Swarmandal

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Pandit Jasrai (* 1930), a Khyal and Thumri singer of the Mewati Gharana , accompanies his singing with a swarmandal .

Swarmandal ( Hindi स्वरमण्डल ), also surmandal, sur mandal, svarmandal, from Sanskrit svaramandala ( " Ton - District ") is a plucked box zither in northern India and Pakistan , mainly singers North North Indian music in the light classical vocal styles Khyal and Thumri play on the side and barely audible. The name swarmandal was probably transferred to the oriental box zither qānūn , which was introduced with Muslim conquerors and is mentioned in the rulers' chronicles from the Sultanate of Delhi in the 13th century. In the Mughal period (1526 to 1858) qānūn and swarmandal referred to either the same or a similar instrument that, unlike today, was used to form melodies in classical music . The swarmandal's reference back to the ancient Indian name mattakokila for a vina type, on the other hand, appears unlikely.

origin

String instruments were apparently very popular in ancient Indian times. This is suggested by the collective term vina , with which they were designated and which occurs frequently in Sanskrit sources as early as the first half of the 1st millennium. The oldest form of the vina was the bow harp , which dates back to before the 6th century BC. Is recognizable in text images. From the first centuries AD, a long-necked lute with a slim body was depicted on Buddhist reliefs, and from the 8th century, when the bow harps had practically disappeared, the first stick zithers appeared, which are the most typical stringed instruments for Indian music in numerous variations.

Another type of zither, which is native to Southeast Asia, is the bamboo tube zithers, in which, like the guntang on the Indonesian island of Bali, one or more strings are separated from the outer layer of a bamboo section. The western limit of the distribution of the bamboo zithers are Assam and the other northeastern states of India, where gintang and chigring occur among other things . Several parallel connected bamboo tubes result in raft zithers like the dendung in Assam, which in India also did not advance further west. The surmungla is or was a rare idiophone in the north-east Indian mountain areas, which consists of several parallel connected bamboo tubes, which the musician strokes across with his finger to produce a warm and pleasant sound. The name surmungla (with the same syllable sur , which is interchangeable with svara ) appears in the signature of a picture by the Flemish painter François Balthazar Solvyns, who was in Calcutta from 1791 to 1803 .

According to Alastair Dick (2014), board zithers, the strings of which are mounted on a long rectangular board and which are most varied in the form of the East Asian vaulted board zithers ( guzheng in China, ajaeng in Korea), do not appear in ancient Indian illustrations. Notwithstanding this, Karaikudi S. Subramanian (1985) refers to a relief from the Sanchi stupa from the 1st century BC. BC, which is in the local archaeological museum. The sketch drawn from the relief shows a musician holding a long, slender board zither with rounded ends across his body and plucking the strings with both hands. Subramanian considers the pictured instrument to be a forerunner of “the later mattakokila ” or the medieval swaramandala . No board or box zithers are depicted on medieval reliefs, and today they are rarely seen.

Box zithers from the west are mentioned in India from the 13th century; Whether there is an ancient Indian model independently of this is speculative. The question is related to the Sanskrit word mattakokila ("great cuckoo"), which is mentioned in the Natyashastra written by Bharata Muni at the turn of the century for a string instrument of the theater orchestra. The Natyashastra is the earliest Indian source specifically dedicated to music. It describes the arrangement of the singers, the three bow harp players and the two flute players in the orchestra accompanying the ritual theater. The harpists use three different instruments: the mattakokila as the most important vina ( mukha-vina , the "main vina " of the ancient Indian theater) with 21 strings, the nine-string vipanchi-vina and the seven-string citra-vina ( chitravina , now another name the south indian gottuvadyam ). An ensemble arranged according to these specifications is depicted - according to the interpretation of Walter Kaufmann (1981) - on a Buddhist relief from the 2nd century AD, which was located at the Stupa of Amaravati . Although the importance of the mattakokila is emphasized in the Natyashastra , no usable images from ancient Indian times have survived. John Napier (2005) concludes from this that an instrument with 21 strings (which has three sthana , “ registers ”) served more as a theoretical construct to demonstrate the tone system and was less played in practice.

