Musical diversity in India : a preliminary computational study using cantometrics

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  • Indo ni okeru ongaku tayōsei : kantometorikusu o mochiita keisanteki yobi kenkyū

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The degree of musical diversity within and between societies is a topic of long-standing debate with theoretical implications for cross-cultural musical comparison. Standardized cross-cultural data on musical variation from Alan Lomax's Cantometrics Project newly made available via the Global Jukebox allows us to attempt to quantify this variation. Here we perform a case study of traditional Indian vocal music using the 37 Cantometric features for 207 traditional songs from 32 Indian societies. Principal Component Analysis identifies complexity of vocal style as the primary factor shaping musical variation in India, consistent with Lomax's previous analyses of global variation. We find only very minor musical differences on average between speakers of different language families (Indo-European, Dravidian, and Austro-Asiatic), but greater variation between societies within language families. Additionally, we demonstrate how quantitative analysis can be strengthened by observations from musicians with direct experience of local traditions and applied to local/regional musicological questions.

特集 音楽と科学 招待論文 : 研究論文

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