India

Carnatic Music

It is the classical music of Southern India. The basic form is a monophonic song with improvised variations. There are 72 basic scales on the octave, and a rich variety of melodic motion. Both melodic and rhythmic structures are varied and compelling. This is one of the world’s oldest & richest musical traditions.

Carnatic music (also spelled Karnatak music or Karnatik music, and originally called karṇāṭaka sangītam in India) is known as one of the two styles of Indian classical music, the other being Hindustani music. Its classical tradition is from the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, and its area roughly corresponds to the four modern states of South India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

The main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in a singing style (known as gāyaki). Like Hindustani music, Carnatic music rests on two main elements: rāga, the modes or melodic formulæ, and tāḷa, the rhythmic cycles.

Carnatic music is practised and presented today by musicians in concerts or recordings, either vocally or through instruments. Carnatic music itself developed around musical works or compositions of phenomenal composers .

Carnatic music is at a crossroads on the issue of aesthetic diversity, especially as its international reputation increases. It is already true that some of the most successful performers in worldly terms are able to make a living by touring the West, and not by representing Carnatic music in its most pure form. Of course there is a very real sense in which an art form must develop and adjust in order to make the same impact on its audience, and Carnatic music knows this fact better than most.

It has incorporated the Western violin, and moved to a modern concert setting, complete with amplification. Instrumental innovations continue with the amplified veena and mandolin, as well as the Western saxophone and clarinet. Carnatic music has easily maintained its own identity, not least of which because it is a reservoir of musical ideas and expressions, not specific combination of sonorities.

An incredible sense of resiliency has characterized Carnatic music since the 19th century, and so one can hardly doubt that it will continue to find that strength today and in the future.

One of the two styles in Indian Classical music is the Carnatic music, which is also known as karṇāṭaka sangītam. The various epigraphical inscriptional proofs and other ancient works show that the history of classical musical traditions can be followed back about 2500 years.

Carnatic music is entirely melodious, with improvised modifications. The main area of accent is vocal music; mainly compositions are written so that they are sung, and even when played on instruments, they are supposed to be presented in a singing style that is also referred to as gāyaki. The two main elements of Carnatic music are rāga, the modes or melodic formulæ, and tāḷa, the rhythmic cycles

Origins and History

Purandara Dasa - The Father of Carnatic Music

Like other forms in the Indian culture, Carnatic Music is too believed to have a divine advent- it is believed to have begin from the Gods. Anyway, it is also mostly agreed that the natural origins of music were a significant factor in the progression of Carnatic music.

The Vedas are widely acknowledged as the main reasonable origin of Indian music. The Sama Veda is said to have set the base for Indian music, and contains chiefly of hymns of Rigveda, set to musical tunes which would be sung using three to seven musical notes during Vedic sacrifices.The Yajur-Veda, which mainly contains formulae pertaining to sacrifice, mentions the veena as an accompaniment to vocal recitations during the sacrifices.

In the archaic religious texts references have been made to the Indian classical music, including long narrative poems like the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Yajnavalkya Smriti mentions “Veena vadhana tathvangna sruti, jathi, visartha talanjaaprayasena moksha margam niyachathi” ("The one who is well versed in veena, one who has the knowledge of srutis and one who is adept in tala, attains salvation without doubt.") Carnatic music is on the foudnation of music concepts mentioned in Bharata’s Natya Shastra. The Natya Shastra mentions several musical ideas (including swara and tala) that continue to be pertinent to Carnatic music today.

Some scholars are of view that the Carnatic music shares certain classical music concepts with ancient Tamil music. The concept of Pann is related to Ragas used in Carnatic music. The rhythmic meters found in several musical forms (such as the Tiruppugazh) and other ancient literature, resemble the talas that are in use today.

Nature of Carnatic Music

Today many musicians train and present Carnatic music in concerts or recordings, either vocally or via instruments. Carnatic music itself matured around musical works or compositions of phenomenal composers.

Compositions

A Carnatic composition consists of two elements, one being the musical element, the other being what is conveyed in the composition.

There are many types/forms of compositions. Geethams and Swarajatis (which have their own unique composition structures) are primarily meant to fill the tole of basic learning exercises, and while there are many other types/forms of compositions (including Padam, Javali and Thillana), the most common forms are the Varnam, and most importantly, the Kriti (or Keerthanam), which are discussed below.

Varnam

This is a special item which stresses everything significant about a raga; not just the scale, but also which notes to accent, how to turn to a certain note, classical and characteristic phrases, etc. Though there are a few different types of varnams, in essence, they all have a pallavi, an anupallavi, muktayi swaras, a charana, and chittaswaras. They are sung in multiple speeds, and are very good for practice. In concerts, varnams are often sung at the beginning as they are fast and grab the audience’s attention.

Kriti

Carnatic songs (kritis) are varied in structure and style, but mostly consist of three units:
1. Pallavi. This is the correspondent of a refrain in Western music. One or two lines.
2. Anupallavi. The second verse. Also two lines.
3. Charana. The final (and longest) verse that wraps up the song. The Charanam usually borrows patterns from the Anupallavi. There can be multiple charanas.

This kind of song is called a keerthanam or a Kriti. There are other possible structures for a Kriti, which may in addition include swara passages named chittaswara. Chittaswara consists only of notes, and has no words. Still others, have a verse at the end of the charana, called the madhyamak?la. It is sung immediately after the charana, but at double speed.

Important Elements of Carnatic Music

Śruti

Śruti usually applies to musical pitch.It is the approximate equivalent of a tonic (or less precisely a key) in Western music; it is the note from which all the others are drawn from. It is also used in the sense of graded pitches in an octave.

Swara

Swara refers to a type of musical sound that is a single note, which defines a relative (higher or lower) position of a note, rather than a defined frequency. Swaras also refer to the solfege of Carnatic music, which consist of seven notes, “sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni” (compare with the Hindustani sargam: sa-re-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni or Western do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti).

Raga System

A raga in Carnatic music prescribes a set of rules for building a melody - very similar to the Western concept of mode.It clearly describes rules for movements up (aarohanam) and down (avarohanam), the scale of which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes may be sung with gamaka, which phrases should be used, phrases should be avoided, and so on.

Tala System

Tala refers to the beat set for a particular composition (a measure of time). Tala is formed with three basic parts (called angas) which are laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam, though complex talas may have other parts like plutam, guru and kaakapaadam. There are seven basic tala groups which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam:

* Dhruva tala
* Matya tala
* Rupaka tala
* Jhampa tala
* Triputa tala
* Ata tala
* Eka tala

Improvisation
There are four main types of improvisation in Carnatic music.

Raga Alapana

This is the exposition of the ragam of the song that will be performed. A performer will explore the ragam first by singing lower octaves then moving up to higher ones and touching various aspects of the ragam while giving a hint of the song to be performed. It is a slow improvisation with no rhythm.

Niraval

This is usually performed by the more advanced concert artists and consists of singing one or two lines of a song repeatedly, but with improvised elaborations.

Kalpanaswaram

The most fundamental type of improvisation, usually instructed before any other form of improvisation. It consists of singing a pattern of notes which ends on the beat and the note just before the beat and the note on which the song starts. The swara pattern should adhere to the original raga’s swara pattern, which is called as aarohanam-avarohanam.

Thanam

This form of improvisation was originally developed for the veena and consists of expanding the raga with syllables like tha, nam, thom, aa, nom, na, etc

Ragam Thanam Pallavi

This is a combined form of improvisation. As the name hints, it contains of Raga Alapana, Thanam, and a pallavi line. The pallavi line is sung twice, and Niraval follows. After Niraval, the pallavi line is sung again, twice in normal speed, then sung once at half the speed, then twice at regular speed, then four times at twice the speed. Kalpanaswarams follow.