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1990

Legitimate and Illegitimate Variation in Interpretations

Peter L. Manuel CUNY Graduate Center

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This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Legitimate and Illegitimate Variation in Rdga Interpretation

PETER MANUEL

he necessityof maintaining raga differentiation is one of the basic operational axioms of Indian classicalmusics, both Hindustani and Carnatic.One cannot perform Indian art music without accepting- ,on some level, the premise that each raga has a distinct and individual character, and that this character must be respectedin the processof elaboration and interpretation. In this century, as in previous times, performershave introduced new instruments,stylistic features, and even , but the principle of adhering to some sort of distinctions between ragas has continued to be taken for granted as intrinsic to the variety and integrity of the musical system. At the same time, all those who are involved in the study of Indian music-and perhaps especially Hindustani music-are aware that raga interpretationis far from being entirely standardized.Arguments between musicians,pointed commentsby journalist critics, and occasionalpolemics in descriptive literature all reflect the lack of absolute uniformity in raga interpretation,and the constantneed to renegotiateor reiteratethe often subtledetails by which rdgasare distinguished.This absenceof consensusin the realm of interpretation, indeed, is the source of much vitality and versatility within Indian music, but it also posesprofound problems of description which concer* not only scholarly explications,but also the practical choicesand attitudes of performing musiciansthemselves. The crux of the problem may be said to be the need to distinguishlegitimate variantsof a raga (e.g., as performed by membersof two establishedand respectedgharanas) from impermissible or illegitimafe versions of. a raga deriving from the ignoranceor wilful indifferenceof the artist. In some cases, as we shall suggest,such distinctions between acceptableand unacceptablevariants can be articulatedin wayswhich would satisfymost establishedmusicians (and musicologists);but in many casesthe distinc- tions are highly ambiguousand may even call into questionour ability to discussa particular raga interpretation as correct or incorrect. This problemmay havedifferent sorts of relevancefor differentgroups of people.It may have an immediatepractical significance for a musicianwho has learned different versions of a rdga from two teachers, or who

