In class when we first started talking about the Arab World, we mentioned religion. I was just looking up general Islamic places in India and I found that merchandises such as spices, gold and African goods were being traded from the Arab World to India. As boats sailed to the west coast of India, Arad’s started converting to Islam, and shared their religion to India. I thought it was interesting that religion was being spread just by trading goods from one area to another. I just didn’t think things like that would be as common now a days.
With Arab music I thought it would be easiest to talk about a specific instrument that is typically used in Arab songs. We went over a lot of them in class such as an Oud and a Takht. I found another instrument I don’t think we covered in class and its called a Daff. this is one of the percussion instruments. A Daff is a drum that comes in typically two different sizes, small (12 inch diameter) and large (24 inch diameter). The frame is made out of wood, and what you tap on is made out of goat or deer skin. The modern Daff is made out of plastic and is able to be tuned. I thought it was interesting that make modernized versions of this ancient drum. I doesn’t seem like it would be the same to me because I would think that animal skin would sound a lot different than a plastic skin.
As I move onto India I feel like I didn’t get a clear definition of bhakti yoga. I just thought it meant that you were improving your karma, but when I looked more into it I discovered more. I now see that this is the actually action of yoga, yoga of devotion. Bhakti comes from the root word bhaj which means to adore or worship God. Today, many westerners with do bhakti in white robes. They use bhakti yoga to connect more with their self and or spirit. Many people do this in a different way depending on their definition of worshipping. I find it interesting that westerners take so much time out of their day to do yoga. In America today, I feel like their isn’t too many people that would take more than an hour out of their day to do yoga. I never would of thought that yoga could be a way to worship, but in India bhakti yoga is known to be the path of devotion.
Lucy's Music of Diverse Cultures 