British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Maria Lord
Reviewed work(s):
Inde du sud: l'intgrale du Bharatantyam / South India: The Complete Bharatantyam
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 9, No. 1, Brazilian Musics, Brazilian
Identities (2000), pp. 166-167
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060799
Accessed: 06/01/2009 20:06
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BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.91i 2000 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.91i 2000
those on
theory
and
technology (Simha
Arom and Frederic
Voisin)
and notation
and oral tradition
(Kay
Kaufman
Shelemay),
examine the
particular
challenges
and
opportunities
raised
by
the interactions between African musics
and the media
through
which
they
are
represented.
In
many cases, authors base
examination of a broader issue within
their own
regional
area of
expertise:
the
flow of musical ideas as a result of
migrancy
is
exemplified by
studies
focusing
on the West African coast
(Cynthia Schmidt)
and Ghana
(Danield
Avorbedor); interplay
between non-
African music and
indigenous styles
is
discussed in relation to the
Congo
(Kazadi
wa
Mukuna)
and
Nigeria
(Christopher Brooks).
On occasion, the
volume
might
have benefited from
additional overviews
placing
localized
case-studies in
perspective.
A broader
discussion of
relationships
between
pre-
colonial African
religions, healing
practices
and music would, for instance,
have contextualized Steven Friedson's
article on Tumbuka
healing. Similarly,
a
discussion of the
impact
of
imported
religions, particularly Christianity
and
Islam, would have
provided
a framework
through
which to understand the
significance
of Islam in Liberia
(Lester
P.
Monts).
Such
regional specificity is,
however, offset
by
several contributions
that examine musical practices
throughout
the continent. Articles on art-
composed
music
(Johnston
Akuma-Kalu
Njoku),
popular
music
(Angela Impey),
dance
(Patience
A.
Kwakwa),
the use of
the
guitar (Andrew
L.
Kaye),
and
Gerhard Kubik's seminal
analysis
of
intra-African streams of influence,
track
continuities and differences in various
forms of
music-making, demonstrating
the
mobility
of musical ideas
throughout
Africa over the
past century.
The series editors are to be
congratulated
for
moving away
from the
those on
theory
and
technology (Simha
Arom and Frederic
Voisin)
and notation
and oral tradition
(Kay
Kaufman
Shelemay),
examine the
particular
challenges
and
opportunities
raised
by
the interactions between African musics
and the media
through
which
they
are
represented.
In
many cases, authors base
examination of a broader issue within
their own
regional
area of
expertise:
the
flow of musical ideas as a result of
migrancy
is
exemplified by
studies
focusing
on the West African coast
(Cynthia Schmidt)
and Ghana
(Danield
Avorbedor); interplay
between non-
African music and
indigenous styles
is
discussed in relation to the
Congo
(Kazadi
wa
Mukuna)
and
Nigeria
(Christopher Brooks).
On occasion, the
volume
might
have benefited from
additional overviews
placing
localized
case-studies in
perspective.
A broader
discussion of
relationships
between
pre-
colonial African
religions, healing
practices
and music would, for instance,
have contextualized Steven Friedson's
article on Tumbuka
healing. Similarly,
a
discussion of the
impact
of
imported
religions, particularly Christianity
and
Islam, would have
provided
a framework
through
which to understand the
significance
of Islam in Liberia
(Lester
P.
Monts).
Such
regional specificity is,
however, offset
by
several contributions
that examine musical practices
throughout
the continent. Articles on art-
composed
music
(Johnston
Akuma-Kalu
Njoku),
popular
music
(Angela Impey),
dance
(Patience
A.
Kwakwa),
the use of
the
guitar (Andrew
L.
Kaye),
and
Gerhard Kubik's seminal
analysis
of
intra-African streams of influence,
track
continuities and differences in various
forms of
music-making, demonstrating
the
mobility
of musical ideas
throughout
Africa over the
past century.
The series editors are to be
congratulated
for
moving away
from the
expanded dictionary layout
of the classic
encyclopaedia
-
typically short, broad
overviews, presented
in
visually cramped
small
print
and
arranged
in
alphabetical
order
by subject.
This volume is
likely
to
be
experienced
as more
"user-friendly"
and
up-to-date by
a generation
accustomed to
layout
on the Internet.
Quotations
are
periodically highlighted
and set
apart magazine-style
from the
text, and
figure captions
are
placed
in
extra wide
margins.
A less
spacious
layout may
have facilitated the
filling
of
some of the more obvious lacunae in
content. However, given
that the volume
does not aim to be
entirely
comprehensive, perhaps slightly
less
.information is a small
price
to
pay
for
visual
clarity
and
accessibility.
This
encyclopaedia
is an invaluable resource
for scholars, students and world music
enthusiasts and an
important
asset in
any
music
library.
LARA ALLEN
Girton
College, Cambridge
lva20(a),cam. ac. uk
expanded dictionary layout
of the classic
encyclopaedia
-
typically short, broad
overviews, presented
in
visually cramped
small
print
and
arranged
in
alphabetical
order
by subject.
This volume is
likely
to
be
experienced
as more
"user-friendly"
and
up-to-date by
a generation
accustomed to
layout
on the Internet.