In the music-theoretical work Sangitaratnakara by Sarngadeva from the 13th century there is a corresponding description, although it remains unclear what form the instrument called mattakokila had, whether the writer saw it himself or whether he was referring to an older text. It could be a briefly reintroduced, old bow harp, about which nothing is otherwise known. The Sangitaratnakara lists with the mattakokila ten notably distinct vina types that were at least in use between the 11th and 13th centuries. The Sangita-Parijata , written by Ahobala Pandit in the 17th century, mentions eight completely different names of vina types, thus also missing mattakokila , but the name swaramandala is among them.

Kallinatha, who wrote a commentary on the Sangitarathakara with his work Kalanidhi in the 15th century , remarks that swarmandal is the common name of the mattakokila . It is not clear from the text which type of instrument is meant. It is possible that the name swarmandal referred to the Arabic-Persian trapeze zither qānūn , which was introduced by the Mamluks when they founded the Sultanate of Delhi in the 13th century . Since that time the qānūn has been mentioned in the Muslim-Indian rulers' chronicles.

Drawing of an Arab qānūn player in Palestine, 1859

Images of stringed instruments in medieval Islamic sources give more or less reliable information about their appearance. In the Kitāb al-ʿadwār ("Book of Modes") by the Arabic-speaking music theorist Safi ad-Din al-Urmawi (1216–1294), a large rectangular box zither nuzha with 32 strings is shown, which is said to have been invented by al-Urmawi. The invention of the half-size, trapezoidal qānūn is attributed to al-Fārābī (around 872-950), in his Kitāb al-Mūsīqā al-kabīr (“The great book of music”) a drawing of an instrument called shahrud at 40, which is difficult to identify and in another manuscript with 48 parallel strings in two strings. Another drawing by al-Urmawi shows the angular harp chang with 34 strings. The manuscript Kaschf al-humūm by an anonymous author living in Egypt in the 14th century contains a miniature of a seated musician playing a trapeze zither in a vertical position in front of his upper body. With his left hand he holds the upper edge of the instrument and with his right hand he plucks the strings. Contrary to the playing position shown - which is also typical for the swarmandal today - it says in the text that the instrument called qānūn in Syria and santīr in Egypt is played “lying flat”. In any case, lying flat is the playing position of today's Arabic qānūn , which is typically strung with 78 strings for 26 three-stringed choirs .

In the Mughal Empire founded by Babur in 1526 , Persian, Arab and Turkic- Central Asian influences combined with Indian culture, as can be seen from the Baburnama , Babur's autobiography. The musical instruments introduced and played in the palace included the qānūn, the Arabic-Persian short-necked lute ʿūd , the Arabic-Persian longitudinal flute nay and the Central Asian string instrument ghichak . Outside in front of the palace, under Akbar I (r. 1556-1605), the large orchestra naqqāra khāna with instruments from West Asia was played daily during prayer times , including the kettle drum pair naqqāra and trumpets ( qarnā and nafīr ). In Āʾīn-i Akbarī, written by Abu 'l-Fazl at the end of the 16th century , the third part of the official chronicle of the Mughal rulers, Akbar-nāma, which mainly deals with the administrative affairs of Akbar, the surmandal is referred to as the qānūn- like, 21 -string zither with steel, brass and gut strings described. The musician and music theorist Faqīrullāh (actually Nawab Saif Khan) made a Persian translation of the early 16th century music treatise Man Kutuhāl between 1663 and 1666 . A system of raga families that is central to Indian music theory is set up in it. Faqīrullāh's translation and extensive editing of the text is known as Rāgadarpana . Unlike Abu 'l-Fazl, Faqīrullāh distinguishes the two instrument names. The swarmandal had 25 strings, some made of copper and the rest of steel. The qānūn had 40 strings, three of them on one side, four on the other and the rest tuned in pairs.

