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Music Travels Around the World – Class 9 Arts Chapter 9 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 9ArtsChapter 9NCERT book: Madhurima - Arts Class 9

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 9 of the NCERT Class 9 Arts book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 9: Music Travels Around the World (Music)

Introduction

Just as people travel, music and culture travel too. This chapter follows music across borders through migration, and looks at how instruments around the world belong to shared families.

Key Ideas

Music and migration

  • Migration is the movement of people from one place to settle in another.
  • A diaspora forms when people from the same country or ethnic group settle in a new country.
  • Over thousands of years, people moved in and out of the Indian subcontinent, and they carried their music with them. That music linked them to home, helped them bond with fellow migrants, preserved their culture, and let them express feelings and hardships. It blended with local sounds to create new hybrid genres.

    • Chutney music (the Caribbean)

  • It emerged from the migration of Indians from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to the Caribbean islands in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
  • Bhojpuri folk songs, bhajans and the dholak blended with Caribbean styles like soca and calypso.
  • The lyrics mix Bhojpuri, Hindi, English and Creole, and the main instruments are the dholak, tassa, dhantal and keyboards.
  • Listening selections: Phulowrie Bina Chutney Kaise Bani by Sundar Popo, and Cham Cham Baje by Drupatee Ramgoonai.

    • Bhangra in the United Kingdom

  • Bhangra is a vibrant folk music and dance tradition from Punjab, built on energetic dhol rhythms.
  • Punjabi migrants settled in the UK between the 1950s and 1980s. Young musicians mixed Bhangra with reggae, hip-hop, pop and electronic sounds to create UK Bhangra, with fast beats, heavy bass, Punjabi lyrics and modern instruments.
  • Listening selections: Tutak Tutak Tootiya by Malkit Singh, and Dowain Jaaniya by the Heera group.

    • Music coming into India

    The Siddi community brought African traditions to India. Their Siddi Dhamāl music and dance form combines African traditions with Gujarati folk traditions.

    Flamenco

    Flamenco is a tradition of song, dance and guitar from southern Spain, closely linked to the Andalusian Roma community. Its roots go back to Roma migrations from Rajasthan to Spain between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, where it blended with Jewish and Moorish cultures. The dancer icon in many messaging apps is inspired by flamenco.

    Families of musical instruments

    The Nāṭyaśhāstra classification (tata, suṣhira, avanaddha, ghana) applies to instruments anywhere in the world. Instruments can also be grouped by genre, country or region, or other shared features.

  • Rāvaṇa-hatthā: an ancient bowed string instrument that, according to folklore, was invented by Rāvaṇa in Lanka. It is still used as a folk instrument in Rajasthan.
  • Lute family: plucked string instruments with a wide resonating body and a narrow neck. The top (belly) may be wood or skin. Examples are the oud (West Asia, wooden top), banjo (skin top), shamisen (Japan), cuatro (Puerto Rico, seasoned jagrumo wood) and sarod (India, stretched goatskin top). Synthetic materials are now used too.
  • Flute family: among the most ancient instruments. A flute is a hollow tube played by blowing into it or across a hole.

    • - Ocarina: a vessel flute made of clay or ceramic, from Central America (the modern form is from Italy), with a warm, pure tone.

    - Recorder: a duct flute from Europe, made of wood or plastic, with a clear, bright tone that is easy to learn.

    - Bansuri: a transverse bamboo flute from India, with a smooth, airy sound capable of meend (expressive slides).

    - Shakuhachi: an end-blown bamboo flute from Japan, with a meditative tone and flexible pitch bending.

  • Zithers: another family of stringed instruments, which students research in Activity 9.2.

    • Making of the veena

    The veena, one of India's oldest string instruments, is traditionally carved from a single block of wood, usually jackwood. It has a resonator called the kuḍam, a long hollow neck called the daṇḍi, and a carved yazhi (a mythical creature) at the end of the daṇḍi. It is central to Carnatic Music.

    Activities in the Chapter

  • 9.1 Migration in your family: collect a "song of home" from someone who has migrated, and write lyrics about your own home.
  • 9.2 Discovering families: compare 4–5 zithers from around the world, and contrast two stringed instruments.
  • Study the photographs of how a veena is made, and reflect on the craftspeople's effort.

