Found Sounds

UNCG Musicology Journal

Volume IV - Spring 2020

Table of Contents

Twelve-Tone Serialism and Its Effect on Modern Audiences - Kenan Baker Page 2 - Abstract by Editor

Reimagination of the Requiem: From “For the Mass” to “For the Masses” - Yophi Bost Page 26 - Abstract by Editor

An Introduction to Music in Pakistan - Enoch Robbins Page 36

Editor - Enoch Robbins

1

Twelve-Tone Serialism and Its Effect on Modern Audiences Kenan Baker Abstract:

Twelve-tone music and serial composition are controversial topics for musicians and composers. This paper catalogs the early emergence of this practice, the opinions of composers on the craft itself, and their opinions on audience attitudes toward twelve-tone music. The conclusion is reached that serialism is generally too academic, written with professional musicians in mind, alienating the listener. The more successful modern composers have tempered their writing with more conventional harmony and tonality.

2

Twelve-Tone Serialism and Its Effect on Modern Audiences Kenan Baker

Twelve-tone music and serial composition is a controversial topic for musicians and composers. It offers composers a way to create music that is free from traditional tonality, an originality which is difficult to create using tonality. On the other hand, the difficulties of understanding and enjoying twelve-tone music is usually enough to dissuade musical audiences from listening to any pieces composed in this style. On top of this, composer writings on modernism implies a divide on “high and low art music,” music meant for academic settings and music meant for popular listening. This paper aims to explain why modern audiences have negative reactions when listening to twelve-tone music.

To do this, I will first read about the history of twelve-tone music in the twentieth-century, and the negative stigma which is often so closely associated to this style of music. Essays by

Milton Babbitt, music reviews of modern pieces by Tim Page, and an understanding of twelve-tone in American music by Straus' book will help us understand these issues. By understanding composer attitudes toward musical audiences, we can gain a better understanding as to why audiences avoid music composed at this time. Once we understand some of the negative stigma surrounding twelve-tone music, we can understand how twelve-tone went mostly unlistened to by musical audiences. Another reason as to why modern audiences don’t enjoy twelve-tone music is the way which we perceive atonal and tonal music, and how our preconceptions of tonality in the past creates a bar to listening to modernist pieces. By analyzing the lives of serialist composers, along with composers with serialist musical training, we can

3 glean an understanding of what each of these composers did to use serialism in composition and create music that was new and original at the time. Understanding what composers of the 20th ​ century did to distance themselves from audiences and create their music will help us understand how music has been shaped the way it is today and why audiences enjoy certain genres of music over others.

Serialism in composition is still a popular medium of composition today, regardless of negative opinions and criticisms of composers in the nineteenth through twentieth-century. Yet, the writing and listening of serial music is still subject to widespread criticism from both general audiences and fellow musicians. Part of the reason why twelve-tone serialism may be disliked is due to a lack of understanding of how the music is created, and an inability to grasp how to listen to the music. Milton Babbitt put reasons behind these issues of an unreceptive audience to twelve-tone music in his essay “Who Cares If You Listen,” published in the music magazine High ​ Fidelity in 1958. In a revised version, Babbitt begins the essay by stating that his original title for ​ the article was intended to be “The Composer As Specialist,” as he is more concerned about the

1 composer taking advantage of their “societal isolation” in order to create meaningful art music.

He argued that the composer should embrace the fact that their music may be unpopular, because general audiences will have no way of understanding the process of how the music is created.

Babbitt compares understanding serial composition to understanding advanced mathematics and sciences, arguing that general audience's ability to grasp twelve-tone music is comparable to understanding advanced mathematical theory. In his words, “Advanced music...scarcely can be

1 Milton Babbitt, “Who Cares If You Listen? (The Composer As Specialist),” In Collected Work: ​ Composers On Modern Musical Culture: An Anthology Of Readings on Twentieth-Century Music, Published by: New York, NY: G. Schirmer, 1999, 1

4 expected to appear more intelligible than these arts and sciences to the person whose musical

2 education usually has been even less extensive than his background in other fields.” This attitude toward general audiences in music portrayed composers of twelve-tone music as elitists. Though this wasn't Babbitt's intention, it was clear that understanding serialist music became more difficult the more complex the music became. Babbitt would go on to say in a personal interview,

“I simply had to face the fact that we had a tiny audience for our music, one made up mainly of

3 professionals.” Babbitt argues that the listener for twelve-tone music requires greater “perceptual

4 and conceptual abilities,” needed to make sense of the music. But it seems what ended up happening is that most listeners at the time were not interested in developing a taste for twelve-tone music. Babbitt said, “...we thought we could appeal to what might have been described as our fellow intellectuals with our words...we discovered that what was taken even

5 more resentfully than taking music seriously was talking about music seriously.” It seems that ​ ​ twelve-tone composers could not even broach the subject of talking about their music seriously without resentment from the general public

Twelve-tone serialism avoids the sense of expectation that tonal music has by systematically eliminating any sense of tonal center which our ears could latch onto. The music of

Schoenberg is an excellent example of using tone rows to eliminate tonality, actively avoiding even a hint of tonal centers in the tone rows. Philip Ball quotes this active avoidance of tonality in the music of Schoenberg, stating:

2 Ibid., 3. 3 Tim Page, Music From the Road: Views and Reviews 1978-1992, New York, Oxford ; Oxford ​ ​ University Press, 1992, 13 4 Babbitt, Ibid., 2. 5 Page, Ibid., 13

5

In other words, it seems that Schoenberg preferentially selected those rows that banish tonality most effectively. For this reason, Huron argues that serial composition should not be regarded as 'atonal' at all. Rather, the system is deliberately contratonal: not casually 6 ignoring tonality, but taking great pains to eliminate all trace of it.

This quote also illuminates an important point about composing twelve-tone music. Our listening experience uses tonality to make sense of music. When the tone rows are composed with the

7 elimination of tonality in mind, the composition rules out a “tonal hierarchy.” Without tonality to guide the listener, the forms which music uses to make sense of itself such as harmony, phrasing, and form become obscured, even for the nuanced listener. Early reviews of Schoenberg developing the twelve-tone method seem to agree with this notion that, without tonality, the rest of the music becomes difficult to understand. Alma Mahler's description of Schoenberg's music in

1900 was that it was, “unbelievably showy but without the slightest concession to an ear accustomed to melody....Not a crescendo reaches its peak smoothly. By no means

8 uninteresting-but beautiful...?”

Twelve-tone also complicates music by using octave displacement in melodies to further abstract the melodic contour of the twelve-tone row. An untrained musician may be able to sing a familiar melody using the same intervals of a melodic line, even if it is in the wrong key. Babbitt said that a retrograde inversion is the “easiest thing in the world to hear,” because its a repetition

9 of intervals that we are used to hearing. However, twelve-tone serialists tend to jump octaves and

6 Huron, D. and P. von Hippel, 2000, “Tonal and contra-tonal structure of Viennese twelve-tone rows,” Paper presented at the Society for Music Theory Conference, Toronto, Canada, Quoted in Philip Ball, “Schoenberg, Serialism and Cognition: Whose Fault If No One Listens?” Interdisciplinary Science ​ Reviews: no. 1, 32 ​ 7 Ibid., 32. 8 Joseph Auner, Music In the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: Western Music in Context, New ​ ​ York, London ; W.W. Norton and Company, 2013, 36 9 Page, Ibid., 14.

6 create a melodic contour that becomes not only difficult to sing, but difficult to recognize even if

10 it is a familiar melody. So even if the serialist will play with the twelve-tone row in their composition by means of an inversion or retrograde of the tone row, when the original row's melody is complicated with octave displacement, then we can't sing it or hear it.

These factors working against the auditory cognition of the piece is part of the reason why listeners feel lost when it comes to twelve-tone music. The form of the music lacks “cognitive transparency” in listening, and by creating music without a clear melody, audiences have trouble

11 understanding and enjoying the music on a meaningful level. Schoenberg created twelve-tone music not as a system to create unlikable music, but to avoid creating tonal music which had dominated the past. His system successfully created music that avoided the use of old conventions of musical form, diatonic harmony, and note expectation. However, in doing so, later serialists such as Babbitt realized audiences were unable to appreciate twelve-tone music due to a lack of cognition of the music. This upset serial composers who wanted audiences to understand and appreciate their music for what it is, and not even program notes seem to help audiences comprehend the music. Babbitt wrote in his interview that, “Some of my colleagues absolutely refuse to write them anymore...I understand that approach, too, because one doesn't really know

12 what to say.” Since melody, tonality, and program notes all fail to connect to audiences when it comes to serialist music, twelve-tone composers are in a bind when it comes to being recognized and appreciated for their music.

The results of perceived elitism on the part of serial composers have not helped the

10 Huron, Ibid., 36. ​ 11 Ibid., 37-38. 12 Page, Ibid., 14-15.

7 popularity of twelve-tone music for general audiences. However, twelve-tone music has persisted for nearly a century in American music, and there must be a reason as to why it is still appealing for composers to use it. Composers want their music to be heard, and Babbitt himself had attested in interviews that his provocative article's title “Who Cares If You Listen?” was not written by his own hand. Though the contents of his article undermines general audiences in their perception of art music, Babbitt said, “If anyone reads the article, they will realize that not only do I care if they

13 listen, but I care very much how they listen and to what they listen. That was not my title.” Part of the reason why twelve-tone music may be unpopular in its reception is because certain expectations have been attributed to the compositions without the composer's intent being clear.

In terms of the imperceptibility of the tone row, composers don't necessarily think that hearing the tone row is the most important part of the music. Krenek observed in 1953 that, “the essential virtue of the twelve-tone technique was not embodied in the mechanical omnipresence of the

14 entire row, but rather on the unification of the design through tightly related motivic patterns.”

Twelve-tone music can be perceived as melodies and motives which occur in unusual, yet

15 repetitive forms, unconcerned about the listener's ability to perceive the row's transformations.

