Chapter 5 The Middle Ages

1. Chapter 5The Middle Ages Global Perspectives: Sacred Chant

2. Qur’anic recitation azan muezzin mele pule mele hula ho’zho’ni songs Vocables Enemy Way ceremony Key Terms

3. Global Perspectives • What can world music do for us? • Help us see our own traditions more clearly; understand our world more fully • Stimulate intellectual curiosity • Learn how cultures influence each other • Western music did not evolve in a vacuum • Gain a sharper understanding of the elements of music • Honor the diverse traditions represented in today’s classrooms

4. Global Perspectives 1 • Sacred Chant • For many ancient cultures, music possessed sacred, even magical power • Chanting sacred texts was and is a nearly universal phenomenon • Still practiced by Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists • Used by most other traditional religions, e.g., Hawai’ian or Navajo cultures

5. Qur’anic Recitation • Islamic practice of reciting holy scripture • Though it possesses musical qualities, it is regarded as “reading,” not “singing” • Its goal is to convey texts of the Qur’an in a clearly comprehensible manner • A purely oral tradition, never written down • Style and degree of virtuosity vary with the reciter • It takes years to memorize the Qur’an and learn the rules of recitation

6. Ya Sin (Surah XXXVI) • Starts low, gradually rises higher, circling around scale step five • Irregular phrases ornamented with trills, shakes, etc. • Based on non-Western scale (Arabic maqam) • Nonmetrical: no fixed rhythm or meter • Speechlike rhythms, free and unpredictable • Unaccompanied, monophonic • Solo male voice, often with nasal quality • No obvious patterns of repetition or return

7. The Adhan (Azan) • Islamic call to prayer • Sung five times a day by mu’adhdhin (muezzin) • Traditionally sung from minaret (a tower attached to the mosque) and then inside the mosque to begin prayers • Now often broadcast over loudspeakers • Perhaps best known type of Islamic chant • Closely related to Qur’anic recitation, but does not use words from the Qur’an

8. Hawai’ian Chant • Mele pule • Mele = song; specifically, poetic texts sung with or without instruments • Mele pule = prayers to gods • Sung prayers seek to bring images of gods to life and invest them with divine powers • Often sung in olioli style: delivered on a sustained pitch with vibrato (i’i)

9. Mele pule • Two short prayers: “Aia no ke akua la I uka” and “Ike ia Kaukini e lawai’a manu” • One primary pitch, barely touches one other pitch • Heightened speech, with vibrato and glottal stops • Nonmetrical: no fixed rhythm or meter • Very close to natural speech rhythms • Unaccompanied, monophonic music • Solo female voice • No obvious patterns of repetition and return

10. Native American Song • Singing closely allied with sacred ritual • Used in healing, hunting, and social rituals • Used in human relations with gods, spirits, and ancestors • Like Hawai’ian, Islamic, or Christian chant, this music is monophonic • Unlike the others, singing is often accompanied by drums or rattles

11. Navajo Songs • All music is sacred to the Navajo • Ritual music and language have the power to summon deities, to protect, or to restore strength and health • Some songs can be sung by anyone • Other songs are more potent, sung only by expert ritual practitioners (shamans) • Expert practitioners ensure that rituals use proper songs in proper order

12. Enemy Way Ceremony • Enemy Way Ceremony • Three-day healing ceremony • Designed to protect and free warriors from the ghosts of slain enemies • Many songs sung by all participants • The most potent songs sung only by the ritual practitioner • Concluding ritual may include ho’zho’ni (Blessing Way) songs

13. A Navajo Song • “K’adnikini’ya’” • Ho’zho’ni song from Enemy Way • Used to end final night of ceremony • Each phrase begins with vocables, a potent part of Navajo ritual language • The only translatable words are: • Ho’zho’ni: “beautiful” or “holy” • K’adnikini’ya’: “I’m leaving” • Title may reflect on time of captivity at Fort Sumner, where song was composed

14. “K’adnikini’ya’” • Organized around a few simple motives • Phrases begin and end on low reciting tone with upward arch in middle • Uses only four pitches of pentatonic scale • No clear meter, but steady, regular drumbeat • Recurring 4-beat and 7-beat patterns • Monophonic: single melody over drumbeat • Solo male voice, relaxed sound with slight nasal color and a bit of vibrato • Uses repetition, contrast, and return • Series of parallel phrases, some refrain-like