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Asia covers a huge area, and contains thousands of ethnic groups as well as a rich diversity of cultures. There are no easy ways of classifying the forms of contextualization, but to help make sense of the diversity we can roughly categorize Asians into three basic types: forks, chopsticks, and fingers/spoons. The first Asian dean of the Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology, Kosuke Koyama, suggested in his well-known book Water Buffalo Theology that all the professors in his institution are people of two cultures, "fork and chopsticks."4 I interpret him as categorizing the modern educational orientation of his faculty members according to their way of eating or handling food: chopsticks for Asian-oriented education, and forks for Westernized education. While this may be an oversimplification of the day-to-day reality in which many people use both forks and chopsticks, this analysis remains a useful metaphor for understanding the relationships between Western and Asian ideas. For our analysis and understanding of Asia as a whole I add another category: "fingers/spoons." Most of the indigenous peoples in many parts of Asia, especially those in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, eat with fingers and/or spoons. They are also the ones who have kept their traditions, being less influenced from the West. Let me explain how these three types of food consumption are related to musical styles and their contextual practices. Forks. This term refers to Asians who, because of their Western education, tend to subscribe to Western cultural expressions and value systems. They appreciate Western music, but may be ignorant of their own culture; some of them might even look down on their own native culture and music. There are two subcategories here: Asians learning to use a fork, and Asians creating new pieces in the Asian fork style. Let me cite one example of Asians learning to use a fork, that is, Asians learning to sing Western songs. Korean folk music is usually in compound time, 9/8 or 6/8, and tends not to repeat the same note in the melody; Koreans are also fond of anticipating the next tone. When missionaries introduced the hymn tune Nettleton ("Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"), the Koreans were unable to sing it exactly the way they were taught; they had to change the song to fit their native song style, changing the time and anticipating the next tone5 (see example 1). 
They not only changed the rhythm and the time signature, and anticipated the next tone on the weak beat (the last eighth note), but also removed the seventh degree of the scale (si), because it is not in the traditional five-tone scale. This is an example of a Western song but not sung according to a Western manner. The song was changed to fit a native idiom. There is also an "Asian fork style" that mostly follows the Western concept of composition and is treated with Western harmony. The Japanese melody, "Gathering Round the Table of the Lord" (see example 2) has only a slight Asian flavor. 
I have had arguments with people who claimed this tune as very Japanese, but when I asked them to sing it in English they could not identify the Japanese elements. It seems that the language has made it seem Japanese, and the reiterated eighth notes may also sound Japanese, but the setting in Western traditional four-part harmony has turned this into an Asian fork style. Chopsticks. The second type of Asian uses chopsticks. Culturally and geographically this refers to Northeast Asian countries, namely Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, plus all the cultural Chinese in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Indo-china). Most of them are proud of their own traditional culture, but many still look up to the Western "fork" culture as their ideal. Musically, they may be divided into two groups. Group 1 includes those who can perform or appreciate their own traditional high art music. Group 2 includes those who have acquired certain Western musical ideas and skills but who have little or no knowledge of their own music. They equate modernization with Westernization. Here we find the phenomenon of hybridization or syncretism, that is, composing melodies in ethnic styles but harmonizing in a Western way. This is more Asian than the Asian fork type, because the melody demonstrates a stronger Asian character, but at the same time it still uses Western harmonies. In a sense it is half Asian and half Western. So far, this is the most popular practice, enjoyed by composers, singers and listeners. Let me cite two examples here. F. Pratt Green's "God Is Here As We Your People Meet," has been set to a melody in Chinese style: Shen zai dian zhong (see example 3). 
The composer, Dr. Daniel Law of Hong Kong, uses a C natural minor with a pentatonic scale, concluding the A section at the end of the second system in its relative major. Then without modulations he starts with G minor, introducing two new tones, D and A, to create a contrast and sense of modulation, and returns back to the opening motive for the conclusion. Here we can see typical Chinese melodic progressions harmonized in a constantly moving counterpoint with contrary motions, almost Bachian in style. This shows the ideal of many Asian composers today for mixing two cultures together in a hymn. Another example of an Asian melody with partial Western harmonization may be found in Yong-cho Lee's Sarangui Chunim (see example 4). 
The text is an earnest prayer for guidance, based on the words of one of the criminals nailed on the cross who begged Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom (Luke 23:42). The melodic line and rhythm show a strong Korean character. The harmony is somewhat ambiguous, because there are hints of both Asian and Western influences, with very Romantic chord progressions. Fingers/Spoons. The third type of Asian contextualization covers not only the peoples in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, but also the Aborigines in Taiwan. They use fingers and/or spoons in eating; they have also preserved more of their original culture and have less Western influence. Herein lies a wellspring of rich Asian music that awaits investigation. Let me give you an example. You may be aware that traditional music in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia is, in general, without harmony. The Indian song called a Bhajan is a kind of spiritual song in praise of the attributes of God. It preserves a distinctively Indian composition style, sans harmony. Indian music is characterized by a number of key features, including the use of drones, ornaments, microtones, rhythmic cycles, and raga. The notion of raga is very complex.6 The important tones are Sa, the foundation or the tonic of the raga, and Pa, the dominant. These two pitches are frequently sounded together as drones. The Indian octave is divided into twenty-two sruti, that is, microtonal intervals smaller than a half-step. Another important feature is ornaments, without which Indian songs would lose their character. Let us sing a bhajan to demonstrate some of these points. (See example 5). 
OM is a mystic syllable of ancient origin. It is the combination of three sounds A-U-M, symbolizing the beginning, the middle and the end of life.7 Bhagawan refers to the name of God. This is a very clear example of the use of entirely indigenous music to express a Christian idea. The melody, the rhythm, and all the other elements are Indian in their origin. This song breaks the Western flowerpot. Unfortunately, this bhajan has not been generally accepted by all the Indian churches, because the mystical sound OM is a Hindu, not Christian, expression. The Indian name of God, Bhagawan, could also be helpful in contemplating the attributes of God. I hope that in due time Indian theologians may be able to come up with more convincing interpretations of their own theologies. We have just seen some examples of how we can characterize Asian contextualization. Let us turn now to an example of how contextualization is expressed through non-lexical syllables. |
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