The Music of Hindostan c16.191

c16.191

The typical Mohammedan song is the *Tappa*, see pp. 188, 189. The trill (Hindost., *mūrki*; Urdu, *zamzama*), considered to be suitable to the female voice, of which the *Tappa* is full, and the marked rhythm are the Mohammedan contribution. The Mohammedan invasions did for India what the dissolution of the monasteries and the Civil War did for English music (see p. 84). The *Tappa* is exclusively in Hindi and Panjābī. It recites the loves of Hīr and Ranjha. It was brought to perfection by the songstress Shori (reign of Mahmud Shah, circ. 1700). It consists, like most Hindostani songs, of two movements (*tūk*), the *Astai* and *Antara*. The *Rekhtu*, another form of it, contains up to a dozen couplets. Other Mohammedan songs are the *Ghazal* (words Urdu and Persian) and the *Dādra* (confined to the lower classes). Both are in 6/8 time, but commonly syncopated, ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪. In the *Ghazal* the lover makes a woful ballad to his mistress’s eyebrow: