Chapter 5
The Middle Ages
Global
Perspectives:
Sacred Chant
Key Terms
Qur’anic recitation
azan
muezzin
mele pule
mele hula
ho’zho’ni songs
Vocables
Enemy Way
ceremony
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
“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