    • Key Terms

  • Migration (प्रवास): moving to settle in a new place
  • Diaspora (प्रवासी समुदाय): people settled away from their homeland
  • Hybrid genre (मिश्रित विधा): music formed by blending styles
  • Fusion (फ्यूज़न / मिश्रण): combining genres
  • Lute (ल्यूट / तंतु वाद्य): a plucked instrument with a wide body and narrow neck
  • Resonator (अनुनादक): the hollow body that amplifies sound
  • Bowed instrument (गज-वाद्य): an instrument played with a bow
  • Vessel flute (पात्र बाँसुरी): a flute with a closed, rounded body
  • Transverse flute (आड़ी बाँसुरी): a flute held sideways
  • Meend (मींड): a smooth slide between notes
  • Kuḍam (कुडम्): the veena's resonator
  • Daṇḍi (डंडी): the veena's neck

    • Connect to Your Life

    Listen for Bhangra beats at weddings, Caribbean chutney songs online, or flamenco guitar. Ask relatives who moved cities which songs remind them of home.

    Common Mistakes

  • Saying Chutney music came from Punjab. It came from Bihar and UP migrants in the Caribbean; UK Bhangra is the Punjabi story.
  • Mixing up the flute types: ocarina (vessel), recorder (duct), bansuri (transverse), shakuhachi (end-blown).
  • Mismatching lutes and regions: cuatro is from Puerto Rico, sarod from India, shamisen from Japan and oud from West Asia.
  • Thinking the Nāṭyaśhāstra classification applies only to Indian instruments. It applies worldwide.

    • Let's Reflect

    Is the mixing of musical genres through migration beneficial? Justify your view with an example from this chapter.

    💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Migrants carry music with them; it links them to home, builds community and blends into new hybrid genres.
    • ✓Chutney (Bihar/UP migrants in the Caribbean) and UK Bhangra (Punjabi migrants in Britain) are Indian diaspora fusions.
    • ✓Music also came into India, as with Siddi Dhamāl, and Indian music travelled out, as with the Roma roots of flamenco.
    • ✓The Nāṭyaśhāstra's four-fold classification applies worldwide; families like lutes, flutes and zithers share design features.
    • ✓Instruments like the veena, carved from a single block of jackwood, reflect great craftsmanship.

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Play the listening selections (Sundar Popo, Malkit Singh) and ask students to identify Indian and foreign elements.
    • →Use a world map to trace Chutney, UK Bhangra, Siddi Dhamāl and flamenco.
    • →Bring pictures or recordings of the oud, shamisen, cuatro and sarod to compare lute-family designs.
    • →Compare the four flute types by their blowing method and material.
    • →Invite students to interview a family member who has migrated and share their song of home.
    • →Show the veena-making photographs and discuss the craftspeople's skill.

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the student explain what migration and diaspora mean, and why migrants carry music?
    2. Can the student describe Chutney music and UK Bhangra, with their origins and influences?
    3. Can the student match lute-family instruments to their regions?
    4. Can the student classify the ocarina, recorder, bansuri and shakuhachi by flute type?
    5. Can the student argue whether genre-mixing through migration is beneficial?

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    Keep learning

    All chapters in Madhurima - Arts Class 9

    1. 1. Introduction to the History of Arts
    2. 2. The Stage Is Yours
    3. 3. Symbols and Metaphors on Stage
    4. 4. Creativity in Light and Sound
    5. 5. From Vision to Performance: Direction and Acting
    6. 6. Music and Us
    7. 7. The Science of Music
    8. 8. Rāga and Tāla
    9. 9. Music Travels Around the World
    10. 10. Components of Dance
    11. 11. Dance as Visual Storytelling
    12. 12. Cultural Connections Through Dance
    13. 13. Dance Choreography
    14. 14. Exploring the Fundamentals of Visual Arts
    15. 15. Mediums and Techniques in Visual Art
    16. 16. Visual Composition
    17. 17. Branches of Visual Arts