To be able to critique a twelve-tone piece, the perceived listener needs to be someone of musical background, with an intimate familiarity of the piece, in an appropriate musical setting, and with

16 an open mind to multifaceted hearings. Though the same could be said about any piece of music,

13 Anne Swartz, "Milton Babbitt on Milton Babbitt," American Music: A Quarterly Journal Devoted To ​ All Aspects Of American Music And Music In America 3, no. 4 (Winter 1985), 471 ​ 14 Joseph Nathan Straus, Twelve-Tone Music In America, Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge ​ ​ University Press, 2009, 216 15 Ibid., 215-216. ​ 16 Ibid., 217-218.

8 twelve-tone pieces cater to a very limited audience when it comes to those who can give valid, scholarly critiques of the music. The perceived audience for twelve-tone pieces are then limited to a musical elite, which does not welcome the opinions of the general listener. Twelve-tone composers may care about the opinions of their listeners, but only the opinions of a minority of musicians.

Twelve-tone music is also described as being emotionless music, since there is such a small range of pitch possibilities. The argument against emotion in twelve-tone is that it can't take advantage of the melodic contours and harmonies afforded to tonal music. As a counterargument to this, twelve-tone expresses extreme emotions not allowed in other genres of music due to its

17 melodic structures, and an occasional hybridization of tonal forms. The area of expression in music is where twelve-tone flourishes, bringing meaning to emotions that are too complex for traditional tonal pieces. The twelve-tone composer Ross Lee Finney said, “...I had had some emotional experiences during the war...I had the feeling that I didn't have the music to reflect this, didn't have the vocabulary to reflect this. My movement into twelve-tone technique was because

18 of that feeling of inadequate expressive potential from the triadic technique.” Often extreme in nature, the emotional content of twelve-tone music is difficult to pin down, as with all modern music which resists single interpretations of their content.

There is a myth that twelve-tone music lost its audience over time due to the difficulties of the music. This myth is false since twelve-tone music never had a large audience to appeal to in the first place. Though it permeates university and art music, twelve-tone music has never been

17 Ibid., 222. 18 Ibid., 222.

9 brought to musical audiences as classical music has been:

An empirical study of the American classical music scene from 1930 to the present has shown clearly the marginal place occupied by twelve-tone music (and associated atonal styles) – far from dominating the opera houses and concert halls, the recording studios, the publishing houses, or the reviews, this music was largely unheard and unknown in the classical music culture 19 at large.

The problem then lies not in twelve-tone's inherent unpopularity, but with the sense of elitism and inaccessibility which it has conveyed to modern audiences. A composer understandably does not want their compositions to be ridiculed and critiqued by an audience which does not understand the intricacies behind twelve-tone processes, but listeners will misunderstand this reticence as a composer who doesn't care about audience opinions.

Schoenberg was concerned with audiences hearing his music, saying audiences will only respond

“on those who are like-minded. On those who possess a receiving organ which corresponds to our

20 transmitting organ. As with wireless telegraphy.” This misunderstanding between composer and audience permeates the prevailing attitude that audiences have with modern music in general, and detracts from new pieces written that are not associated with the twelve-tone tradition. Though twelve-tone composers attempted to appeal their music to larger audiences, their efforts has led to a distrust of modern music.

Despite misunderstandings with their audiences, serialist composers thought that their legacy would be a domination of art music for the next century. Schoenberg thought that serialism would become so popular among audiences of modern music that even school children

21 would be singing twelve-tone melodies. Serialism did have a significant impact on music

19 Ibid., 226. 20 Joseph Auner, “Composing on Stage: Schoenberg and The Creative Process as Public Performance,” th 19 ​ Century Music 29, no. 1 (Summer 2005), 68 ​ ​ 21 Robert R. Reilly, “The Recovery Of Modern Music: George Rochberg in Conversation,” Tempo no. ​ ​

10 composed for the next century, but not in the way which serialists intended. Serialism in

America was not part of the orchestral repertory, nor was it dropped as a compositional style.

Instead it became a primary way for younger composers of modern music to structure their

22 compositions on. Though a number of younger composers created twelve-tone serialist compositions, other modernist composers felt the need to express themselves in a way which did not rely on serialism. New styles of composition were created by modernist composers to tear away from the strictness of serialism.

Early and late serial composers struggled with audience reception, while later modernists seemed to have an easier time gaining more receptive audiences. Philip Glass' operas now perform to sold out houses, and his performing ensembles appeal to both the high and low

23 societies of music. As a result, twelve-tone composition has had to compete with these new modernists. The growing popularity of these composers added further problems to the way which twelve-tone composition was viewed, since eventually these compositions were seen to appeal to high and low art ideals. By understanding the motivations and music of these new modernists, we can understand how they further contributed to audiences rejecting twelve-tone music.

George Rochberg sought a synthesis of twelve-tone and tonal music to create modern compositions that both relied and tore away from serialist compositions. Eventually, Rochberg would completely disown the twelve-tone method of composition, allowing composers to break away from serialism to experiment with new methods of composition. The school of indeterminacy, pioneered by composers such as John Cage and Morton Feldman, broke away

219, (January 2002), 12 22 Page, Ibid., 14. ​ 23 Page, Ibid., 76.

11 from serialism’s structure of creating music by using little to no structure at all in creating new pieces. Indeterminacy in music also challenged views of what music could potentially be, from scores using non-musical symbols as musical directives to the performer, to complete silence as an indeterminate event in sound. The genre of minimalism made the structure of a piece of music overtly clear to the listener, opposite to what serialism had done. By using minimal musical materials to create the structure of the music, minimalists such as La Monte Young, Terry Riley,

Steve Reich, and Philip Glass created music that became the polar opposite of serial music; repetitive, simple, tonal, and transparent in design. These new genres of music used simple tonality that would make the comprehension of music much easier for audiences to grasp than serial compositions had. This, as well as the negative opinions of modernists such as George

Rochberg, would put serialism into a lesser position compared to new music being composed in the middle of the twentieth-century.

th George Rochberg was a 20 ​ century modernist who spoke out against serialism as a ​ compositional style, though he himself composed twelve-tone music up until the mid-1960s. One issue which turned Rochberg off to serialist composition is a problem which many modernist composers faced at the time. To some composers, serial composition is not inherently expressive and has difficulty implementing musical expressions which rely on phrases or cadences. In

Rochberg’s words, “…what I finally realized was that there were no cadences, that you can’t come to a natural pause, that you can’t write a musical comma… for dramatic, expressive

24 purposes, or to enclose a thought.”

Rochberg is interesting because he created pieces which used both twelve-tone rows and

24 Ibid., 9.

12 tonality in tandem, a serialist who embraced both the structures of twelve-tone and at the same time rejected it. A life event which helped Rochberg understand his own disillusionment with serial music was the death of his son Paul in 1964. Rochberg found himself needing to use a

25 richer harmonic language than serialism to express his emotions as an artist. Rochburg's turn away from the use of serialism in his compositions was met with critical and negative response by other serialists. Pieces such as his Caprice Variations (1971) showed that his rejection of ​ ​ serialist composition was not absolute. He used elements of Romantic, twelve-tone, and minimal music to experiment and create a new kind of music that wasn't grounded in any one style. A few students of serialism called Rochberg's tonal music “a traitorous act,” as if the pull from

26 serialism invalidated Rochberg's credibility as a serious composer. However, Rochberg

th provided other American composers in the 20 ​ century an example of an academic composer ​ who was still widely accepted by his fellow musicians, regardless of his rejection of serial music.

His role in rejecting serialism was important in allowing younger composers to break away from twelve-tone composition, which also inadvertently meant a proliferation of new musical genres that would overshadow serialism for high art music.

th Perhaps even more radical than Rochberg's rejection of serialism in the 20 ​ century for ​ tonality were the composers creating new styles of composition that challenged serialism's structure. In particular, the school of indeterminacy not only challenged the way in which serial music was structured, but also how any piece of music could be structured. Indeterminacy developed new ways to compose pieces with non-musical symbols and static composition which

25 Ibid., 9-10. 26 Ibid., 11.

13 contrasts progress oriented music. A major composer of indeterminacy was John Cage, who claimed to compose not in order to serve his own artistic needs or ego, but to ask philosophical questions about the world reflected by his music. In Cage's words, “Instead of representing control, they represent questions that I've asked and the answers that have been given by means

27 of chance operations.” Indeterminacy can also be seen as a reaction to serialism's overt control that composers had over their music. Cage disliked the credit of having created a piece under his name, since he believed that the less ego which you put into a piece of music, the more music

28 you could create by “asking questions, not making choices.” Another issue which indeterminacy addresses about serial composition is the notion of originality of work. Though there are choices to be made in terms of tone rows, dynamics, and rhythms in the composition of serial music, the music will still be structured in a way that allows a listener to recognize it as a serial piece. In total serialization, even these choices of dynamics, rhythms, and piece structure are decided by mathematical formulas, not by the composer themselves. The opposite of the total serialization of a piece is to allow the piece to be anything at all without limitation, a concept of originality which Cage strived for in his chance operations. In Cage's words, “That is to say, if I have done something, then I consider it my business not to do that, but to find what must be done

29 next.” This originality which Cage refers to is creating music which doesn't rely on any preconceptions of form or structure, which composers usually use to compose a piece. Rather, the form of the piece is newly discovered for each different piece of music, the opposite of

27 Richard Kostelanetz, “The Aesthetics of John Cage: A Composite Interview,” Kenyon Review 9 (Fall ​ ​ ​ 1987), 108 28 Ibid., 108. 29 Ibid., 103.

14 relying on formulas as serialism does. Cage, whether he did so deliberately or not, challenged serialist composers on a fundamental level of structure, creating pieces of music that relied on nothing but the questions which Cage thought of as he composed a piece. The reception of

Cage's ideas and compositions would not have been acknowledged as they were in art music if not for the dichotomy of serialist compositions being a model of total control versus attempted zero control over music.

Indeterminancy was important to the negative reception of serialism because it created a modernism in music that was challenging the ideas of total control which serialism had over music. Serialism was beginning to lose its appeal to modern composers, the audience which the genre had mainly appealed to. The modernist composer Morton Feldman rejected traditional notation symbols for self-created musical symbols that frees musicians to play with more control over the music. Serialist compositions moved to control the performer in every aspect of performance, where indeterminacy broke down these aspects of control in music, from both the composer and performer. Feldman drew inspiration from John Cage to break from the twelve-tone tradition of composition, further showing that twelve-tone composition was beginning to lose appeal in modernist composer circles. Feldman's meeting with Cage left him saying, “I think I would say that I owe him everything and I owe him nothing. He liberated me in

30 terms of self-permission to go on with what I had decided I was going to do. Feldman​ was also critical of composers of serialism, his opinion being that because of the mathematical way which composers would create total serial pieces, their isn't any real creative work being done. On the

30 Alan Beckett, “Morton Feldman In Interview 1966,” Tempo: A Quarterly Review Of Modern Music 60, ​ ​ no. 235 (January 2006), 16

15 subject of composer Stockhausen's total serialization, Feldman described him as filling in a

31 “colouring book,” following directions to create music. This rejection of serialism is a proponent in the development of Feldman's own creative process, renouncing the calculated serialist approach to music with music derived in extreme independence. Feldman's graphic scores which use cubes, charts, and drawn lines to give direction to the music he wants performed is a far cry from the control which serialism exhibits. These graphic scores are important because it points to further dramatic shifts from the trends of control and calculation which composers of serialism had used in the music scene of the twentieth-century for over half of the century. Inspired by Cage, Feldman had created a musical environment which allowed for more experimentation and freedom for composers who did not feel inclined to compose in the serialist style. For Feldman, composing was about breaking these molds of “systems” and

“aesthetics” which composers were so attached to, and composing in a personal way that would

32 fulfill his own creative values.

One aspect which both serialism and indeterminacy share in music is that the processes which composers used to create the music is difficult to understand. Indeterminacy composers liked their music this way, though it made it difficult for musical audiences to grasp. John Cage said himself that, “I'm on the side of keeping things mysterious, and I have never enjoyed understanding things...So I try to make a music which I don't understand and which will be

33 difficult for other people to understand, too.” This idea of obscuring the process of creating music is the opposite of what Schoenberg wanted when creating his twelve-tone compositions.

31 Ibid., 19. 32 Ibid., 19-20. 33 Kostelanetz., Ibid., 104.

16

Regardless, twelve-tone music suffered from an audience which did not understand the musical processes behind its pieces, and indeterminancy in composition proved to be no different in this regard. The music of indeterminancy further proved that if a process is too obscure for an

34 audience to hear, they often will feel duped or angry as to what they've just heard. Minimalist music responds to twelve-tone composers' worries that, even if the process of creating the music is simple, if the audience is able to understand the process, they will respond more positively to the music.

Minimalism gave audiences music able to be perceived through minute change over long periods of time. This is in great contrast to the music of serialists, which is generally a music that changes very rapidly over a shorter period of time due to the tone rows. What the music of minimalists proved is that audiences prefer the gradual changes in music over changes which cannot be readily heard. The minimalist composer Steve Reich put these ideas of gradual change into words in an essay titled “Music as a Gradual Process.” When it comes to music, he says that,

“I am interested in perceptible processes. I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music. To facilitate closely detailed listening a musical process should

35 happen extremely gradually.” This idea of gradual change was becoming more prevalent in modernist composer works at the time, which runs counter to serial composition's rapidly changing twelve-tones which obscures tonality. Minimalism uses a single tonal center to create a framework of music that is constant throughout a piece, rejecting the notions in indeterminacy of

34 Page, Ibid., 38. 35 Steve Reich, “Music As A Gradual Process (1968),” in Collected Work: Writings About Music. Series: ​ ​ Source Materials Of The Contemporary Arts. Published by Halifax, NS, Canada: Nova Scotia College of ​ Art and Design, 1974, 9

17 freedom of form and improvisation and serialism's avoidance of a tonal center. Reich touches on this subject, stating “The distinctive thing about musical processes is that they determine all the note-to-note details and the overall form simultaneously. One can't improvise in a musical

36 process-- the concepts are mutually exclusive.” This​ further shows that composers were moving away from serialist thought in composition, using new ideas of how to create frameworks of pieces in tonality for new art music. The creation of these new genres allowed more modernist choices for composers to use in composition, which would split interest in serial composition further.

La Monte Young and Terry Riley would create frameworks for repetition and tonality that would create new choices of composition for composers to follow in the middle of the twentieth century. Young's performance art pieces, which were static in nature, was different from the music of serialists that moved forward in structure. Young's focus as a composer was to create a music which was static in nature of its goals, which attracted him to the music of Cage which was based on stillness. In Young's words, “I think what was really different about my direction was that I was interested in this very static approach...whereas Cages' performances

37 tended to be a little bit more in the direction of a variety show.” Despite his words, Young's music and art took on a variety of forms, from drawing straight lines on a chalkboard, feeding a piano hay and water, and smashing garbage cans inside of a concert hall. Young's use of performance art in his music is another way which serialism was beginning to become less of a factor in modern music. The use of droning pitches and systems of “just intonation” is a

36 Ibid., 11. 37 K. Robert Schwarz, Minimalists, London: Phaidon, 2008, 32 ​ ​

18 throwback to the music of the Baroque, an idea which is counter to modernists who create music that is original and not based on the past. The use of repetition and tonality in Riley's In C is a ​ ​ composition which directly rejected the twelve-tone method of avoiding tonality, now composers being more concerned with using tonality as a driving force in composition once again. This piece was significant in many ways to the rising popularity of minimalism and showed a shift of composer ideals away from serialism. For one, In C allows each performer to repeat their ​ ​ individual modules as many times as they wish, creating a unique performance every time the piece is performed. This reinforced the idea that the realization of music as a gradual process is important to audience understanding. Perhaps even more significant was the fact that In C ​ embraces tonality as an intellectual and interesting artistic concept in modern music. Though it may not have been Riley's intention, his reinforcement of tonality and repetition in his composition challenged serialism's long standing hold on modern music:

By re-embracing the primal forces of unambiguous tonality, pounding pulse and motoric repetition, Riley threw down a gauntlet before the hermetic, over- intellectualized new-music mainstream. It is no wonder that In C became the ticket to 38 ​ ​ minimalism's invasion of the mass market.

The influences of Young's static approach to drones and Riley's repetitions in tonality paved the way for a new generation of minimalists to challenge serialism's domination in American art music. The music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass would create new notions of how to organize music in terms of phasing, loops, cultural identity, and subtlety in melodic and harmonic changes.

Steve Reich is another example of a modernist composer who could not compose using

38 Ibid., 45.

19 twelve-tone as a means of expressive composition, using the method in a way which was not truly serialism. In Reich's words, “the only way I could deal with twelve-tone techniques was to

39 keep the row constant, never invert it, never modulate.” Even though Reich studied serialism with Luciano Berio in his graduate degree work, he did not take to the method. Reich is another example of a modernist composer rejecting the notions of serialism, which didn't seem to fit into

America's culture of rock, hip-hop, and jazz. Though modernist composers such as Stockhausen and Babbitt had at one point insisted that twelve-tone was the future for art music, the roots of minimalism had already been set into motion by Young and Riley. Reich, inspired by the repetitions and looping effects of Riley's In C, experimented using his own looping techniques ​ ​ using identical tapes that would slowly slip out of sync with each other to create a complex musical texture of inter-lapping rhythms. Reich stated, “As I listened to this gradual phase-shifting process, I began to realize that it was an extraordinary form of musical

40 structure...It was a seamless, continuous, uninterrupted musical process.”

Reich's subsequent experiments in phasing created another new way for composers to compose music that did not rely on serialism. Starting with tape loops, Reich eventually moved on to phasing pieces which required live performers, the first of these pieces being Piano Phase. ​ ​ The two pianists start the piece together, playing the same musical material, until one begins to shift their tempo very slightly to speed ahead of their partner by a single note. This shift in tempo is then held for a determined amount of repetitions, until the pianist shifts again one more note ahead of tempo, while the first pianist holds the original tempo. The shifting of tempo happens

39 Ibid., 54-55. 40 Ibid., 61.

20

41 twelve times until the two pianists are once again playing the same melody together. The use of phasing and repetition was becoming a popular way to compose for modernist composers at this time, compositional methods which were not found in most serialist pieces due to twelve-tone rows making this difficult. Modernism in music, this idea of being original, was starting to fade out with minimalists finding success in finding inspiration in tonality, repetitions, and cultures of music that did not stem from American or European art traditions. The repetition and tonality lends a greater versatility of phrasing and tone structure than the rules of serialism, which demands octave displacements and phrase structure for the music to make sense. Reich had proven through the success of his minimalist compositions that phrasing and loops were another viable alternative to composition than serialism allowed, further alienating the genre from modern audiences.

What shows the decline of serialism in the eyes of modern audiences more than its own unpopularity is the commercial popularity of other modernist composers which employ different modern compositions, such as minimalism and indeterminacy. Philip Glass is one such composer who came into the limelight of popularity in a way which no serialist has ever been able to imitate. While studying with Nadia Boulanger, Glass became exposed to Indian music played by

Ravi Shankar. The rhythmic structures of Indian music, grouped by beats that were a “steady

42 stream of rhythmic pulses” would begin to permeate Glass' music as a new type of minimalism.

This again challenged the view that something other than serialism could be taken seriously as art music, a view which modernist musicians at the time refused to consider. Glass would

41 Ibid., 65. 42 Ibid., 116.

21 remember these reactions as a sign that he was beginning to break from the views of modernists:

At the point where I was really working with repetitive structures and simple pitch relationships and approached other musicians with it, they actually became quite angry and wouldn't play it...I had, perhaps without intending it – although that's really hard to know - 43 challenged so many precepts of the modernist tradition.