The instrument seems to have had a certain importance in the courtly music of the Mughal rulers. According to miniature paintings from the 16th century, the swarmandal / qānūn was a box zither whose strings were plucked with picks or with metal clips on the fingertips. The images say nothing about the naming of the box zither, but they do tell you something about its shape and use in the ensemble. At the time of Akbar, there were three basic forms of box zithers: with an angular body and curved inner edges, trapezoidal on one side (two parallel sides) and psaltery with two sloping edges (no side parallel). Either the imported zither type was simply not standardized or other zither types had reached Mughal India from the Middle East at different times. The zithers were played by men and women. The illustrations also show two ways of playing. The instrument lies flat on the knees and is plucked with both hands or it is held vertically in front of the upper body and played with the right hand.

Between Akbar's reign and the end of the 19th century, sources on the swarmandal are sparse. The swarmandal probably disappeared as a melody instrument in classical music in the course of the Mughal period, only to return to vocal accompaniment with a different way of playing at the end of the 19th century. According to the British infantryman Charles Russel Day (1860-1900), who published a work on Indian musical instruments in 1891, the swarmandal was rare in his time and was mainly played by musicians in Punjab . He denotes qānūn and swarmandal alike a one-sided trapezoidal box zither with 21 strings, some of which are made of steel and brass (more rarely gut or silk) and which are torn with metal clips on the fingertips, resulting in a soft, warm tone. Day distinguishes the santir (meaning santur ) from this as a rare Persian instrument with significantly more strings that are struck with wooden mallets.

According to Hindu legend, a rishi (a mythical sage) named Katyayana invented the first musical instrument similar to the swarmandal , which is why it was called Katyayana vina . The Vedic texts from the first half of the 1st millennium BC Name mentioned Chr. Shatatantri vina ( "hundertsaitige vina ") connects Day also with the Swarmandal. AM Meerwarth (1917) states that shatatantri is another name for Katyayana vina and that it is very similar to qānūn in terms of playing and sound . Curt Sachs (1915) takes up these traditions and gives several synonymous names that can only be distinguished according to their origin for the Indian box zither, which he describes as a regressive form of the larger Arabic qānūn : katyayana vina, shatatantri vina, svaramandala, surmandal , and more Marathi sarmandal and Tamil curamantalam . According to the Sanskrit texts , however, the shatatantri vina , which probably had a signal function in Vedic ritual chants , was played with two mallets and had a different shape.

The only other box zither used in India today is the santur : a trapezoidal dulcimer type that occurs from Southeastern Europe through the Near and Middle East to China. Starting in Iran, the santur found its way into the regional music of Kashmir and from there in the 20th century into North Indian art music. In the north-west of India and in the south of Pakistan, the long rectangular board zither with keyboard bulbultarang, which was introduced from Japan in the 1920s, has a certain importance in popular light music and devotional music.

Design and style of play

Kishori Amonkar sings Raga Lalit (a devotional raga to be performed at dawn ).
Rashid Khan, accompanied by harmonium and sarangi , 2017

The swarmandal is a similar to the Arabic qānūn , but smaller box zither without a fingerboard with a one-sided trapezoidal or semi-trapezoidal body. It is about 50 centimeters long, 30 centimeters wide and strung with 25 or about 40 metal strings. There is a large round sound hole in the middle of the ceiling. The strings run from fastening screws over a continuous bar on the right side to vertical metal tuning screws on the left edge. Simpler constructions have wooden pegs on the side wall of the body. The strings are tuned to the notes of the raga to be played. An alternative to the surmandal is the Autoharp , which was developed in Germany at the end of the 19th century and launched in the United States , the key mechanism of which is removed.

