Using Diverse Sources of Evidence for Reconstructing the Past History of Musical Exchanges in the Indian Ocean

Abstract

Although the Indian Ocean has long been recognised as a fertile zone for cultural exchange, reflecting both trade routes and colonisation, it is only now coming into prominence in terms of its significance for the past history of the continents around its rim. It is now accepted that economic plants, animals, diseases, trade goods, languages, religion and cultural elements all moved around and across the Indian Ocean, often transforming the societies and environments into which they were introduced. The paper explores one specific aspect of cultural exchange, music and musical practice in the Indian Ocean. Case studies are used to assess the value and significance of different categories of evidence for the reconstruction of musical history and the resultant chronostratigraphy. These include the history of two types of zither which occur on both sides of the Indian Ocean and which attest to the significance of geographical distributions of material culture. A related issue is the vexed question of the similarities of the xylophone in Southeast Asia and Africa and the role of morphology in resolving the historical direction of transfer. Slavery and the African diaspora in the Indian Ocean have only recently been the subject of in-depth scholarly examination, and the paper summarises current literature and begins the process of categorising the exchange of musical subcultures. This throws into focus an important aspect of maritime transfers in the Indian Ocean: the low profile of some of the great trading nations, such as the Sassanians and the Chinese, in terms of cultural influence, despite their importance in overall trade. The paper suggests that disease and a focus on trade to the exclusion of other activities may account for this disparity.Résumé Néanmoins que l'Océane Indien a été longtemps reconnues comme zone fertile pour les échanges culturelles, réfléchissant les routes du commerce et colonisation, ce n'est que maintenant qu'il commence a devenir plus connu pour son signifiance pour l'histoire des continents autour de sa bassin. C'est reçu que les plantes utiles, les animaux, les maladies, les religions et des éléments culturaux ont étés transferts autour et au travers l'Océan Indien, souvent transformant les sociétés et environnements dans Afr Archaeol Rev (2014) 31:675-703

Africans in the History of India: Features of Historical and Cultural Adaptation

“…П ри м ерно с того ж е врем ен и (X IV в.) и зображ ен ия хабш и н ачи н аю т регулярно п о яв л яться в и н ди йски х м ин и атю рах [Blench, 2012].…”

Untitled

“…Примерно с того же времени (XIV в.) изображения хабши начинают регулярно появляться в индийских миниатюрах [Blench, 2012].…”

Convergent evolution in a large cross-cultural database of musical scales

“…The finding that most scales are almost equidistant seems to result from convergent evolution (Figure 8), yet we also find evidence that geographical regions can also specialize in certain types of scales (Figure 7). Several attempts have been made to link musical traditions between South East Asia and Africa [60,115,116] (and Central America and Africa [65]). However, lacking any rigorous analyses of scale content, they only focused on the apparent equiheptitonic nature of the scales.…”