INFLUENCE OF GEOMORPHOLOGY AND GEOLOGY ON THE EVOLUTION OF DRUMMING IN THE UTTARAKHAND REGION OF THE INDIAN HIMALAYAS

Around the world, drumming is used as a form of announcement and communication. Landscape geomorphology can help to focus and project the sound of the drums, influencing the transmission and absorption of rhythms from one location to another. However, the extent of correlation between geomorphology and evolution of drumming patterns remains elusive. To address this gap, we compare drumming patterns from 5 villages in a valley in the Uttarakhand region of the Indian Himalayas with geomorphic parameters in the surrounding area.

In the Uttarakhand region, village drummers play interlocking rhythmic patterns on two drums, the dhol and damaun. Specific rhythmic patterns are performed during a variety of religious festivals and celebrations, and the patterns are orally/aurally transmitted within hereditary lineages. Drumming patterns are also used to mark changes in topography when walking in processions between villages. The rhythms used for each occasion are consistent within a village, but rhythmic variability exists between villages, with variable amounts of dissimilarity for different drum patterns. The amount of rhythmic dissimilarity is likely a function of distance, type of ceremony, pedestrian and vehicular routes of connectivity, kinship relations between villages, and the audibility of drumming patterns between villages. The likelihood of sound reaching from one village to another village is in part a function of the morphology of the river valley at that location. Therefore, to better understand correlation between geomorphology and divergence of drumming patterns we will compare the pattern divergence to geomorphic parameters.

We will compare drumming patterns from 5 villages in the Upper Alaknanda River Valley. The villages are spread out over 15 km and range in elevation from 1600 m to 3000 m. Drumming patterns from each village have been analyzed for their structural differences from videos and recordings. These analyses and village positions will be categorized and compared against geomorphic parameters for the area, including roughness, aspect ratio, curvature, and slope. Ultimately, using this analysis we will gain a more nuanced understanding of the role geology and geomorphology play in the evolution of drum patterns within Indian Himalayan villages.