Unlike the qānūn , which was played as a melody instrument in classical music up until the Mughal era , the swarmandal is not used today by an instrumentalist, but exclusively by the singer to accompany his singing. The instrument is not played in a horizontal position, but held vertically in front of the chest. The khyal , thumri or ghazel singer now and then plucks two or three strings or slides his finger over all or a large part of the strings (known as strumming on the guitar ) and produces arpeggios at intervals . The swarmandal does not have the function of the tanpura , which underlies a piece of music with the constant, even sound of drones . As long as the singers and accompanying musicians are in action, the swarmandal is practically inaudible and at most contributes to reinforcing the overall sound. Only at the beginning or at the end of a piece do the notes of the swarmandal , which are unconnected with the composition, briefly emerge.

This way of playing seems to have developed in the 20th century. Singers of the Patiala- Gharana , the musical tradition from Patiala in the Punjab province , claim to have made the swarmandal known as an accompanist. The swarmandal game is a characteristic feature of the Pakistani ghazel singer Ghulam Ali (* 1940) of the Patiala Gharana. It was also used among many others by the Pakistani khyal singer Salamat Ali Khan (1934-2001) and the Jaipur-Gharana singer Kishori Amongkar (1931-2017). Rashid Khan (* 1966) sings with the swarmandal in the Khyal style of the Rampur-Sahaswan-Gharana. Beyond this singing support function, the swarmandal is practically not used.

Singers who accompany themselves on an instrument are rare in Indian music and limited to the light classical style of thumri or occasionally the khyal. The exceptions also include some Pakistani qawwali singers such as Fateh Ali Khan and Rustam Ali Khan, who play an Indian harmonium . The singer is often accompanied rhythmically by a tabla and melodically by a second singing voice or a string sarangi (regionally also by a sarinda ). In relation to the first singer, the accompanying singers or musicians have the subordinate task of repeating and embellishing his musical specifications. Some accompanists see themselves as soloists on hold and temporarily leave the accompanying role for a solo performance. The meanwhile silent solo singer can nevertheless continue to pluck his swarmandal without paying attention to the playing of his companion.

Shyam Sundar Goswami, Khyal singer in Calcutta of the Kirana Gharana.

An unusually large folk music ensemble of the Manganiyar, a Muslim ethnic group in western Rajasthan, consists of the string instruments kamaica ( kamacha ) and sarangi, swarmandal , harmonium, surna (i) (a double-reed instrument that differs from the shehnai in shape and playing style ), murli (Double clarinet), morchang ( jew's harp ), kartal (wooden rattle), dhol (large double-headed barrel drum), dholak (smaller barrel drum) and a gharra (clay pot like the south Indian ghatam ). This shows the musical versatility of the Manganiyar, whose main task as a music caste is to perform for their clients at ceremonial occasions and other family celebrations.

Together with the adaptation of Indian musical instruments as an exotic addition to Western musical styles, the swarmandal is also occasionally used. In the 1967 Beatles title Within You Without You , dilruba , sitar , tabla, tanpura and swarmandal are used together with eight violins and three cellos . The mixolydian mode of the piece is related to the Indian raga tonality and the rhythm is based on the cycles tintal (16 beats) and jhaptal (7 beats). At the beginning of the piece, the dilruba sets the mode, immediately followed by the corresponding pentatonic tone series of the swarmandal strings, which are plucked one after the other. This mimics the typical sound of the sitar player, who at the beginning of his performance pulls the sympathetic strings of his instrument empty. In another song by the Beatles, Strawberry Fields Forever from 1967, the swarmandal plays a descending raga scale .

literature

  • Alastair Dick: Surmandal . In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 4, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, pp. 655f
  • John Napier: The Svarmaṇḍal and Its “Ancestors”: From Organological to Aesthetic Continuity. In: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 58, May 2005, pp. 124-131, 225

