/intimate/amateur feel. 

Below there are two clips of the same song, Hua San Liu (one of the Eight Great Pieces).  Even to an untrained ear you can identify that each song has its own local flavor and ornamentation.  

An important factor of this ensemble is the amateur nature.  Performances do not occur in order to receive praise or compensation.  These musicians play the pieces over and over again for their own enjoyment. 

This clip is interesting as it shows an ensemble in what seems to be a parade of sorts.  Potentially a wedding celebration has brought the ensemble out of doors.  This is in contrast to the standard practice of sitting around in a circle or around a table.   

Jiangnan Sizhu practices exemplify the joy in music itself.  These musicians play the same music hundreds of thousands of times in their lifetime and yet continue to love the tradition.  

Resources: 

http://contemporary_chinese_culture.academic.ru/390/Jiangnan_sizhu

https://www.jstor.org/stable/852140?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.jstor.org/stable/851891?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Bollywood Music

            Bollywood originates from the Mumbai film industry.  Bollywood film music is called filmi music.  Filmi being Hindi for “of films”.  In 1912 the industry launched its first silent film.  By 1930 the first film with sound was developed. 1935 was the magical year of the playback song.  From 1940 to 1960 Bollywood saw its Golden Age.  After the Golden Age Bollywood transitioned into the age of Modern Cinema. The name Bollywood was crafted after "Hollywood" yet located in Bombay as pictured below.  This name originated in the 1970s.  

    

Here is the 1912 silent film called Raja Harishchandra. 

Fast forward to 1931, the first film with sound, Alam Ara.  

This clip from 1976 gives insight to the way in which playback songs are prioritized.  From its conception in 1935, playback songs has opened the door for a unique "dual stardom" system in Bollywood.  Both the singer and the actor are made famous in the stretch of producing a movie.  Often, people will attend an otherwise terrible movie purely because they enjoy the singer or vise versa.  It is incredibly common for the same singer (male or female) to sing for multiple characters in one film.  Producers regularly release the music to a film before the premiere in order to attract a larger crowd.       

            The instrumental qualities of Bollywood music are quite vast.  Instruments from Hindustani to Western to everything in-between is used in filmi music.  String instruments such as the sitar, sarangi, sarod, as well as the banjo, cello, guitar, mandolin are heard.  Wind instruments such as the bansuri, harmonica, saxophone, shehnai, and trumpet can be identified.  Percussive elements include the bango-conga, ghatam, table, madal, and the snare drum.  Bollywood music can be identified as world music due to the number of different genres that influence the sound. The two clips below exemplify the way in which Bollywood music has westernized throughout the years.  The first clip is from 1965 and the second from 2003. Listen to the instrumental and vocal differences.

   
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Hindi film industry produces more movies per year than any other country.  On average, there is a movie album released every two weeks.  Each album will have five to eleven songs and will often include remixes.  In 2011, over 3.5 billion tickets to Bollywood movies were sold across the world.  Almost a million more tickets than Hollywood!  The popularity of this music is slowly becoming international.  Bollywood has become one of the largest centers of film production and continues to grow in its popularity.  

Resources:

http://thebells.umhb.edu/2012/04/24/bollywood-a-genre-of-music-growing-in-popularity/

https://www.justlanded.com/english/India/India-Guide/Culture/Bollywood 

https://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/music_hist.html

https://jillbrary.wordpress.com/bollywood-and-libraries/brief-history-of-bollywood/

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-history-of-Bollywood-Music

http://worldmusic.about.com/od/asianmiddleeastern/p/BollywoodMusic.htm