Glass' minimalism relied on repetition of additive rhythmic structures learned from Indian music, where a musical phrase would be repeated and only changed by one note at a time in-between repetitions. Glass' music became a success in the popular-music world, partly due to its musical similarities to loud rock music which involved repetition, loud volume and electric keyboards.

Through minimalism, Glass was able to become a success in modern audiences eyes on a commercial level, a feat which serialism was never able to accomplish.

Composers such as Philip Glass were turning to more traditional conventions used in

Romantic and Classical music to create music that was not truly modernism. Serialism was falling out of the style of these minimalists because it didn't allow for the use of fluid tonality as they wanted to use, nor did it create a process which was gradual and easy for audiences to hear.

Glass would turn to theater to create his opera Einstein on the Beach, to the critical acclaim of ​ ​ both general audiences and musicians. This opera not only helped changed audience views on the accessibility of new music, but also helped legitimize minimalism's claim as a valid school of modernist music next to serialism. By becoming a success in the public eye, Glass was able to bring a high art music back to a general audience which serialism had turned away from. The simple tonal centers, transparency of design, and repetitive nature of minimalism drew in an audience which appreciated the music, even if it wasn't strictly modern in the sense of

43 Ibid., 117.

22 originality. Serialism's avoidance of tone and complexity in design are the reasons why audiences were never able to understand, nor enjoy modernism before this proliferation of alternate compositional styles.

I believe serial composers suffered in the eyes of their audiences, their ideas on modern composition and the future of composition not in line with what general audiences wanted. In the end, most serialists seemed to present their music away from the eyes of the general public.

Serialists had created a gap in understanding between modern audiences and composers. Many

th composers of the 20 ​ century did not feel that serialism was a genre that could adequately cover ​ the emotions, structures of form, or commercialism which composers hoped to achieve. The way which serialism avoids tonality and cadences made the genre not only uneappealing to most audiences, but to late modernist composers as well. This led to the proliferation of new musical genres that dominated twentieth-century music that had a profound impact on music composed today. Its reception in the eyes of audiences today seems to be one of a time where composers were experimenting, music which fulfilled its purpose to create a new modernism that was different and didn't rely on the past conventions of tonality. Whether audiences genuinely enjoy serialist compositions relies on whether the individual listeners can get past a music which is not grounded in a tradition of tonality. Continued research on this topic would extend to the present day of composers and how they have adapted the genres of the past to better fit their own personal composition styles. A closer look at audiences today and their preferences in classical music would also help us now understand whether the experiments of the serialists helped audiences view extended tonality in a positive light , or if there is a continued misunderstanding of serialist composition.

23

Bibliography

Auner, Joseph. Music In the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: Western Music in Context. ​ New York, London. W.W. Norton and Company, 2013

Auner, Joseph. “Composing On Stage: Schoenberg and The Creative Process as Public

th Performance.” 19 ​ Century Music 29, no. 1 (Summer 2005): 64-93. ​ ​ ​

Babbitt, Milton. “Who Cares If You Listen? (The Composer As Specialist).” In Collected Work: ​ ​ ​ Composers On Modern Musical Culture: An Anthology of Readings on Twentieth-Century Music. Published by: New York, NY: G. Schirmer, 1999. ​

Ball, Philip. “Schoenberg, Serialism and Cognition: Whose Fault If No One Listens?” Interdisciplinary Science Reviews: ISR36, no. 1: 24-41. ​

Beckett, Alan. “Morton Feldman In Interview 1966.” Tempo: A Quarterly Review Of Modern ​ Music 60, no. 235 (January 2006): 15-20. ​

Kostelanetz, Richard. “The Aesthetics of John Cage: A Composite Interview.” Kenyon Review 9, ​ ​ (Fall 1987): 102-30.

Page, Tim. Music From the Road: Views and Reviews 1978-1992. New York, Oxford : Oxford ​ ​ University Press, 1992. Rahn, John. Perspectives on Musical Aesthetics. New York : W.W. Norton, 1994. ​ ​

Reich, Steve. "Music As A Gradual Process." In Collected Work: Audio Culture: Readings in ​ Modern Music. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2013, 304-306. ​

Reilly, Robert R. “The Recovery Of Modern Music: George Rochberg In Conversation.” Tempo ​ no. 219 (January 2002): 8.

24

Schwarz, K. Robert. Minimalists. London: Phaidon, 2008. ​ ​

Straus, Joseph Nathan. Twelve-Tone Music In America. Cambridge, UK ; New York : ​ ​ Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Swartz, Anne. "Milton Babbitt on Milton Babbitt." American Music: A Quarterly Journal ​ Devoted To All Aspects Of American Music And Music In America 3, no. 4 (Winter ​ 1985):

25

Reimagination of the Requiem From “For the Mass” to “For the Masses” Yophi Bost

Abstract:

In this article, the author explores the transition of the requiem as a musical form. She explains the ways in which different composers set the text to change the tone and message of the overall work. The author also examines the changing themes in relation to the theories of humanism. The essay examines the works of Verdi, Brahms, and Dan Forest as examples of different text settings and alterations.

26

Reimagination of the Requiem From “For the Mass” to “For the Masses” Yophi Bost

“Requiem,” meaning “Rest” in Latin, is the title of masses written for repose of the souls

44 of the dead. Throughout history, requiems have taken on several different purposes, ranging from prayers for the dead’s eternal rest and salvation, to comfort for those mourning the dead.

The intended audiences of requiems has also changed from sacred church ceremony to concert

45 hall memorial tributes. The progression of the intended audiences of requiems can be clearly seen in three separate examples: Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa De Requiem, Johannes Brahms’ Ein ​ ​ ​ Deutsches Requiem, and Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living. Originally requiems were created ​ ​ ​ as prayers for the salvation of the souls of the dead, and as a way for those who are living to pray for their own salvation when death arose. In more recent centuries however, requiems, specifically Verdi, Brahms, and Dan Forrest’s, have all been deemed requiems for the living in some capacity. Verdi’s Requiem was written for and performed in a concert hall, Brahms’

Requiem centralizes around Humanism and an individual's relationship with God, and Dan

Forrest’s Requiem is specifically titled “Requiem for the Living.” Each of these requiems vary in style, structure, and musical period, but what is notably different, is the context of each of the requiems. By examining the setting of the texts of these three requiems, it can be proven that the genre has deviated from its original intent of sending the dead to the afterlife, and shifted to providing comfort for the living in the midst of grief.

44 "Requiem | Definition of Requiem in English by Oxford Dictionaries." Oxford Dictionaries | English. 45 Robertson, Alec. 1968. Requiem: Music of Mourning and Consolation. New York: F.A. Praeger, 101. ​ ​ ​

27

Requiems originally began as Christian prayers for the dead - deeply rooted in the Roman

46 Catholic tradition. In the German Lutheran traditions these prayers for the dead were a part of a funeral sequence that included the prayer, a hymn, a sermon and a funeral cantata known as a

47 Trauerlied, which translates to “mourning song” in German. The idea of a “requiem mass” or a ​ specific “mass for the dead” surfaced in the early tenth Century, when chants for the dead began.

48 As time progressed, requiems continued to evolve into large works of polyphonic harmony capable of portraying the wide range of emotions humans feel towards death (i.e., fear, anger, sadness). This new practice of requiem creation began in the 18th Century with Mozart’s requiem, and continues today as a popular large project for classical composers.

Upon hearing the news of the death of Italian author/humanitarian and inspirational figure Alessandro Manzoni, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), a famous Italian Opera composer of the late classical/early Romantic period, decided to write a large mass for the dead entitled Messa ​ De Requiem. This was premiered on May 22, 1874 at the San Marco Church in Milan, Italy. This ​ “operatic” work, as it is often described, was first performed in Milan Italy, being that Verdi

49 convinced the mayor to fund the work. Traditional to the original Roman Catholic Requiems, this piece was set with selected passages from the traditional Latin text of the mass for the dead,

50 Missa Pro Defunctis. The score in relation to the setting of the choral text, is wonderfully paired. This is seen in the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) with the melismatic fiery lines seen in the

46 Ibid., 171. ​ 47 Ibid. ​ 48 Green, Aaron. "All You Need to Know About the Requiem Mass." ThoughtCo. January 09, 2018. ​ 49 Robertson, Alec. 1968. Requiem: Music of Mourning and Consolation. New York: F.A. Praeger, 171 ​ ​ ​ 50 Ibid., 27. ​

28 strings and the vocal line. The enormous size of the work required, and still requires an orchestra and chorus of around 250, with 100 being in the Orchestra. While sacred in nature, this massive work is considered to be the first requiem meant for the concert hall and not the church - which

51 is why it is considered to be written for the living audience.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was a German composer active mostly in the Romantic

Period in which composers were experimenting with text painting in a new way. Brahms Ein ​ Deutsches Requiem first premiered in its entirety on February 18, 1869. Brahms’ Requiem often ​ described as the Humanist requiem, is undoubtedly known for being written for those in mourning. This German requiem was said to be a response to the death of both his mother and dear friend and fellow composer Robert Schumann. This has been determined through correspondence with Schumann’s wife Clara, who was also a well known musician/composer of the time, thought to be a love interest of Brahms. The seven movement work is most well known

52 for its text, which Brahms wrote himself using excerpts from the Lutheran bible. This work is also written in the vernacular, which is directly contrary to the traditional use of the Latin text.

Critics of the requiem mention that the work does not directly mention Christ or his coming.

It is also acknowledged by Brahms that the word “German,” aside from the reference to his use of the vernacular, can be eliminated entirely and replaced with the word “Human” in the title of the work. It is specifically recognized by many scholars that Brahms’ Requiem is a work based off the theory of Humanism, making it notably popular with modern ensembles.

51 Robertson, Alec. 1968. Requiem: Music of Mourning and Consolation. New York: F.A. Praeger, 171. ​ ​ ​ 52 Musgrave, Michael. 1996. Brahms, a German Requiem. Cambridge Music Handbooks. Cambridge ​ ​ ​ England: Cambridge University Press. ​

29

Humanism is a theory centered around the nature of the human being and their interactions with themselves and others. This theory was a common idea in the works of late Romantic composers as they shifted to focusing on mankind’s interaction with nature and the diversity of human emotion.

Contemporary Requiems have not had nearly as much success as Verdi and Brahms’ which are still performed constantly today. Dan Forrest (b. 1978) is a well-known contemporary choral composer most recognized for his composition of music that is undoubtedly beautiful in nature. Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, commissioned by the Hickory Choral Society of North ​ ​ 53 Carolina, was premiered in March 2013, in Raleigh, NC. This modern day requiem however, is still set primarily to the text of the original Missa De Profunctis with the exception of the tenor ​ ​ solo towards the ending in english. Forrest retains the Kyrie, Requiem Eterna, Agnus Dei, and ​ ​ Sanctus sections found in Verdi’s Messa De Requiem as well, with a few lines removed or ​ ​ ​ switched in most sections. He supplements these with a Vantias Vanitatum, which replaces the ​ ​ 54 typical Dies Irae second movement. Forrest strived to set an ancient text to a modern score, and ​ ​ after 10 months, produced a work met with raving reviews from the choral music world. Despite being named a “requiem for the living,” Forrest’s requiem still makes use of the text used as a sending for the dead in previous contexts. The work is much shorter than the other two previously mentioned, only running around forty minutes as opposed to the hour and a half of

Verdi’s, or hour and fifteen minutes of Brahms’ Requiem. Forrest states that the inspiration for

53 Forrest, Dan. Forrest Works: The Music of Dan Forrest. http://www.danforrest.com/ 54 Cope, Lindsey Lanee, "The Power of Three in Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living. " Master's Thesis, ​ University of Tennessee, 2015.

30

55 this work came from a commision to write a large work. This motivation differs immensely from that of Brahms and Verdi’s, who were both personally inspired to write a requiem after the death of loved ones. Without experiencing a direct loss, Forrest’s Requiem lacks in the expression associated with the pain of death, but suffers no loss in beauty. This raises the question of how successful can a requiem be without the motivation of a personal loss.

Each of these works while titled “Requiems,” have been described as being “for the living,” and each contain aspects that make them so.In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Priest is considered a “middleman” that people must communicate through if they want to talk to God.

Verdi, often described as being indifferent to his Catholic faith, had to spend a great deal of time studying the requiems of recent times such as Mozart’s Requiem, as he had not written sacred

56 works in a long period of time. However, Verdi masterfully embodied the spirit of having to emote in an overly compensating way in order to get past the “middleman” to God. With this observation, it can be assumed that the large size of the work, the huge orchestra, and the soaring operatic vocal lines, were written as an attempt to communicate directly to God. Verdi’s Libera ​ me, originally written upon the death of fellow composer Rossini, is the final movement of his ​ seven movement work that suggests that the interpreter of the text is asking for personal

57 salvation, asking to be “liberated” from an afterlife of suffering. This is preceded by a series of biblical stories and prayers for those who have passed. This movement brings a first person point

55 Forrest, Dan, interview by Lindsey Cope. Personal interview. Jefferson, TN, November 15, 2014. 56 Rosen, David. 1995. Verdi, Requiem. Cambridge Music Handbooks. Cambridge England: Cambridge ​ ​ ​ University Press. 57 Rosen, David. 1995. Verdi, Requiem. Cambridge Music Handbooks. Cambridge England: Cambridge ​ ​ University Press.

31 of view to the requiem and features an intense fugue, and a return of the Dies Irae (day of wrath) ​ ​ the interpreter is asking to be “liberated” from. While this concludes the piece, the work itself as a whole is still seen as a sending for the dead.

Dan Forrest’s Requiem shares a lot of similar text as the Verdi Requiem, but has been specifically titled Requiem for the Living. It can be argued however, that this requiem is still very ​ ​ much reflective of the traditional setting of a requiem, and all that is different is of course, the music/orchestration. In fact, the text of this requiem has almost no first person language other than a Dona Nobis Pacem at the end. However, through using this title, an uproar around the ​ ​ piece’s modernism and innovativity for “going against the norm” and writing a mass normally intended for the dead, for the living. It can be argued that this statement is quite inaccurate due to the fact that in the text is directed almost entirely to the dead. Even the small section written in the vernacular spoke to the dead saying “Come to me… and I will give you rest,” is spoken from

58 the voice of God to the dying. While the intent of the work was to provide comfort to the mourning, there was none of that implicated by the piece itself.

Brahms’ German Requiem is perhaps one of the only of the requiems to truly be for the living, as opposed to for the dead. This accomplishment is achieved primarily through the text that Brahms wrote. From the beginning of the requiem saying: “Selig sind die da leid tragen,” ​ ​ which translates to “Blessed are those that mourn,” not “Blessed are the dead.” Ein Deutsches ​ Requiem can truly be considered “for the living” due to its accessibility to the living audiences. ​

58 Forrest, Dan. 2013. Requiem for the Living. ​

32

For example, by having the requiem be in the vernacular, the text is automatically more accessible to the listener. This text not being pulled from the standard Latin text also is a much better representation of the emotions humans feel towards death. Brahms wrote passages such as

“Herr, lehre doch mich, daß ein Ende mit mir haben muß” which translates to “ Lord teach me ​ ​ 59 that my days have an end.”

Brahms’ use of “I, My, Us” personalizes the text for each singer, making them an active participant in their own faith, typical of the Lutheran faith this text was based on, and atypical of the traditional Roman Catholic tradition normally associated with requiems. The Lutheran faith was created from a desire to connect directly with God and break away from the middleman of the Catholic Priest, and it is seen in the freedom Brahms had to write down his own feelings towards mourning. Brahms also includes themes such as Humanism, a theoretical concept popular with the intellectual public at the time. This is seen through the text in movement six saying: “Tod, wo ist dein Stachel? Hölle, wo ist dein Sieg?” translated meaning: “Death where is ​ your sting? Grave where is your victory?” This brave challenging of death also aligned with the beginning of the shift into a more complex school of thought.

While each of the three requiems include an allusion to the living, Brahms’ Ein ​ Deutsches Requiem is the only one that truly captures the spirit of a requiem being for those who ​ are living. Ironically, Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, is perhaps the most “written for the ​ ​ dead” of the three. With reference only to those who are dead, this requiem perhaps, despite being the youngest, contextually dates back further than Brahms’ Requiem - which was written

59 Berdahl, Eric. "Text-Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem." Sanford University. ​ ​ ​

33

60 first, due to its use of the requiem text as a way to pray for the deceased. This adherence to the original intent of the requiem is what causes this requiem to unintentionally revert back to the requiem’s original purpose as a mass for the dead, not for the living. Even the requiems of the tenth centuries were active in comforting the mourners, though they were not written to do so as

Forrest’s claims to be.

Forrest’s Requiem is better described as “from the living” rather than “for the living,”

Verdi’s Requiem is better described as “for the living audience,” and Brahms’ Requiem is living itself. Brahms writes a requiem that not only represents the feelings of the living, but is directly from their perspective, so that the entire requiem is of the living. Through these findings, it can be confirmed that the text of a requiem above many other elements, is what truly sets the narrative and nature of the piece and informs the context of the piece. Brahms’ German Requiem is today considered a legendary work, and its personal relatability along with the masterfully crafted score, allow for this work to stand out among many, and be recognized as one of the greatest pieces of music of the time for its ability to capture the human spirit in its time of mourning.

60 Forrest, Dan. Requiem for the Living. Chapel Hill, NC: Hinshaw Music Company, 2013.

34

Bibliography

Berdahl, Eric. "Text-Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem." Sanford University. ​ ​

Cope, Lindsey Lanee, "The Power of Three in Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2015.

Forrest, Dan. Forrest Works: The Music of Dan Forrest. http://www.danforrest.com/

Forrest, Dan, J.W. Pepper interview by Lindsey Cope. Personal interview. Jefferson, TN, November 15, 2014, youtube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLUcL88g40E.

Forrest, Dan. Requiem for the Living. Chapel Hill, NC: Hinshaw Music Company, 2013.

Forrest, Dan. 2013. Requiem for the Living. Musical Score. ​ ​

Green, Aaron. "All You Need to Know About the Requiem Mass." ThoughtCo. January 09, 2018.

Musgrave, Michael. 1996. Brahms, a German Requiem. Cambridge Music Handbooks. ​ ​ Cambridge England: Cambridge University Press.

"Requiem | Definition of Requiem in English by Oxford Dictionaries." Oxford Dictionaries | English.

Robertson, Alec. 1968. Requiem: Music of Mourning and Consolation. New York: F.A. Praeger. ​ ​

Rosen, David. 1995. Verdi, Requiem. Cambridge Music Handbooks. Cambridge England: ​ ​ Cambridge University Press.

35

An Introduction to Music in Pakistan Enoch Robbins

Abstract:

This article aims to provide the reader with a cursory understanding of the historical and cultural background of Pakistan, as well as its music theory and industry. It explores the long term history through the heritage art forms of Qawwali and Gazal. The contemporary musical landscape is explored through Pakistan’s film and popular music. Lastly, it examines the modern state of the Pakistani music industry and the life of performers through the experience of a singer named Quaid Ahmed, and his experiences joining the ensemble: Sounds of Kolachi. The article concludes by providing context for Pakistan's modern popular music industry.

36

An Introduction to Music in Pakistan Enoch Robbins The goal of this ethnographic study is to provide Western classically trained musicians an introductory understanding of modern Pakistani music theory, music history, and cultural norms.

I seek to promote cultural understanding and encourage collaboration for performers, and to provide educators with a means to facilitate community engagement and professional development in the music classroom. This article will cover a brief history of Pakistan and an introduction to the music theory utilized in the country. It will also explore two prominent forms of Pakistani heritage music and the most prominent performers in each form. Lastly, it will examine popular Pakistani music and the modern music industry. To allow the reader to understand my own cultural lens, it is germane that I mention that I am a white, protestant,

American male who is classically trained in instrumental music education.

