Gesture in Musical Declamation: An Intercultural Approach

Year 2017, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 6 - 31, 30.12.2017

Charulatha Manı

https://doi.org/10.33906/musicologist.373122

Cited By: 3

Abstract

This paper draws parallels between gesture in South Indian
Carnatic singing practice, and rhetorical gesture used by orators and singers
in 16^th and 17^th century Early Modern Europe. The paper begins by referencing
relevant historical literature on the performance practices. In doing so, it
identifies declamation in music as an ideal musical framework for gestured
performance. The paper then practically addresses the role of gesture in
present cross-cultural music performance practice using an artistic project,
conceptualized and implemented by the author. The author proposes that performances
of textually driven, dramatically intensive musical forms, such as the Carnatic
Viruttam and Early Opera, would benefit from referencing gestures from a
constellation of the experientially known and the historically acquired. The
research also invites a consideration of pertinent issues on gesture and women
performers in the context of Carnatic music.

Keywords

Gesture, Musical declamation, Carnatic, Rhetoric, Intercultural, Women, Embodied

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