Having looked closely at a number of pre-existing works for solo classical guitar with Eastern cultural influences and having considered some of the main ethical questions regarding the use and implementation of such Eastern cultural elements, I shall now document my own artistic contribution to this field resulting from the findings of the prior two parts. In this chapter, I discuss my process of arranging two songs from an Eastern culture for solo classical guitar. I was very inspired by Dyens' arrangement of The Moon Represents my Heart (see Chapter II, Part I) and the way in which Dyens authentically incorporates the popular Chinese melody with a wonderfully original, and idiomatic, harmonic context. This lead me to ponder the possibilities of creating more arrangements of this type: transcribing the melodies of popular songs from an Eastern culture and providing an idiomatic and subtle harmonic colouring to compliment the melodies.
My Indian roots lie in the West Bengal region (specifically Kolkata) and growing up, my parents would introduce me to different kinds of Bengali traditional music. One of the most popular set of songs, a kind of Bengali "song cycle", is the Rabindra Sangeet. Literally translated as "Rabindra Songs", this revered catalogue of Bengali songs was compiled and composed by a cultural icon of India: Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore was a writer, philosopher and musician (alongside many other things) who was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (1913)1. This "Bard of Bengal"2 wrote an immense body of literary and musical works that have influenced and resonanted with many writers and musicians both within India and globally3. Of all the Rabindra Sangeet that I listened to as a child, two stood out to me for understandable reasons. The songs Phule Phule Dhole Dhole and Purano Sei Diner Kotha are based on traditional Scottish folk melodies. These folk melodies became popular in Scotland (and the UK) after the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns, wrote the lyrics that have now become synonymous with these melodies. I first heard the original Scottish folk melodies (with the Burns text) whilst participating in cultural events in Scotland during my school years: Ceildh bands, Burns Nights, Hogmanay, etc. It was one trip to India, when I was around the age of thirteen, when I recognised these familiar melodies but this time being sung with Bengali lyrics. I recall feeling quite astonished by this reimagining of culture despite the familiarity of both melody and language. In my own personal thoughts, I always felt that Scotland and India were worlds apart because, from my perspective, the cultures seemed so different to me: if I were in Scotland, India felt like a dream; and if I were India, Scotland would feel like a dream. But upon hearing these two songs with their Bengali lyrics and Scottish melodic basis, I began to understand how beautifully the two cultures actually inspire one another.
Phule Phule Dole Dole is Tagore's Bengali version of the Scottish song: Ye Banks and Braes (with lyrics by Burns). In terms of poetry and text, the songs both describe the natural splendor of nature with Burns writing of the wonderment of surrounding a "bonnie Doon" (beautiful River) while Tagore's poetry describes the elegant movement of flowers in the cooling breeze5. Both texts describe aspects of nature that are native to the cultures where Tagore and Burns were respectively based. Musically speaking, Tagore's melody is similar to the original Scots tune but rhythmically quite varied and decorated in a slightly different way, Tagore's melody even includes an additional section (figure 1 and 2). Both original versions only exist as text and melody and subsequent arrangements and renditions of the songs have provided different harmonic progressions for the melodies. Interestingly, I found that the harmonic progressions for different scores and recordings for Ye Banks and Braes varied a little from edition to edition6 while the harmonic progressions for different recordings for Phule Phule Dole Dole were quite similar7. In my arrangement, I wanted to bring the nuances of these cultures to the solo classical guitar, and so, I decided to arrange both songs as one piece. The thinking behind this was to bring out the slight differences of each song by pairing them together and allowing listeners to hear the differences by keeping the key the same for both versions and staying faithful to the original melodies of both songs.
I chose to arrange these two songs that are celebrated in both Scottish and Indian cultures. This was a way for me to connect my cultural environments through my artistic development and this is another chance to explore the relationship between British and Indian cultures further. The original songs are traditional Scottish melodies (anonymous) with the texts later written by Burns. The songs (and Burns' accompanying poetry) left a strong impression on Tagore who wrote his own versions of these famous Scottish songs. In these versions, Tagore wrote Bengali text and altered the melodies slightly to fit the poetry of his lyrics. Burns and Tagore are icons of their respective cultures and their works are revered and recognised globally: both are national poets4. Tagore being inspired by the works of Burns and Scottish culture at a time when colonial tensions were reaching a boiling point shows how art and culture can transcend the depths of political and racial tensions and contribute to a understanding of human connection through the medium of music.
Source Material
Different scores of Ye Banks and Braes were available for piano and voice (as well as scores for chamber settings and choirs)8 and, as mentioned, each edition had slightly different harmonic progressions. When arranging the original Scottish melody I felt I could explore different appregiations and subtle harmonic substitutions since the different versions that I had listened to had their own harmonic inflections. In terms of melody, I tried to stay faithful to one version (Grainger's arrangement for concert band9) which was the basis of this first half of the arrangement. For Phule Phule Dole Dole, I refered to the original score of the song, written by Tagore, as well as a number of different recordings of the song by famous Bengali singers: Kanika Banerjee, Nilanjana Sarkar and Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta10. Tagore notated the score using traditional system of notation synonomous with Indian classical music known as swaralipi (figure 3). This form of notation uses svara which may be described as an equivalent to solfège in Indian classical music11. Tagore only includes the svara for the melody and his accompanying lyrics in this notation and there is no notation regarding any harmonic structures. This could suggest a degree of artistic license in terms of harmonisation, however, upon listening to recordings of this song by different Bengali singers, I was quite surprised at how harmonically similar the progessions were in each of the versions. Rabindra sangeet, like other forms of Indian classical music, is an aural tradition12. This could explain why the different versions of the song have the same harmonic progression despite Tagore not notating this in the swaralipi.