Methods

Research for this article was conducted through a variety of methods including literature review, and interviews with Pakistani nationals. I also have begun taking lessons in Hindustani vocal music and have been documenting my experience as a musician who has been classically trained in Western music, embodying “bi-musicality” as a result. My teacher, Quaid Ahmed, has approached my instruction without attempting to make transfers from Western music aside from using words that are close translations of large concepts, such as “scale” and “key.” These close translations will be further explained in the section on theory. Additionally, Ahmed has provided me an insight into the Pakistani music industry and answered questions about the greater social, religious, and political landscapes of Pakistan.

37

History of Pakistan

Pakistan (Figure 1) is a country on the northwestern edge of the Indian subcontinent. It was formed from North India in 1947 at the end of the British occupation of India. The country’s development was a unifying banner under which several cultural groups in the Indus valley could come together.61 For decades, this vision was upheld with minority groups heavily featured in popular culture and entertainment.62 The most prevalent religion in Pakistan is Sufi Islam, a form of Islam focused on spirituality and expressions of devotion and closeness to Allah. However, in the late 1970s, the government became increasingly militaristic and authoritarian, calling for a return to fundamentalist Islamic beliefs and traditions63 This was accelerated by the escalation of military conflicts leading to the dictatorship of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who began censorship of the arts and media.64 This created an environment where citizens were only allowed expression in government-approved ways.

61 Iftikhar Haider Malik. The History of Pakistan, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008). ​ ​ 62 Dan Washburn, Matt Schiavenza, Salvador Pantoja, and Michelle FlorCruz. “The Musical History of Pakistan.” Asia Society, last modified October 12, 2010, https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/musical-history-pakistan. ​ 63 NPR Staff. “Understanding Pakistan, By Way Of Its Pop Idols.” NPR, last modified October 8, 2010, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130384137%3FstoryId.

64 Washburn et. al. “The Musical History of Pakistan.”

38

Sufi Islam, Politics, Society and Music

Sufi Islam, sometimes referred to as Sufi Mysticism, is a religious ideology that was brought to south Asia from the Persian empire in the twelfth century and has played a large role in shaping the culture of Pakistan.65 The acceptance of Sufi Islam in South Asia has been atrributed to the similarities in philosophy with Indian Vedantists. Both philosophies place emphasis on the individual and exploration of the self.66 Sufi poetry prominently features imagery of wine, drunkenness, and the cupbearer. Wine represents divine love, drunkenness represents the ecstasy achieved by closeness to Allah, and the cupbearer represents a teacher to share this drink. Terms of romantic love are also used to represent the reaction between Allah and the believer.67 Some Islamic writers have condemned this evocative imagery as representative of impropriety and moral decay inherent in Sufi mysticism.68

The relationship between Sufi Islam and musical expression has been controversial for some time. Orthodox Islam does not have any consideration for religious music. However, Sufi

Islam employs music to induce ecstasy and bring closeness to Allah.69 The primary genre of Sufi

Islamic Music is called Qawwali, which will be discussed later. Some authors have condemned the practice of dance as being frivolous and improper, while at the same time rationalizing that

65 Jahnavi Phalkey et al., “Sufi,” in Key Concepts in Modern Indian Studies (Washington Square, NY: New York ​ ​ University Press, 2015), pp. 263-264, 263.

66 Muhammad Qasim Zaman, “The Contested Terrain of Sufism,” in ISLAM IN PAKISTAN: a History (Princeton, ​ ​ NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), pp. 195-225, 196.

67 Hiromi Lorraine Sakata, “Spiritual Music and Dance in Pakistan ,” Etnofoor 10, no. 1 (1997): pp. 165-173, 167. ​ ​ 68 Muhammad Qasim Zaman, “The Contested Terrain of Sufism,” 198.

69 Hiromi Lorraine Sakata, “Spiritual Music and Dance in Pakistan ,” 165.

39 the movements done in response to religious music are not truly dance, but rather an expression of the ecstasy that is experienced during worship.70

Pakistani Music Theory Due to Pakistan’s inception as a pluralistic nation, the culture has many influences. Be that as it may, the majority of music in Pakistan uses Hindustani music theory from North India because Pakistan was formerly a part of North India. The most obvious connection between

Western classical music and Hindustani music is the concept of Sargam.71 This is their system of pitch, consisting of seven swaras, or words, that are used to define the high and low tones of a scale. These words are: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni. This is much like the system of solfege in Western classical music. However, one key difference is the way in which chromatic pitches are expressed. In Western solfege, the consonant defines the scale degree, but the vowel can alter the pitch high or low. In Sargam, the vowel and consonant do not change. When written,

Pakistani and Indian musicians capitalize the high semitone, and make the lowered semitone lowercase.

An important fundamental of Hindustani music theory are the Thaat, or parent scales. ​ ​ These scales comprise the set of notes that are used in Hindustani music. There are ten parent scales from which the majority of Hindustani music is drawn. Many of these scales exist in

Western classical music, though there are a few that do not. All ten parent scales have the same first and fifth scale degree: Sa and Pa. The relationship between the first and fifth scale degrees is fundamental to Western music as well, and this similarity provides tonal context to the outside

70 Ibid, 166

71 Quaid Ahmed, interview by author, Facetime from North Carolina to Pakistan, April 1, 2020.

40 listener first beginning to listen to Hindustani music. The ten Thaat are provided in figure 2. ​ ​

Scale Western Key Signature Solfege and Name Name Key of C Sagram

Ionian Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do Bilawal (Major) S R G m P D N S’

Do Re Mi Fi So La Ti Do Kalyan Lydian S R G M P D N S’

Do Re Mi Fa So La Te Do Khamaj Mixolydian S R G m P D n S’

Do Re Me Fa So La Te Do Kafi Dorian S R g m P D n S’

Aeolian Do Re Me Fa So Le Te Do Asavari (Minor) S R g m P d n S’

Do Ra Me Fa So Le Te Do Bhairavi Phrygian S r g m P d n S’

Double Do Ra Mi Fa So Le Ti Do Bhairav Harmonic S r G m P d N S’ Major

Do Ra Mi Fi So La Ti Do Marwa N/A S r G M P D N S’

Do Ra Mi Fi So Le Ti Do Purvi N/A S r G M P d N S’

Do Ra Me Fi So Le Ti Do Todi N/A S r g M P d N S’

Figure 2. A chart displaying the 10 Thaat with their Western equivalents, key signatures, and ​ ​ solfege

41

Similarly, the idea of raga, or raag, is the collection of swaram that will be used in a certain composition. This is similar to a scale; however, ragas contain more information than just the notes of the scale. They contain information about melodies or motives for use in composition and improvisation. Additionally, a raga also has separate collections of notes on the ascending scale, aroh, and the descending scale, avroh. For example, the aroh for Raag Yaman ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ begins on the Ni below Sa, and proceeds to skip Sa and Pa, as shown in figure 3. Additionally, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ the movement between these notes includes several slides that cannot be transcribed within the system of western music notation.

Ragas are traditionally passed from teacher to student, and shared in the Hindustani community at large. As Hindustani music is traditionally not written down, this transmission and sharing must come through teaching or performing, with the rules gradually changing over time.

The nature of this oral tradition has two effects on Hindustani music. The first is that new ragas can only be learned with slow training, study, and immersion. The second is that as with any oral tradition, these rules are subject to subtle organic generational changes as they are passed down.

42

In terms of rhythm, Hindustani music has the same elements of beat and meter as in

Western music. In Hindustani music, the term for meter and rhythm in general is Taal. At a ​ ​ fundamental level, there are differences in how meter and rhythm are perceived in Western music. As described in a lecture by Naren Budhkar, Western musicians tend to think of meter as a straight line from start to finish, or left to right (as in a book). In contrast, Hindustani musicians perceive meter as a cycle, or circle, to be filled over and over.72 They also tend to have larger numbers of beats within the cycle, thus allowing for greater variety in the accenting of beats within a measure. The most common meter in Hindustani music is called Teental (Figure 4), has ​ ​ sixteen beats in groups of four, whereas the most common meter in Western music only has four beats.73 This mathematical relationship allows for Western listeners to maintain some comfort and familiarity with Hindustani music, as they often perceive Teental as just four measures of

common time. The words in the diagram

represent different strokes on the Tabla, the

most common Hindustani drum. There are

other common meters that are less familiar to

the Western ear, such as Ektaal with twelve ​ ​ beats divided into six groups of two, and

Rupak Taal with seven beats in a ​ three-two-two grouping.

72 Naren Budhkar, "Hand Drum Masters: World Percussion Traditions" (Open lecture and masterclass, at the The 2018 North Carolina Folk Festival, September 8, 2018).

73 Sadhana, “Rhythm (Taal) in Indian Classical Music.” Raag Hindustani, 2011. https://raag-hindustani.com/Rhythm.html.

43

Qawwali

The following section will describe two noteworthy forms of Pakistani heritage music:

Qawwali and Ghazal. While there are many more genres of heritage music in Pakistan, these two have been selected as representative because of their religious significance, cultural influence, impact on modern Pakistani music, as well as their international presence.

As mentioned before, one prominent form of traditional Pakistani music is Qawwali. This artform began as a very expressive and energetic form of worship, and is deeply rooted in Sufi

Islam, sometimes using Persian Sufi poetry as its lyric source.74 The music involves groups of approximately eight musicians, including multiple harmonium players, several collaborative singers who clap the pulse for the entire song, and at least one person playing the tabla or another percussion instrument. In terms of form and structure, all of the songs are built on a grand crescendo from beginning to end, with the energy always ending in a higher place than where it started.75 Aside from this, the music is structured with multiple strains sung in unison and with spaces for improvisation. These improvisations are usually dialogues between the soloists and the rest of the ensemble and can be performed as an echo, call and response, or as supplemental stingers added to the end of the existing union strains.76 An example is represented in the following text, which is from the Persian Poem Chasm-e-Maste.77 This text includes the ​ ​

74 BBC, “A Beginner's Guide to Qawwali Music.” BBC. last modified August 8, 2017. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5Plm8bBlBd7wXjZN2zdb8Fm/a-beginners-guide-to-qawwali-music.

75 BBC, “A Beginner's Guide to Qawwali Music.”

76 Real World Records. “Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt (Live at WOMAD Yokohama 1992).” YouTube Video, June 16, 2017. https://youtu.be/SDfELfpumEE ​ 77 Hazret Amir Khusrau. 'Chashm-e-Maste', Abdur Rahman's Corner. https://thecorner.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/chashm-e-maste/.

44

previously mentioned references to wine and the relationship between Allah and believer being

represented by a mischievous sweetheart, who teases and beguiles, offers protection while being

a tormentor.

Chashm-e-Maste `ajabe, zulf taraze `ajabe O wondrous ecstatic eyes, O wondrous long locks

Maiparaste `ajabe, fitna taraze `ajabe O wondrous wine worshipper, O wondrous mischievous sweetheart,

Bahr-e-qatlam chu kashad tegh neham sar basujud As he draws the sword, I bow my head in prostration so as to be killed

U banaze `ajabe man banyaze `ajabe O wondrous is his beneficence, O wondrous my submission

Waqt-e-bismil shudanam chashm baryush baz ast In the spasm of being killed my eyes beheld your face;

Mehrbane `ajabe bandanawaze `ajabe O wondrous benevolence, O wondrous guidance and protection

Turk taze `ajabe shoba babaze `ajabe O wondrous amorous teasing, O wondrous beguiling

Kajkulahe `ajabe `arbada saze `ajabe O wondrous tilted cap, O wondrous tormentor

Haq mago kalma-e-kufr ast dar in ja Khusrau Do not reveal the Truth; in this world blasphemy prevails Khusrau

Razdane `ajabe sahib-e-raz-e-`ajabe O wondrous source of mystery, O wondrous knower of secrets. The primary figure in Qawwali music is Nusrat Fateh

Ali Khan, shown in Figure 5. His name has become

synonymous with Qawwali, and he is credited with bringing

the artform into the global spotlight and modernizing it

through collaboration with Western artists such as Peter

Gabriel.78

78 BBC, “A Beginner's Guide to Qawwali Music.”

45

Notably, the role of women is still

debated in Qawwali; however, there are female

performers, such as the Nooran Sisters, shown

in Figure 6.79 In spite of the Nooran Sisters’

established presence in Pakistan, some sources

contend that women are not permitted to sing in the performance of Qawwali, while others argue that they should not be allowed to perform at all.80 The attitudes toward women are changing, but they are still heavily influenced by the traditional gender roles present in Islam.

Ghazal

Ghazal (sometimes spelled Gazal) is another heritage artform in Pakistani Music. Ghazal itself refers to a form of Urdu poetry that has existed for centuries. When applied to music,

Ghazal refers to the practice of setting these poems to a raag or a musical scale. This art form is distinctly Pakistani, as it relies on Urdu poetry to derive its words. The musical style of this type of performance is much more like a conventional “band” setup, where there is a clear lead-singer or front man who is supported by the rest of the ensemble. In this genre, the artist’s skill is measured by their ability to set the text to a tune; the consistent meter of a Ghazal makes managing the rhythmic elements much easier, so the song can be premeditated composition, or purely improvisational.

79 White Hill Beats. “NOORAN SISTERS USA LIVE | NIT KHAIR MANGA | OFFICIAL FULL VIDEO HD.” YouTube Video, February 25, 2016. https://youtu.be/3yJtOO_Ub5c ​ 80 BBC, “A Beginner's Guide to Qawwali Music.”

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Ghazal was originally an Arabic poetic form that was brought to the Indian subcontinent

by the Sufi Musims in the eighteenth-century. It is a form of poetry that traditionally expresses

romantic, familial, religious, or metaphysical longing and love.81 Ghazals are composed of five

to fifteen couplets, with the a repeated word or phrase at the end of each couplet.82 The example

below is by the prominent twentieth-century poet, Syed Ahmad Shah, known by his pen name:

Ahmad Faraz. This poem reiterates the phrase “ke liye aa” loosely translated as the imperative ​ ​ “come for.” The syntactic differences between Urdu and English can make translation a daunting

task when communicating true meaning. This can be seen in the following example, where the

repeated Urdu phrase ke liye aa, is translated to the English imperative “come.”83 This poem has ​ ​ been performed and recorded by many singers over the years.

ranjish hī sahī dil hī dukhāne ke liye aa Even if you are annoyed come just to give me pain ​ ​ ​ aa phir se mujhe chhoḌ ke jaane k e liye aa come even if you have to then leave me yet again ​ kuchh to mire pindār-e-mohabbat kā bharam rakh The notion of my love's self-pride please do pacify tū bhī to kabhī mujh ko manāne ke liye aa you should surely come one day and try to mollify ​ ​ ​

pahle se marāsim na sahī phir bhī kabhī to even tho no longer close we are as used to be rasm-o-rah-e-duniyā hī nibhāne ke liye aa come even if it's purely for sake of formality ​ ​

kis kis ko batā.eñge judā.ī kā sabab ham The reason for our parting to whom should I relate tū mujh se ḳhafā hai to zamāne ke liye aa if cross with me then come and to the world narrate ​ ​

ik umr se huuñ lazzat-e-girya se bhī mahrūm a lifetime have missed the joy of tearful ecstasy ai rāhat-e-jāñ mujh ko rulāne ke liye aa Life's comfort thus to make me cry, you should come to me ​ ​ ​ ab tak dil-e-ḳhush-fahm ko tujh se haiñ ummīdeñ my heart is optimistic yet, its hopes are still alive ye āḳhirī sham.eñ bhī bujhāne k e liye aa come to snuff it out, let not this final flame survive ​

81 “Ghazal.” Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Accessed September 14, 2020. https://poets.org/glossary/ghazal.

82 “Ghazal.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 2020. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ghazal.

83 Ahmad Faraz . 'Ranjish hi sahi dil hi dukhane ke liye aa', rekhta. https://www.rekhta.org/ghazals/ranjish-hii-sahii-dil-hii-dukhaane-ke-liye-aa-ahmad-faraz-ghazals. Translated by rhekta.org

47

The preeminent name in Ghazal is Mehdi Hassan. Hassan was born in 1927 to a family of professional musicians in India, and he received traditional Hindustani musical training from a young age. His family immigrated to Pakistan after it gained independence in 1947 primarily because of their Muslim faith. At the time, the market for professional musicians was very limited, so he took up work as a bike mechanic.84 Having received musical training before his family immigrated, he immersed himself in Urdu poetry, applied his skills in improvisation, and went on to become a world renowned singer of Ghazal. Hassan’s impact is widespread. He is credited with popularizing the genre of Ghazal with a new generation of listeners and inspiring many Hindustani classical musicians to take up singing Ghazal.85

Hassan, seen in figure 7, exists in some ways as a cultural bridge between Pakistan and India, with his heritage and music being influenced heavily by both countries. However, he is the subject of much posthumous debate. Pakistani writers claim that he belongs more to their cultural history due to his residence, religion, and use of Urdu poetry.86

Meanwhile, North Indian writers claim him by virtue

84 Reginald Massey, “Mehdi Hassan Obituary.” Guardian News and Media, June 13, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jun/13/mehdi-hassan.

85Haresh Pandya. “Mehdi Hassan, Who Sang Urdu Lyric Verse, Dies at 84.” The New York Times, June 14, 2012. ​ ​ https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/arts/music/mehdi-hassan-ghazals-voice-of-god-dies-at-84.html.

86 Reginald Massey, “Mehdi Hassan Obituary.” Guardian News and Media, June 13, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jun/13/mehdi-hassan.

48 of where he was born.87 Today, his music is still heavily enjoyed in both Pakistan and India, and he is responsible for bringing Ghazal to a worldwide audience.

Popular Music

Pakistan has experienced periods of great prosperity and artistic freedom, interspersed with periods of cultural and religious oppression. In the periods of prosperity, music flourished.

This was driven by the rich musical traditions of Sufi Islam, with its focus on emotional expression as a core element of worship.88 This prosperity and development was compounded by the globalization of the music industry in the late twentieth century, allowing for cross-cultural influences between countries.

The 1960s are referred to as the golden age of Pakistan. This was the time during which the nation’s artistic expression flourished the most.89 There were great strides made in entertainment, such as music and cinema. Up until the 1980s, there were many live performances in schools and communities, and the popular music of the country featured the same genres as the world today. Songs such as “Ko-Ko-Korina” by Ahmed Rushdi, “Albela Rahi” by Alamgir, ​ ​ ​ ​ and “Disco Deewane” by Nazia Hassan demonstrate the global nature of Pakistani Popular music. These songs have the same style, form, and harmonic structure as any European pop hit.

“Ko-Ko-Korina” by Ahmed Rushdi has a classic rockabilly guitar riff, “Disco Deewane” by ​ ​ ​ ​

87 Ziya Salam, “A Voice That Knew No Border.” The Hindu, October 22, 2016. https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/music/A-voice-that-knew-no-border/article12859820.ece.

88 Riaz Hassan, “Religion, Society, and the State in Pakistan: Pirs and Politics.” Asian Survey 27, no. 5 (1987): ​ ​ 554-555

89 Riaz Haq. “History of PAKISTANI MUSIC(1/3).” YouTube Video, May 4, 2011. ​ https://youtu.be/mxJ9YPMRCrg

49

Nazia Hassan lives up to its name with a syncopated bass line, and “Albela Rahi” by Alamgir shares a chord progression with The Troggs’ “Wild Thing.”

Figure 8. From Left to Right: Still Frame from “Ko-Ko-Korina,”90 Poster for “Disco Deewane,”91 and Image from an advertisement from Alamgir’s92 appearance on Coke Studio Pakistan (2013)

The Pakistani popular music industry has also been heavily influenced by film. Many

Hindustani films feature large musical numbers, however these songs are not sung by the actors.

