here is a distinct possibility now that the natural sound may be a thing of the past. It may soon be found in museums of sound with people looking at the wave diagrams and hearing with curiosity the initial human endeavour into the making of music. The sound is being manipulated in so many ways that the natural sound appears to be naïve and simple. There was a time when the final arbiter of music was the natural sound. It reigned supreme from the human voice to the various sounds produced by the instruments.

The centre of the entire exercise was the human voice. It has been considered an inviolable category that the human voice was the centre of all high musical activity and expression. Therefore, gana was always uttam, while bajana and naach were relegated to a lower status. Although they had their own function, they were never ever good enough to challenge the superiority of human voice.

Generally, the natural sound prevailed. Even in the instruments, the natural sound was considered authentic. All instruments were made from natural material. Leather, wood, iron, stone, shells, copper, hair or other materials that were naturally extracted.

Certain of the instruments were attributed divine quality and perceived as the calling of the gods. Bansari was highly valued; so was damro. These instruments have been mentioned in some scriptures. Their sound is valued as natural and an access to the gods. In quite a few religious/ devotional books and sources, these sounds and instruments have been mentioned with veneration.

However, it seems that all these things will now be limited to history books because the natural sound is becoming almost extinct.

Certain instruments were attributed divine qualities and perceived as the calling of the gods. Bansari was highly valued, so was damro. These instruments have been mentioned in some scriptures. Their unadulterated sound was valued and seen as an access to the gods.

This is not the case with the sound alone; the process of music making, too, is at the mercy of various software that now rule the proceedings. No matter what people beholden to change may say, the software is leading the process by the nose. It has the same role now as the various writing programmes. The impact and presence of artificial intelligence are overwhelming.

In Western painting tradition, it may be recalled, the human figure was considered the primary reference. However, with passage of time and the development of the camera the human figure receded into the background. It first became distorted and then contorted. Then, it went into various stages of abstraction until it became unrecognisable as a human figure.

Next, the abstraction gave way to a number of theoretical propositions that, in a way, announced the death of the human as the central figure in the visual art experience. The abstraction started initially in relation to the figurative art but then became independent of it and was valued for its own sake.

A similar process is going on in music. The focus is now on technology-rampant progress. The sensibility, if any, is lagging behind. There was always a fear of the machine taking over.

The human sound was once reclaimed by the Americans through Jazz. The popular music, through the cinema, brought the human sound back. However, the human voice was layered and tampered beyond recognition.

The youth are more attuned today to the phenomenon of moderated sound. That is why they are attracted towards it more than the natural sound which may seem alien and out of place to them. With the artificial sound, they can let their fancy run wild. This puts them in synch with the fast developments of the sonic sphere.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore.