The Bourdon of the East–Its Regional and Universal Trends

Extract

In the general re-orientation concerning the origins and the true nature of Western polyphony, the bourdon techniques of the Orient are considered as one of the basic forms of simultaneous sound combination. Though not “polyphony” in the accepted meaning of the word, the bourdon has generated a number of polyphonic devices, a kind of proto-polyphony which may perhaps be the living archetypes behind the dead letters of notated music of the Middle Ages, and of their actual performance.

Though the bourdon has already been acknowledged as one of the essential polyphonic forms of the Mediterranean countries, neither the Islamic countries nor central India were explored as to their possible contribution in the field of folk polyphony. Paradoxically, it is just the so-called “monophonic” raga and maqam techniques which are closely bound to the various bourdon styles, and which therefore are actually a polyphonic performance.