Sunday, November 22, 2009

Beats

Do you know why Indian and Western music sound so different? You can instantaneously tell the difference, even if the instrument is the same. I could not nail it down to an exact reason, but I can now. Its the beat. Western music almost always runs on an 8-count beat cycle. Indian music is polyrythmic, which gives it the longer meandering sound. Sometimes 'phrases' are much much longer. Now you know.

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