The country of India has a variety of genres of music including two traditional forms of music known as Hindustani and Carnatic. Hindustani music denotes to the customary culture of North India, and Carnatic music refers to the traditions of South India. Even though both forms of music include vocals and instrumentals, the former focuses on both, and the latter mainly focuses on vocals. In many cases, classical music from India are improvised during performances. Hindustani improvisations known as raga are long and typically comprise of a dreamy introduction later filled with the instruments sarod, table, and tambura. Carnatic vocals consist of a singer preparing the performance with a drum warm-up before delivering fixed compositions grouping …show more content…
After the soft repetitive introduction in “Traces of You” also known as alap, the beat is regularized as jor before the scooping sounds of a tabla follows. Additionally, the tabla seems to be playing in a rhythmic cycle described as tala. Similarly, traditional Hindustani instrumental improvisations begin with a buzzing timbre from a plucked chordophone and continues with a steady repetitive manner called jor. Although the composer of this song uses a sitar rather than a sarod like in the textbook, the ethereal ringing and acoustic sympathetic traditional Hindustani raga is delivered. Along the way, the dreamlike intro in Hindustani raga becomes more enthusiastic before slowing and joined by the tempo of the drums in patterns. This song has many tone bending sections that describe the Hindustani raga. It also incorporates Carnatic classical music by including vocals rather than just instrumental. When compared to the Hindustani raga example in our textbook, this song appears much calmer with no instruments trying to overpower each other. On the other hand, when compared to the Carnatic example in our text, I can see that this song is a modern version that blends slow-paced Carnatic vocals together with Hindustani raga to create a medium-paced masterpiece. The singer of “Traces of You” is also repeating the lyrics like the Carnatic …show more content…
My first impression of this song is its ability to put me in a different atmosphere. The aural components of this song, including the vocals, comprise both dream-like and incense from Hindustani raga and Carnatic classic music. From this song, I enjoy components such as the vocals and flow of the music ranging from the transition to the introduction and the rest of the song. My only dislike of this song is the part of the background music that includes a combination of the sitar, shruti box, or violin-like sound. Unlike the first song, the sound of the sitar seems too overpowering to me. Instruments that I hear in this song consist of a sitar, tabla, as well as tambura. The beginning of this song includes an alap which lets the player explore the music. The alap includes a very clear buzzing sound that instantly puts the tambura and an incense atmosphere in my mind. There is also a section in which the vocals and singing come in known as the gat. The mood or sentiment that this song puts me in also associates with traditional Hindustani Raga. However, compared to the Hindustani Raga example in our CD, this song by The Beatles appear to be more fast paced and loud because a combination of several instruments played at the same time. With the Carnatic example from the text in mind, this song seems to have a fixed composition like the song in our