SangeetNafatrNo. 96 : April-June 1990 20 PETERMANUEL q.€fl he has not perform a tdga which for whatever reason' as an 3m,i undertakes, -to *11:,T' resards $ffi: learned thoroughly. For I ioyna11t,;;;;"Yt".g a more e$0 unorthodoxperformanceofatdga'orforanlndianmusicologiitcompilingoi uutiant versions presents ery ;;^;#nt" to order' a rdgaencyclopaedi;; io' unyont attempting empirical problem And -;;g' seil inteflectualand iir of mustcat describe the system tf ltre of a I understand, or pedagogy'-::ni"*tthe absence innovation' M evolution, individuai -""-d,1";"1;?ilt",.t;i musical evolution' regaroing ii';;; $m definitive 'agu il" of a definitive "on'"n"'i'= u'nd.l"u"l'"t^p"O^LtgV' ?O:"Y is il individual innovation' a fundamentalissue which rcgardingr agadifferentiati.;;".;; u :',ficonsensus music' i'fis s ,,:tr3ffi,:;:l J:':#il"i:ili T,:lt" or"ni to promote atr m i [";:,.;lTfl solutions K not my placeto "uuinir,i. my intent in this short codificatron"d;;;;";;"i.rig"t of. rdgaaistinctio|l:^ilil to Hindustanr f,: ordered of theTsso"*itt''t"tlt:n:" articleis to ctarity';;;-;p".ts bv Indians(and music,in the t'tp"-it'"iii rnlv q"Hil;"ulii"tt"o andrefinement l t"l:1"^:lT'ittp'p!tp""::i"'t il Pakistanis)wtro arl themselves or both' Given the u, ,nori"iunr, s"holar", !.1 of the tradition, whether uuoot r aeainterpretation which [#t;t"* ma1 i occasionailypot"*'i'.J';;;; out my own-slatus'which s oftenassume, it maybe appropriate.tJpoint As a performer be describeou,.i,.]ioJ,-oiilio|,,",.p;i;;i;ant-observer'1. to choose between t of Hindust".i rtg""'d;#iiobliged different ustads;and d '";";"i"'tt* l,h"d #it"?ft;;t ft variantversions oi ragaswhich challengeoi uu" u"""'it,rTiJJ uf tn9 abstract asan ethno*uri.otog'i.i,I t North lndian musrc and.rlri1,^"t"i i"ttesion of x articulatingthe inielriry in some respects' int"rnut'tiiJititv u"a, t while also recognizlngits contradictions' fi I Raga lnterpretgtigns, a genera' I Kindsof Variant rEgasrhoasis sovelnTdsoverneoby ot'ffi;J'N;i,h Indian variantvet' I Interpretation pr"oiiiiiZri. NJ'"rtheless' conseniussharedOi'iriiar,ri "i arewidell of tu-iul"uni sfignitve".;:;;';;';"'': "^fij,andas legitimate Ii sions, both fidit to"u" accepted rh;';;;"#t of established acknowledg"o. in the p;is;;t;i traditions are those;;iila The Agra ghar^n| alternates instances.t; til"lt;;tiants' sharanas.Thereu'" ascent re sa ma dhan -version '"u"'utio, the :: of.ragal"ii"i""rii, "*urnpt" "; pa'nisa' Se"niyagharani re ga ma an< sarather than the #;il;;ntional :a rtr"iira) includetivra m6 (".g.,';h; i"* n"Jttr." vr"if" Sarodplayers ot rffi''^yl]1":^1::t^;t""*f'"H3; shuddhniin their'"t'oitiot" laga rffi:rffi 'ffin;*:tJff t#f H,;:ffi #?['i"""*iii""i''rn' . VARIATION IN RAGA INTERPRETATION 2T i not versions of.ragaParaj as recordedby kesar Bai, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, $an and Faiyyaz Khan are all somewhatdistinct. The differencesbetween the riling versionsof Megh and Madhumdd Sarang (whhich share the same more ascendingand descendingscales) as taught to me by *y teachers and a rder, explained in pedagogicalliterature were all so contradictory that I have rsical simply despaired of playing these rdgas (much to my regret). :ofa Learned readersmay well be able to enumerateseveral more instancesof rtion, such inconsistencies.It has been my experiencethat aficionadosas well as ritive practicing musicianstend to recognize such distinct versions as legitimate ich is and acceptable;that is, Faiyyaz Khan's practice of singing in an unorthodox version is regarded not as an illustrations of his ignorance, but ,itis as the legitimate tradition of a venerable ghardna-.Conversely, audiences )te an need not question the sincerity and authority of an artiste like Amjad Ali short Khan when he announcesthat he is going to play "Lalita -in the rstani style of my ghardn|". (and The legitimacy of such variants may be contrasted with the obvious ment unacceptability of the innocent doodlings of a beginning student who has r the not learned raga at all, and doesnot professto be educatedin suchmatters. ,ation Gross prevarications-such as singing and, for whatever reason, l may insisting that it is Mdlkauns-may also be unanimously discounted by all )nneI those with any musical education. Unfortunately, the majority of variants ween and inconsistenciesfall in between these two unambiguousextremes-and ;; and it is the evaluation of theseinconsistencies that posesessential problems for rgeol Indian music theory and practice. music This category of potentially controversialvariant versionswould include )ects, all the idiosyncratic or licentious'irregularities which, although performed by recogn2ed artistes, are nevertheless faulted by some critics and musiciansas incorrect. Theseirregularities may themselvesbe grouped in a number otcategories. First, one may speak of iiconsistenciesthat arise in )netal the case.of artistes who, while agreeingon the general features of a given t ver- raga, uphold different degreesof concern or punctiliousnessin respect to ddely details of interpretation. Is the passagere ga ma in rdga'Iilak Kamod imate absolutely inadmissible, or acceptableonly in the form of a quick passing lished ornament, or can it be used freely?3Is the ascentsa rc ga inherently out of ardni character in raga Yaman, or can it be used judiciously to good effect? lha n' Regarding these and other similar details, the absence of complete arani unanimity on the part of respectedmusicians may often derive lessfrom the itr anc rliscrete traditions of different ghardnds,or from the ignorance of certain sing i performers, than from the individual's temperamentwhich conditionshis or ction: her attitude toward attention to fine detail. That. is, certain artistes may i. Tht prefer a strict, narrow, highly structured approach to rdga interpretation, 22 PETERMANUEL whereasothers may feel more at easeadopting a somewhatliberal attitude frm toward detail, coniident that they can accurately present the image of a illM given ragawtriteadhering in a sligirtly lessdogmatic manner to conventions re articulated by Purists. ry A second, and related, category of controversial irregularities would be ,tu those in which the artiste *"ll aware of the establishednorms of a gpvenraga, but may choose-uy1" io violate them in the hope that his (or her) thm audiencewill toleraie mild prevarications.The desireto overcometechnical Th difficulties may provid" ott" impetus to introducing such inconsistencies' sitarists, for eiample, may discoverthat when playrnqf1s! tensin Shri raga, ffi it is considerablyeasier to play the technicallyinadmissible pa md ga md ga 6d re saindescent rather than the correct pa md ga rc sa (ot pa md ga rc ga re tuil sa).I have witnessed one prominent Sitarist, after playing,a cortect alap, ,m repeatedly play such u puisuge in tan, evidently in the that.most -hop" of ffi niembersbf nis auOiettc"*oold not notice his violation of the integrity @ the raga. In other cases, a knowledgeable artiste may depart from the dry custoriary version of a rdga out of lazinessor indifference' Perhaps,most typically, a musician muy 6" led to stretch the rules of a given ragabecause ,im{ the of ttir desire to find nbvel and original-sounding phrases; indeed, ffir for p"r*it"O ptessureto sound distinctive and individual certainly accounts d sorts much evolution-or devolution-in Indian music. As with the other dh or of variants discussed here, it is not a question of only obscure d! inexperienced artistes exhibiting such inconiistenciesor licentious indulg- ffi but established,venerated performers as well' ffi "rr"o,No doubt as common as thesesituations, however, are those in which the rM& artiste simply does not know the norms of the raga as upheld by 'purists" me often becausehis own teacherdid not stresssuch details' It has been often nkr pointed out that many musicianstoday-especially certain young virtuoso sqil 'sitarists-place greater emphasison biilliant technique than on scrupulous ryE sugh attention to raga. The casual attitude toward raga displayed-!v. il strict musiciansis fre{uently a sourceof dismayto other artisteswho uphold f,d what lia"fity to correct andbaditional interpietation. Such artistes lament lcm simple they iegard as the decline and bastardization of all but the most sffic who re[as, inA tn" increasingly timited number of. ragasplayed by artistes M spreadof have not bothered or beln able to expand their iepertoires- The eerf; by the massmedia and increasedtransportation have exacerbatedthis trend irg I the making it possible for intermediati and advancedstudents to imitate ffie.E ofl!9 masteis' ,tyt", with relatively little formal musical education. Many A artists, as the joke goes, learn primarily from Ustad TDK Ltrr ""*Khan. "f.o*ing Raga,-ot is the on"-"I"In"nt that simply cannot be learned flq@ "liitening, abstract only by "orrrr",copying, and guessing. The structural hssd VARIATION IN RAGA INTERPRETATION 23 rde frameworks of most ragas are simply too complex and covert to be fa abstractedcorrectly from performances.Hence the tendency for perform- )ns ancesby certainyoung virtuosos,briliant as their techniqueand musicality may be, to turn into scalar mishmashesor krbftrrr'sof phrasestaken from be clustersof neighbouringr\gasa. rfa er) Possible Resolution cal The lack of complete codification of raga theory leads to the following es. questions:how can thesevarious sorts of inconsistenciesbe evaluatedin a 94, scholarly and objective manner? Can authoritative versions of ragas be ga establishedand, if they cannot,how can the conceptof ragabe preservedin re the face of the absenceof consensus? lp, At least four approachesto thesequestions are possible.First, one may ost uphold the tradition of a particular musician or group of musicians as of correct, and disqualify rdga interpretations which differ from this ortho- ;he dory. This approach,indeed, is that which is adheredto by somepracticing ost musicians-that is "my (or our) versionis the correct one, and the others rse are wrong". Clearly, however, from a scholarlyperspective, the arbitrary :he choice of one traditional school of thought over others does not realli [or resolve the question of diverse interpretations,but merely perpetuates rts dissensionand discord. or A second approach, which might seem more typical of an avowedly lg- scholarlyor objective stance,would be to regard all versionsas equally r,alid. This solution avoids arbitrary and subjective decisionsfavouring he certain interpretations (and musicians) at the expense of others, and it ls" accommodatesthe changesthat occur in ragasover the passageof time. It .en mtlowsa musicianto accept,for example,the validity of another artiste's )so Sugfuaieven if different from his own. unfortunately, it also obliges )us one to eccept as legitimate the insistenceof the aforementionedhypothetical .ch musicianwho performsrdga Yaman and insiststhat it is Mdlkauns.In fact, ict zucha relativist,empirical all-embracing viewpoint would render meaning- lat ilessthe very concept of rdga. This concept, after all, dependson the rle establishmentof some sort of consensus,in the minds of the artiste and ho audience,as to the modal structurewhich the musicianinterprets in a given of performance.Moreover, needlessto say,such a completely by undiscriminat- ing tolerancewould be grosslyat oddswith the attitudesof Indian musicians he lhemselves. he A third attitude toward variant interpretations )K would lie somewhere betweenthe two unacceptableextremes posited above. Such a perspective ed would attempt to establisha general consensusbased on the practiceof rct Ieadingperformers, most of whom do representestablished sharanas. Some 24 PETERMANUEL