Structure of the Arrangement
I decided to follow the model of Dyens' arrangement by including a brief introduction (bars 1 -6) featuring a short motific quote of part of the melody of both songs. This motif is quoted using a rhythm that is characteristic of Scottish traditional - the "Scotch snap". The Scotch snap (also known as the Lombard rhythm) is a dotted, syncopated rhythm consisting of two notes with the second note being the longer of the two (figure 3). This rhythm is a recognisable feature of the original Scottish melody of Ye Banks and Braes. The arrangement then includes the complete melody of Ye Banks and Braes with harmonisation and subtle counterpoint (bars 7 - 23) which is then repeated with the melody being explored in different registers, moving between the bass and soprano voices (bars 24 - 40). A short episodic progression (bars 41 - 44) brings the piece to its second part with the arrangement of Phule Phule Dole Dole. Again, the full melody of the original song is presented but this time in a more homophonic manner (bars 45 - 74) with a harmonic progression that is similar to the recordings (Banerjee, Sarkar and Dasgupta) I listened to. The arrangement concludes with a two bar quotation of part of Ye Banks and Braes including the Scotch snap as a sort of homage to the introduction.
Source Material
Auld Lang Syne is sung at the end of ceremonies as a sort of cathartic appreciation during mass gatherings16 and so the song is often performed by a large group of people in an almost choral manner. I was, therefore, interested in looking at arrangements of the song for SATB chorus so that I could arrange the original Scottish song in this way17. For Tagore's score, I refered to the original swaralipi (figure 7) and the various recordings of the song for the harmonic basis (Dasgupta, Biswas and Kumar).
Structure of the Arrangement
Similar to the first arrangement, I begin a short introduction, which establishes the key of E major and subtly quotes some melodic fragments of the songs (bars 1 - 8). Following this intro, the melody for Auld Lang Syne is presented in a choral style with three voice counterpoint. I decided to arrange the melody in this way after reading that the song is cermonially performed and sung during Royal events such as at the "Passing Out Parade of Young Officers" for the British Royal Navy or the "Sovereign Parade" upon the inauguration of new British Army Officers18. Thus I wanted to capture that noble and righteous spirit in this part of the arrangement (bars 9 - 23) in an almost Elgarian way. A brief episodic section (bars 24 - 28) brings the arrangement to Purano Sei Diner Kotha. The time signature changes to 6/8 and the arrangement style becomes simpler in an attempt to emphasise the melody (bars 29 - 60). I chose to harmonise the melody in a homophonic fashion to make the nuances of Tagore's melody more clear and the only alteration I made to the melody was a short change in register since the melody repeated itself at this point (bars 37 - 44). The arrangement ends with a requotation of the final phrases of Auld Lang Syne (bars 61 - 69) with only one melodic change - a high E in place of a high C in bar 65; inspired by Dougie Maclean's rendition of the song19.
My approach in arranging was strongly influenced by the ethical discussions of Part 2. I was more aware of the cultural implications of the colonial history between Britain and India and what this meant for these arrangements. The cultural dominance hierarchy that exists as a result of this colonial history (see Chapter II, Part II) encouraged me to be more experimental with one culture and more faithful to another. In terms of melody, I try to stay authentic in both cases. However, harmonically, I feel slightly more liberated to try different chord substitutions with the Scottish versions of the songs since the different recordings I listened to, of the Scottish songs, varied from one another in terms of their harmonic progressions. This implies that there exists a degree of artistic license for harmonic exploration of these traditional Scottish melodies. The recordings of the Indian, Tagore, songs were more uniform in their harmonic structures and I wanted to pay respect to this approach by using, as best as I could, the same progressions when arranging the Tagore scores. It is not that one allowed me more freedom than the other. I could have easily approached the Tagore songs in the way I approached the Scottish melodies, but upon the cultural findings of Part II, I understood the value of autheticity in this respect where a tradition (in this case the harmony) was being carried forward by different artists: I would like to continue this tradition rather than disrupting it.
The second arrangement is Tagore's Purano Sei Diner Kotha which is inspired by the traditional Scottish song Auld Lang Syne, with lyrics by Burns. Auld Lang Syne is a popular melody both within Scotland and globally as it is sung most commonly during New Year as a way of bidding the previous year farewell. Burns' text is a reminscence of times past and the title Auld Lang Syne translates to "days gone by" and Tagore's poetry also expresses a similar theme with Purano Sei Diner Kotha translating as "talk of the olden days"13. Similar to the first arrangement, The original versions of each song exist as text and melody. This time, however, the harmonisation of Auld Lang Syne is more homogenous between different recordings14 and the same is true for the recordings I listened to of Purano Sei Diner Kotha15. Melodically, the two songs have different meters. Auld Lang Syne is an almost pesante simple quadruple meter (4/4) while Tagore's version gives the melody a different affect by being in compound duple meter (6/8) that gives the melody a more swaying and lively energy (figure 5 and 6). Furthermore, the melodic inflections of Purano Sei Diner Kotha are slightly different with the melody making more intervalic leaps and small ornamented passages.
Having evaluted the new arrangements that have been produced in relation to the findings of Parts I and II, let us now take a look at the original composition that has been specifically composed for this project. In this next chapter, I document the collaboration between myself and the composer, Dr. Ramelli and discuss how the ethics of cultural inspiration have approached during the composition process of this new work.
Figure 1a
Figure 5e
Figure 2b
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Figure 4d
Figure 3c
Figure 7g
