THE MUSIC AND THE METHOD OF SINGING
One must hear the song in order to get an idea of it. In general it is a declamatory solo. The staccatolike way in which the words are sung, the abrupt endings, and the long slurs covering as much as an octave remind one somewhat of Chinese singing. The singer's voice frequently ascends to its highest natural tone and, after dwelling there for from three to six seconds, suddenly slurs down an octave, where it remains playing around three or four consecutive semitones.
There is no choral singing and no accompaniment. No time is observed, the song having wholly the character of a recitation. Neither are there any attempts at rhyming nor at versification. Recurring intervals are the rule.
The music is, in general, of minor tonality and, unless the subject of the song is fighting or doing some other thing that demands loudness, rapidity, and animation, it is of a weird, melancholy character. When, however, the subject of the song requires anything of the spiritoso or veloce, the strain is sung with verve and even furore. It seems to be good etiquette to cover the mouth with the hand when the singer, desiring to add special vigor to the strain, rises to his highest natural pitch and dwells there with an almost deafening prolonged yell.
CEREMONIAL SONGS26
26Túd-um.
Sacred songs, as distinguished from secular songs for festive and other occasions, are sung only by the priests and by warrior chiefs. They are supposed to be taught by a special divinity.27 The remarks that apply to music and singing in general apply to these religious songs. The only difference is that sacred singing is the medium by which the spirits are invoked, supplicated, and propitiated, and by which the doings of the supernatural world are communicated to Manóbodom. These ceremonial chants are performed not only during religious celebrations but more commonly at night. The greater part of the night is often worn away with a protracted diffuse narration in which is described, with grandiloquent circumlocution and copious imagery, the doings of the unseen world.
27Tu-tu-dú-mon no diu-wá-ta.