Instead they lip sync over pre-recorded tracks. These recorded musicians are called playback singers, and they have their own division of film awards in Pakistan. All three of the artists mentioned have worked not only as recording artists, but also as playback singers.

During this more liberal time period from the 1960s to the 1980s, concerts were commonplace, with young Pakistanis engaging in social behaviors such as partying and drinking.

93 Nevertheless, the late 1970s saw the advent of a more conservative government, along with

90 Usman Habib Chaudhry. “Ko Ko Korina - May Ray Khayalon Pay Chaey Hai - (Late) Ahmed Rushdi.” YouTube Video of the 1966 Film, Dec 10, 2011. https://youtu.be/R9QW9pBmf1U ​ 91 Birbal Studios. Instagram Photo of Nazia Hassan Featuring the Typeface of Disco Deewane. October 27, 2014. ​ ​ Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/uq3ajKKIa6/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet. ​ 92 Think Twice Pakistan. Photo of Alamgir Haq Playing Guitar. 2016. The Express Tribune . ​ ​ ​ ​ https://c.tribune.com.pk/2016/01/alamgir-ThinkTwicePakistan.jpg.

93 Arshard Bashir, interview by author, Zoom from North Carolina to Pakistan, April 11, 2020.

50 social and political pressure that led to the restriction of religious freedoms and individual expression. Much of this happened under the rule of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq from 1978 to 1988, who sought to de-Westernize the region through codified Sharization.94 He began to write

Islamic religious fundamentalism into national law. This was a deliberate shift away from the spiritual and mystic Sufi Islam to a more legalistic form of the religion. As a result, artistic expression was heavily censored and music was only allowed if it presented the government-approved image of Pakistan. Some “Western-style” music was able to make it past the censors by using extremely patriotic lyrics. One example of this is “Dil Dil Pakistan,” literally meaning “Heart Heart Pakistan.” This song has deeply patriotic lyrics, but the video shows very “Western” and “cool” Pakistanis. This song has become so beloved that it is now called Pakistan’s unofficial national anthem.95

After the death of Zia-ul-Haq in 1988, there was a brief period of democracy and loosening of social restrictions. This began under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto from 1988 to

1990, a formidable woman with the distinction of being Pakistan’s first female Prime Minister.

This reprieve was short-lived; in the 2000s, the American War on Terror threw the region into political upheaval and led to renewed restrictions on freedom of expression, along with a severe impact on the economy. As a result, there has been a vast reduction in the number of live performances, resulting in limited opportunities for emerging musicians. Fortunately, the 2010s have seen an increase in the number of performances once again, with programs like Coke

Studio Pakistan presenting new artists, bands, and ensembles on an international platform.

94 Lawrence Ziring, “Public Policy Dilemmas and Pakistan's Nationality Problem: The Legacy of Zia Ul-Haq.” Asian Survey 28, no. 8 (1988): 796 ​ 95 NPR Staff. “Understanding Pakistan, By Way Of Its Pop Idols.”

51

The Life of a Performer96

The musical heritage of the Indian subcontinent is passed down through Gharanas, or ​ ​ musical families. They can be families related by blood or chosen apprentices from a young age.

There are no general music or ensemble classes in the public schools of Pakistan. Because of this, aspiring musicians who were not born into a Gharana or taken into apprenticeship at a ​ ​ young age are at a disadvantage should they decide to pursue music as their professional career.

Quaid Ahmed, in figure 9, is an example of one such artist. He is currently a member of the ensemble: Sounds of

Kolachi. This group blends traditional Pakistani musical elements with popular music such as rock and blues.97 Quaid has performed with this group on the Coke Studio National

Television program, and has participated in international tours and talks at colleges around the world. The band’s public journey has been widely documented in newspapers and other outlets, but the backgrounds of the performers themselves have received much less attention.

Quaid’s musical background begins in childhood, where he watched traditional performers on television and heard them on the radio. He grew up saturated with Sindhi, Ghazal,

96 Unless otherwise noted, the details of this section are from the Author’s Interview with Quaid Ahmed on April 1, 2020.

97Coke Studio. “Coke Studio Season 11| Ilallah| Sounds of Kolachi.” YouTube video of a live music recording, Sep 28, 2018. https://youtu.be/3CJQGf7ldZU.

52

Qawwali, and other forms of Pakistani heritage music. He heard Pakistani cultural icons such as

Medhi Hassan, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. These early experiences formed the beginnings of his musical acculturation and influenced his style and decisions later on. As a result of these influences, Quaid picked up much of the Hindustani musical tradition. For Quaid, this was not learned through formal music education and theoretical lessons, but through practical exposure and listening with intent.

In 2012, Quaid began performing at weddings, celebrations and other small events.

During his early career, he received encouragement from his family and sought out more performance opportunities. Eventually, he resolved to seek out auditions and attempted to build a professional career out of his vocal music. It is at this point that his story becomes truly unique.

Quaid’s initial attempts with record labels and producers, such as Shahzad Hasan, were not successful. Eventually he received a call from Ahsan Bari, a well-known Pakistani composer, performer, and producer. Bari viewed him as a “raw untrained talent” with the goal of forming an ensemble built from traditionally trained master musicians and emerging talents that they could mentor.98 In this combination of experts and amateurs, Quaid was one of several young musicians brought into the industry. He was presented with not only a career opportunity but the chance to receive on-the-job training from master musicians.

Quaid refers to Sounds of Kolachi as an ensemble, not a band. He says that in the professional setting, the distinction between ensembles and bands is very important. Because of the competitive market and the friction between front-men and band members, band culture

98 The Narrator. “Sounds of Kolachi Has Changed Our Perspective toward Music: Ahsan Bari.” Red Bull, June 1, 2020. https://www.redbull.com/pk-en/sounds-of-kolachi-has-changed-our-perspective-toward-music-ahsan-bari. ​ ​

53 stopped being effective in Pakistan in the 1990s. With the idea of an ensemble, the hierarchy of authority is more formalized and clearly defined. In some ways, it is like hiring studio musicians because the ensemble leaders call the shots and make the big decisions. However, the best elements of a band are also found in an ensemble. The group has a united identity and are all working toward a mutual success. There is a fusion of ideas brought about by the diverse backgrounds of the group members. For example, Gul Muhammed, the Sounds of Kolachi sarangi player, was taught Pakistani Heritage music in a traditional master-apprentice relationship, while Ahsan Bari, the ensemble leader, brings an expertise in popular music. They have experienced friction in the past when composing songs and breaking traditional forms, but this dialogue lets them work together creatively and create a fusion of ideas. The blending of these ideas gives Sounds of Kolachi its unique appeal and makes them representative of the many ethnic groups in Pakistan.

Industry

Pakistan is a composite country, built out of many different cultural groups. This diverse and heterogeneous identity is reflected in their professional music environment. The musical landscape contains elements from all over the world. Some instruments, like the sarangi, are still taught in the traditional Master-Apprentice Model. However, Quaid demonstrates an emerging model of learning through listening to masters and honing the skill on the road, similar to the stories of American jazz legends like Miles Davis.99

99 Miles Davis. Miles: the Autobiography (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1989). ​ ​

54

The music industry in Pakistan is visually driven, like that of America, and is still impacted by the colorism imposed by British occupation of the area. Artists are encouraged to use skin creams, such as Fair and Handsome for men and Fair and Lovely for women. The practice of skin-lightening is done to make artists more marketable. In this regard, the Pakistani music industry is not unlike the Western music industry or the idol cultures of Japan and South

Korea. In these industries the record labels have a potentially invasive level of influence over their artists' personal lives.

Today, music is one of Pakistan’s primary exports. North India has developed a fascination with Pakistani artists, and much of this can be attributed to combining a shared

Hindustani musical system with the diverse cultural groups and influences of the Middle-East and Sufi Islam.100 In addition to the Ghazals of Mehdi Hassan inspiring more performers, the

Coke Studios television program gives Pakistani artists a worldwide platform, facilitating the transmission of their cultural heritage around the globe. This program highlights the musical traditions of the diverse cultural groups in Pakistan. Likewise, the increased use of Pakistani artists singing in Bollywood has created interest in and beyond North India.101 A.R. Rahman is the preeminent name in Bollywood film music and he has been very vocal in his praise of

Pakistani musical skills. Notably, he shows great respect for performers of traditional Pakistani artforms like Ghazal and Qawwali, giving validity to their heritage artforms.

100 Quaid Ahmed, interview by author.

101 Bollywood is North Indian cinema, a combination of the words Bombay and Hollywood.

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Conclusion

Pakistan’s music has been shaped by its history. It shares cultural elements of the

Middle-Eastern Islam and North Indian Hindustani music theory. This unique cultural environment has allowed for the fusion of creative philosophy, religious symbolism, and musical elements from both regions. The core of the music theory comes from North Indian musical heritage, with thaats and ragas providing melodic structure, and laal providing rhythmic ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ structure. These musical elements were then blended with elements of Sufi Islam, resulting in genres such as Qawwali with its large ensembles, constantly increasing dynamic, and wine-based imagery. The blending of Hindustani music and Persian Ghazal poetry based on couplets and repeated phrases created its own genre. Understanding the basic elements, musical structure, and lyrical themes of these elements is the beginning of understanding Pakistani heritage music and should enable the reader to begin listening to Pakistani music with a more informed perspective.

The popular music of Pakistan proliferated in the 1960s and 1970s, with artists recording rock and disco albums that would fit well into the average American record collection. Film music has also played a large role in Pakistani pop music development, with many prominent artists getting their start as playback singers. The industry struggled under the Sharization of the

1980s and then again in the early 2000s after the war on terror, but has seen a strong revival in the 2010s with television programs such as Coke Studio giving Pakistani artists a global platform. Today, there are many roads to success as a professional musician, from traditional learning under a guru to on-the-job musical training. Pakistan’s music has become one of its largest cultural exports, and their artists are heavily sought after in the international market both as playback singers in North India, and as collaborating artists in America and Europe.

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