We like to call this episode “A Brief History of Music.” To understand where both music and its listenership stood at the beginning of he 20th century we trace the origins of music – with a specific focus on European and Indian music – across 4 key stages of evolution. We believe this fact base is critical to understand why film music and Raaja have the impact that they do on us today.
Key eras/aspects of music covered:
The stone age (musical cue: Dr. Jean-Louis Ringot on the lithophone)
Higher Civilizations – primarily the Greek and Indian eras
The B.C to medieval ages of music (musical cues: Gregorian and Rig Veda chants)
The classical era of music (musical cues: Handel’s Messiah and Raga Behag by Charumathi Raghutaman)
Participants:
Related books, links and references:
Raaja opening clip: Podhigai Interview with T.V.G
Opening Music: Sangeethame from Kovil Pura
Closing Music: Uliyin Osai
A short history of music by Curt Sachs
Shape of Ancient thought by Thomas Mcevilley
Bala’s blog post on musical history
Great job! Thoroughly enjoyed.
The analysis largely assumed music has progressively developed over time but there is a possibility that music was perceived in one go – similar to Newton discovering gravity.
Interesting. Thanks for listening and the comment!