Vēd\line below\a and Popular Music: A Cultural Analysis

Vēd\line below\a is considered as the ultimate source of knowledge and the value of the Vēd\line below\ic oral tradition is reason for it being termed as masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanity. This value of Vēd\line below\ic music is comprised in its antiquity as well as its continuity in the applicability of some common principles instantiated in music and language. Mankind s earliest ideas of music and methods of protecting mantras found in Vēd\line below\ic literature are reflected even in Indian popular music; especially in catch lines of jingles sometimes unconscious of its base in Vēd\line below\a. They are instantiated due mainly to underlying linguistic commonality in Indian and other related languages. Present is an analysis, with instances, of the manner in which principles of Vēd\line below\ic music have survived the vagaries of time and manifested in different popular Indian music genres today. In fact, these principles that have dealt with tonal, temporal, metrical, and linguistic aspects, to name a few, in Vēd\line below\ic enunciations have helped not only Indian music but also musics of the world. This universalization stems from biological, scientific, spiritual, and linguistic observations made by the Vēd\line below\ic people. Continuity is evidenced thanks to preservation techniques and formulae based on these observations. This article is a cultural study of music in Vēd\line below\as and Indian popular music and how change and universalization have not happened at the cost of continuity in Vēd\line below\ic musical principles intertwined with linguistics.