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Kaufmann : Old India. Music history in pictures. Volume II. Ancient Music. Delivery 8. Ed. Werner Bachmann. VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1981, p. 35f
  2. ^ Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr., Stephen M. Slawek: Instruments and Music Culture in Eighteenth Century India: The Solvyns Portraits. In: Asian Music, Vol. 20, No. 1, Fall 1988 – Winter 1989, pp. 1–92, here p. 62
  3. ^ Robert L. Hardgrave: François Balthazar Solvyns: A Flemish Artist in Bengal, 1791-1803. In: IIAS Newsletter, No. 28, 2002, p. 15
  4. ^ Karaikudi S. Subramanian: An Introduction to the Vina. In: Asian Music, Vol. 16, No. 2, Spring – Summer 1985, pp. 7–82, here p. 10
  5. ↑ Walter Kaufmann, 1981, p. 96
  6. ^ John Napier, 2005, p. 127
  7. ↑ Alastair Dick, 2014, p. 655
  8. ↑ Louise Wrazen: The Early History of the Vina and am in South and South East Asia . In: Asian Music , Vol. 18, No. 1, Fall – Winter 1986, pp. 35–55, here p. 36
  9. ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments of India: Their History and Development . KLM Private Limited, Calcutta 1978, p. 146
  10. ^ Henry George Farmer : Islam. ( Heinrich Besseler , Max Schneider (Hrsg.): Music history in pictures. Volume III. Music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Delivery 2). Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1966, pp. 96, 102
  11. ^ Emmie te Nijenhuis: India. III. North Indian (Hindustānī) music. 1. 1200 to 1700. In: MGG Online, November 2016 ( Music in the past and present , 1996)
  12. ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments . National Book Trust India, New Delhi 1977, p. 86
  13. ^ John Napier, 2005, p. 125
  14. ^ Bonnie C. Wade: The Meeting of Musical Cultures in the 16th-Century Court of the Mughal Akbar. In: The World of Music , Vol. 32, No. 2 (India) 1990, pp. 3–26, here pp. 19, 21
  15. ^ John Napier, 2005, p. 125; Christian Poché: Qānūn. In: Grove Music Online , 2001, notes in a short sentence that the qānūn was also used in India in the 19th century without going into the history of the instrument.
  16. ^ Charles Russel Day: The music and musical instruments of southern India and the Deccan . Novello, Ewer & Co., London / New York 1891, pp. 133f
  17. ^ AM Meerwarth: A Guide to the Collection of Musical Instruments Exhibited in the Ethnographical Gallery of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. 1917
  18. ^ Curt Sachs : The musical instruments of India and Indonesia. At the same time an introduction to instrument science. (2nd edition 1923) Georg Olms, Hildesheim 1983, p. 104
  19. ^ John Napier, 2005, p. 126
  20. ^ Gallery of Musical Instruments. Museum of Performing Arts. Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, p. 39
  21. ^ Bonnie C. Wade: Khayal: Creativity within North India's Classical Music Tradition. (Cambridge Studies in Ethnomusicology) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1985, p. 234
  22. ^ John Napier, 2005, p. 124
  23. ↑ Ustad Fateh Ali Khan & Rustam Ali Khan performing raga Aiman. Youtube video
  24. ^ John Napier: The Distribution of Authority in the Performance of North Indian Vocal Music. In: Ethnomusicology Forum, Vol. 16, No. 2, November 2007, pp. 271–301, here p. 295
  25. ↑ Nazir A. Jairazbhoy: Music in Western Rajasthan: Stability and Change. In: Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, Vol. 9, 1977, pp. 50-66, here p. 55
  26. ^ Gerry Farrell: Reflecting Surfaces: The Use of Elements from Indian Music in Popular Music and Jazz . In: Popular Music, Vol. 7, No. 2 ( The South Asia / West Crossover ) May 1988, pp. 189–205, here p. 196
  27. ↑ Pedro van der Lee: Sitars and Bossas: World Music Influences . In: Popular Music , Vol. 17, No. 1, January 1998, pp. 45–70, here p. 56