Dancing with Devtas: Drums, Power and Possession in the Music of Garhwal, North India

Description

In the Central Himalayan region of Garhwal, the gods (devtas) enjoy dancing. Musicians - whether ritual specialists or musical specialists - are therefore an indispensable part of most entertainment and religious events. In shamanistic ceremonies, their incantations, songs and drumming 'make' the gods possess their mediums. In other contexts, such as dramatic theatrical renditions of stories of specific deities, actors 'dance' the role of their character having become possessed by the spirit of their character. Through the powerful sounds of their drumming, musicians cause the gods to dance. Music, and more particularly musical sound, is perceived in Garhwal as a powerful force. Andrew Alter examines music and musical practice in Garhwal from an analytical perspective that explores the nexus between musical sounds and performance events. He provides insight into performance practice, vocal techniques, notions of repertoire classification, instruments, ensembles, performance venues, and dance practice. However, music is not viewed simply as a system of organized sounds such as drum strokes, pitch iterations or repertoire items. Rather, in Garhwal, the music is viewed as a system of knowledge and as a system of beliefs in which meaning and spirituality become articulated through potent sound iterations. Alter makes a significant contribution to the discipline of ethnomusicology through a detailed documentation of musical practice in the context of ritual events. The book offers a traditionally thorough historical-ethnographic study of a region with the aim of integrating the local field-based case studies of musical practices within the broader Garhwali context. The work contains invaluable oral data, which has been carefully transliterated as well as translated. Alter blends a carefully detailed analysis of drumming in conjunction with the complex ritual and social contexts of this sophisticated and semantically rich musical practice. Cover Half Title Dedication Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables List of Musical Transcriptions List of Audio Examples Acknowledgements Notes on the Transliteration of Hindi and Garhwali Texts Key to Musical Transcriptions Introduction Part 1 Contextualizing the Study 1 Sounding the Drum: Power and Meaning in the Context of Performance Contextual inquiry Meaning and power in music: a theoretical framework The metaphysics of sound in Hindu philosophy A note on possession 2 Dev Bhūmi: Land of the Gods Folkloric studies of the region Ritual practices and the calendrical cycle The geography of Garhwal A brief political history of Garhwal The Garhwali language 3 Caste Groups and Instrumentalists Musician castes and non-caste musical specialists Implications of the recording industry for the status of musicians 4 Performance Genres and Dance Practice Genre names The gāthā (epic) repertoire The lok-gīt (folk-song) repertoire Music of the recording industry 5 Musical Instruments in Garhwal Outdoor instruments Indoor instruments 6 Ḍhol Sāgar: The Ocean of Drumming The Ḍholsāgar Sañgrah: a recent scholarly publication Additional secondary source references to the Ḍhol Sāgar Ḍhol Sāgar as an oral entity Part 2 Analysis and Description of Musical Events: Musical Power in the Context of Performance 7 Drumming Associated with Pāñḍavalīlā Pāñḍavalīlā and Pāñḍavanritya: rituals of drama, dance, worship and celebration An overview of dancing and drumming at Pāñḍavalīlā rituals The aural and the visual: dilemmas of transcription The Pāñḍavalīlā repertoire of Budna Variation amongst Pāñḍavalīlā celebrations elsewhere in Garhwal The role of music as an agent between visible and invisible worlds 8 Music in the Context of Wedding Celebrations Marriage practices in Garhwal A wedding in the village of Kakhwari Musical repertoire at a Garhwali wedding celebration Adaptive strategies in present-day practice The role of music in the context of a wedding 9 The Pawāṛā of Kirthipal and Kunjepal The story The singer of the tale The musical mode of delivery Examples of eight vocal delivery styles Formal design Dramatic events, dramatic sounds Epilogue Conclusion Four spheres of musical power A final word Appendices 1 ‘Oṭūwā Beleṇā’: Devanagari Text and Transliteration 2 Devanagari Text Excerpts with Translation from the Pawāṛā of Kirthipal and Kunjepal 3 Aural Sources Glossary of Selected Garhwali and Hindi Terms Bibliography Discography of Selected Commercially Released Cassettes Index