The Music of Hindostan c16.4

c16.4

The first thing in a song is to put this relationship of the amśa and kharaj beyond doubt. This is done by the Ālāp (prelude). The notes of the Rāg are sung not in strict time, but in a loose kind of rhythm regulated by the convenience of the breath and by the amount of ‘work’ that is to be got on to the notes, and sung not to words, but to vocalizing syllables—Na, Ma, Ta, Ra, La, &c. The ‘work’ consists in elaborate graces, calculated to make the most of the important notes of the Rāg; and in order that these may be given with due impressiveness the Ālāp is taken at a slow or a moderate pace. Grace thus used to put the important notes in inverted commas is called mūrchhana. It is obvious that the Ālāp is a real necessity both for performer and listener; without it the listener would spend his time for some part of the song in ignorance of its tonal centres, and the melody would be for him an aimless running up and down hill, while the performer would, without a little preliminary practice, very likely play a note or two which was out of the Rāg, and that would upset the ‘unity’ altogether.