of this approach,indeed, is undoubtedlythat t-pl:I:9-b.y;T-":: 5 version of i*:gl]-1illT practicingmusicians. Yet there appearto be many sorts r continueto be regarded ;;;i.;"? by leadingmusicians that "t lT-!ll^tl"i a moreortho"dox, artistes. For example,if aninsis3itiSlnt h fv-oit Sl,lilg:Tlnl-"1.11i wereto "r, use fwra mdina descendingpassage in tagaShuddha mt pi'J:;l'l;#ff I;HT:'l#'.lilFx.'*1i;.i:'i':ff;",ffKhan )r#:::iHtake such and popularmusich;"s i"i. , sir"rists of the Imdad , I tiueriieiwith that ,;g^:;;";an orthodoxand puristic other"n""tt#:1;1;l,u;i.il wo gt"*fy with"practiceas to be untenable'In m be as arbitrary path to ",evaluation "Ods of variant interpretationsmay ultimately d 'unJoog*uticasthefirstsolutionmentionedabove' problem of it i, Important that our approach toward the b andevoluti?l;YilltilJ?: -incontl"':I irrt"rpr"tuiionsbe able to accommodatechange m of Indianmusic derives from its dynamic versatility uitufity ?::'"t:ti:Tffitreattses,revea_t] tr gro* l"a change.Even a cursoryexamination of classical fil over tT^11:t,l'i:::i: how severalragas have been changingdramatically h four centuries.For example,descriptions in contemporary5ilt,11tYT: ltq Hindu stanitilga naschanged from a -tftel how its presell:il;"iltll"l"Tt" l- century,throtrih a varietyof intermediatestages, to L6th mlY f. No doubt, itt.o"gtto'"t ittit p"iioO of evolution'musicians li:.119::: h our histonca_l overthe correctlnteipretation of thisraga. Yet from """:-19: h *"'"Jn-reconstruct the perpetualflux of this lig^l tr point, whence it.t:: ,Tla?,i:::: 'ui!"-""t, wouldselm arbitraryindeed-unless one were,: the only correcT,- originalTodi_so ua.uy differlnt from our own-were one! sensethat the all-embracingrelativist viewpointl*l]'1-.,.:":: : It is in this t""I]lii:11 all variantsas equallyvalid, possessesa certain soundness A ;y:txtfiil::i"iixxru:;mr;;;ffi illff,':ff.'+':"J$:','-:iH certaintochangeovertime'Yesterday'sinnovations-of".Y"lTltl"::5- classicaltreatise-s als:-::::t may becometne ntrms of today. Furtirer, the ; are constantly-bTlil"r1'1t itrui ragas die out entirely, and new ones n younger muslcrans(e'g'' Accordingly,-uny some of the current trends among "f oineighboaring tagas)may a shrinking repertoire, and indiscreetmixing " ihe.new consensusof the next becomeso norrnative that they constitute the ways.in which the ragas \ century. From this perspective,the study-uuJn"" of of scholarly^:::T:l^"t*: change becomes u'-oi" important li current standarosano to decidewhich chingesare legitimateby d ilJl;i*r,ll*"r,",,".ip,i"g areI tr," by,which variant interpretations "onr"nrus &r : .*lM VARIATION IN RAGA INTERPRETATION 25

judged is in perpetual flux. Just as changesin languagesrender old nost 'ities grammarsand dictionaries obsolete, so do changesin raga interpretation' and 'ities once standardizedand canonized,establish new norms of-legitimacy authority. Such a diachronic perspectiveshould naturally be incorporated ician into any assessmentof the norms of a given period; and yet, it doesnot in lany itself satisfactorily resolve the question of evaluating the conventionsof a te is given period (such as the present) in such a way as to preservethe concept nent af raga differentiation. such Perhapsthe most satisfactoryresolution to the problem would be a fourth )e so npproachin which the consensusinvolves not specifrcraga prescriptions, ddle but rather a sharedviewpoint regardingthe generalintegrity and coherence :raty muthwhich a rdga should be performed. Nazir Jairazbhoy has suggested rouneof the characteristicswhich would contribute to a generallylegitimate ;tent as opposedto an illegitimate rendering of a raga7. Most important is the f the a that the rendering of the raga should be consistent throughout the ty to prece;thus, if a performer introducescharacteristic phrases of rLga reals inmtoa supposedrendition of Bilaskhanl TodI, then the internal inconsisten- )e Of cr of his interpretation could be said to render it faulty. Jairazbhoyfurther lrate Muggeststhat the raga should be performed in a way that is structurally r the meaningful, by embodyingpotential for expressivejuxtaposition of tension rms. :mmmd prior some attention to gued resolution, interaction with expectations,and mmchtechnical features as tetrachordal symmetry. Such considerations,of Lta$e wuse, are inherently subjective, although musiciansno doubt employ such tfuem at some level. I might further that a consensusregarding raga t the add lmmerpretation maintaining enough rrect should also stress the necessity of drstinctionsbetween neighbouring ragasthat a reasonablylarge number of firyds can continue to exist in common usagewithout being confusedwith )epts (such in footnote 4) who any eschother. Thus, a musician asthe one mentioned p$als and may a licentious mixture of Shri, , Purya Dhanashri, ground that his it is @rases under the name Purvi could be faulted on the ragas and thereby es- rendition destroys the distinctions between such there :veal omtributes to their decline as distinct entities. Such a musician-and one single rted. $eem to be several-could be said to perform, in effect, from formerly e.9.,Punri-rlaf raga consistingof a liberal admixture of phrases of may independentrdgas.If such practicesbecome the norm, then the number promote next rdgzsin use will decline markedly. Such a decline might also in its 'agas u-ake, of course, a new consensusto the effect that 15 or 20 common than rEgas-rather than the 50 or 60 of today-may be deemed sufficient for i and Hindustani music in the next generation. This aspect of the consensus should thus be seen as variable and flexible, although at least it can be are measuredand comparedobjectively in so far as it relatesto numbersof 25 PETERMANUEL

ragas in common usage. a generally coherent Such an articulatioi of a consensusregarding only satisfactoryway otupprourt i.rg- ragainterpretationmly be the "of with the need for a -ii,ni,to reconcile the existeice variant ragainterpretations 5- rather inconclusively'it degreeofstandard ii^tii" it ragu If tliis essayends w11l{underlie any such is partially becauseoi tt inherlentsubjectivity ttrit " is the author's sort of consensus.-e"'r'up' more important, however, rAgav,atiantscan 7_ t.ro*teOg" that the problem of legitimate and illegitimate not by foreign ultimately only be'-iesotveO U! Indians themselves, that his,comments may ethnomusicologists.Hence the author merely hopes suchthat they may be serveto clarify ,o',," oi itt" complexitiesof t"heisiue, and music- the fil;r Uy So"tt Asian scholars, musicians, addressedin "r ------tr loversthemselves

NOTES

l.IhavestudiedSitarfromUstadVilayatKhan,shahidPawe.zKtran,NikhilRanjanlate iutya' Mukherjea (a discipteof the Banerjee and, most trom daroaiya "*i""ri*iv, studieduo"al and thumtiftom Radhika Mohan Moitra). For shorter perioor,iutro Khan respectively' Ustad Sarfaraz Khan and Munawwir Ali ga ma Ali Khan' the Sughraiascent is sa For example, intrre gharanEof SarodiyaAmjad 2. traditioni (including that of the pa ni, andthat of S*ia ,, ." gu ma pi ni.I"-;";;l;t ImdadKhanghanna),thesecorrelationsarereversed.VersionsofS[haSughraiareeven more divergent. the musicsof to this raga are thg-seemployed in 3. Thesethree slightly differing approaches and Kelar Bai Kerkar respectively' Radhika Mohan Moitra, ' the one extremely popular young Sitarist' a performanceI heard a few yearsa,eo b.v 4. In throughout of phrases-even as p"r"i-"..t"ited tSerai admixtures rdga announced and Shri; the treatment rni iiii Basant,. Dhanashri, pakars_ofthe neigiblu all conceivable pa dha was essentially'; fi";-i".-all admitting of the notes ga ma m6 of the raga' attention to the customary conventions permutations wlttroui-tllvident as his gat *t aitre aescrued as Nayaki, using Following this plece, the'siLrir, p"rt.g.m"a Ali Khan's 'Iaisi Kariye')' The two a popular irt tagaAdanaJBade,fhuiam as as dismayedby theseinfractions professionalmusicians *Ith *ho. I was sittinfwere ih"y *"r" impressed by the Sitarist's technique'

5.Lochana,sR6gaTarangini(1681)givesTodi.sscaleassaregamadhani,Thetiwam6ofof iratap.S imha (circa 1800)'but Todi appearsin the Radhagoutn;:i;;Cioar our modern text by Kshetramohan i" ,tti",t"""tlr" oJltiu later tsengili the archaic*o*rt ,i-pluJi, form before the appear ,.-iut" uttu-ed iti modern Goswami. Thus the raga doesnot Their rn" niust of North Indian Music: mid_lgth century. s""- Na"i, lairazbtroy, VARIATION IN RAGA INTERPRETATION 27

Structure and Evolution (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1971), and Peter Manuel, 'The Evolution of Todi Raag-s in Indian Music', in Journal of the Indian Musicological .Society(v. t2, no. 3 & 4, 1981).

6. Nazir Jairazbho5r'sdifficult yet fascinating text, The Raags of North Indian Music, constructs a theory of raga structure and evolution from such an examination of the manner in which ragai"shave evolved over the centuries.

7. Personal communication. I am also grateful to Sitarist Richard Garneau, with whom I have spent several hours discussingthe subject of this article.