Quotations
are
periodically highlighted
and set
apart magazine-style
from the
text, and
figure captions
are
placed
in
extra wide
margins.
A less
spacious
layout may
have facilitated the
filling
of
some of the more obvious lacunae in
content. However, given
that the volume
does not aim to be
entirely
comprehensive, perhaps slightly
less
.information is a small
price
to
pay
for
visual
clarity
and
accessibility.
This
encyclopaedia
is an invaluable resource
for scholars, students and world music
enthusiasts and an
important
asset in
any
music
library.
LARA ALLEN
Girton
College, Cambridge
lva20(a),cam. ac. uk
Recordings
Inde du sud:
l'integrale
du
Bharatandtyam
/ South India: the
complete Bharatandtyam.
2
CDs,
VDE-Gallo,
VDE CD-1004-5 /
AIMP LXI-LXII, 1999. 139 mins.
Booklet
(43pp.) by Manjula
Lusti-
Narasimhan in
French, English.
This
interesting recording
sets out to
present,
in
performance order, examples
of all the individual items of
repertory
that make
up
what
orthodoxy
considers a
traditional performance of
bharatana.yam,
from slokam to
mangalam.
The 13
pieces
fall well on to
two CDs,
with the division
coming
after
the central dance,
the varnam. The
laudable aim of the
recording
is to
Recordings
Inde du sud:
l'integrale
du
Bharatandtyam
/ South India: the
complete Bharatandtyam.
2
CDs,
VDE-Gallo,
VDE CD-1004-5 /
AIMP LXI-LXII, 1999. 139 mins.
Booklet
(43pp.) by Manjula
Lusti-
Narasimhan in
French, English.
This
interesting recording
sets out to
present,
in
performance order, examples
of all the individual items of
repertory
that make
up
what
orthodoxy
considers a
traditional performance of
bharatana.yam,
from slokam to
mangalam.
The 13
pieces
fall well on to
two CDs,
with the division
coming
after
the central dance,
the varnam. The
laudable aim of the
recording
is to
166 166
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.91i 2000 167
present
the two discs as a dance
performance,
rather than a musical
presentation.
To this end, the dancer
Manjula
Lusti-Narasimhan, accompanied
by
six
musicians, performed
to each of
the
pieces (apart
from the initial
slokam),
ensuring
that the musicians were
reacting
to and
informing physical
movement
-
and
ensuring
that the aural element of the
ghungru
-
the bells worn around the
dancer's ankles
-
was
present.
Maduri Sri
N.
Krishnan,
a
contemporary
Kamatak
vocalist, composer
and dance music
specialist,
wrote the music for the entire
performance.
The
pieces
are
firmly
entrenched in their tradition but these
new elements add extra interest.
The
performances are, as would be
expected
from these
respected musicians,
very
professional and
beautifully
presented. However, as a
purely
musical
experience
the CDs are a little flat and
there is a
strong
sense that
something
is
missing.
This is almost
certainly
due to
the stated aim that "the music here is
unlike
any recording
of standard Indian
music, since this is music for dance"
(28),
and that the "Camatic artists ... have to
practise
restraint in their
rendering
of the
dance
compositions".
With the vital
visual element
missing,
it is
clearly
the
medium that is at fault
here,
rather than
the
performers.
Is a
pair
of audio CDs the
best
way
to
present
a dance
performance,
when we have video and DVD? VDE-
Gallo and AIMP have missed an
opportunity
here to
give
us
dance,
a
visual and aural
experience, particularly
when
digital technology provides
such
exciting
new
ways
of
presenting
performance.
These could include,
for
instance, split
screens
showing
different
perspectives (for example
a full
body
shot with a
close-up
of the dancer's facial
expressions),
or choices of either the
dancer or musicians or both on screen.
With
DVD, programmable ordering
would enable
comparison
between
different sections, while slow motion
would
help
clarify
complex movement,
and
zooming
in on both the dancer and
musicians could
highlight
how
they
interact
through physical signals.
The notes that
accompany
the CDs
are, as so often, dire, and show little
sign
of
having
been proof-read (the
photograph
on
p.23
is not of M.
Dhananjayan playing mrdangam,
but the
vmna artist Sri
Kannan).
The section on
the
history
of
bharatandtyam
(27-9)
is
best
ignored (sentences
such as
"During
the
Moghol [sic] reign
... Indian music
and dance suffered
greatly
due to lack of
patronage
and disdain for the native arts
from the new rulers" are not
only
misleading
-
did northern
Mughal
rule
have
any significant
effect on the
temple
dance of southern India?
-
but are
symptomatic
of a
worrying
trend in some
Indian
scholarship
to
play
down the
contribution of Muslim artists and
patrons
to Indian culture and
society).
Listeners who wish to find out more
would do better to turn to the excellent
books
by
Gaston
(1996)
and Kersenboom
(1987).
References
Gaston,
Anne-Marie
(1996)
Bharata
natyam:
from temple
to theatre. New
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Kersenboom, Saskia C.
Nityasumanigali.
Delhi:
Banarsidass.
(1987)
Motilal
MARIA LORD
11
Ridley Road, Dalston, London E8 2NH