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Carnatic music

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Carnatic music or Karnatak music (Sanskrit karnataka sangeetham (File:KarnatakaSangeetham.PNG)) is the classical music of South India, as opposed to the classical music of North India called Hindustani. There are various theories as to the origin of the name. While it did originate in the Indian state of Karnataka, there are other theories about the etymology of the name Carnatic, such as that it comes from the Sanskrit word for "to please the ear", or that it means "traditional" in Sanskrit. It is different from Hindustani in that it emphasizes the structured song, is much more theoretical, and has more stringent rules.1

This music tradition from South India is replete with songs eulogizing, begging, or sometimes even scolding various Hindu deities; that is, bhakti, or devotion to God, is the key element. Modern, "light" compositions may have secular themes, such as patriotism, nature, or even food.

As with all Indian music, the main two components of Carnatic music are raga, a melodic pattern and tala, a rhythmic pattern. (One might want to read these pages before proceeding.)

History

Carnatic music, whose foundations were written between 4000 BC and 1000 BC, began as a spiritual ritual of Hinduism. It grew, along with Hindustani music, out of the Sama Veda tradition, until, in the late 12th and early 13th century, the Moguls invaded North India, after which there was a divergence in the forms of Indian music (the northern being influenced by Arab music.)2

Instruments used in the southern music would include a kind of trumpet called a nagaswaram and a barrel drum called a tavil. (These instruments are still used at weddings and religious functions, in addition to concerts.)

Theory

The solfage

Description

The solfage of Carnatic music is "sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni" (compare with the Hindustani sargam: sa-re-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni). These names are abbreviations of the longer names shadjamam, rishabham, gandharam. madhyamam, panchamam, dhaivatam and nishadam. Unlike other music systems, each member of the solfage (called a swara) may have up to three variants. The exceptions are shadjamam and panchamam (C and G in Western music), which have only one form, and madhyamam, which has only two forms (F and F-sharp). In one scale, or ragam, there is usually only one variant of each note present, except in "light" ragas, such as Behag, in which, for artistic effect, there may be two, one on the way up (in the arohanam) and another on the way down (in the avarohanam). A raga may have five, six or seven notes on the way up, and five, six or seven notes on the way down.

The Carnatic solfage in different scripts

In Indian languages, most of whose alphabets are abugidas (alphabets in which written consonants have inherent vowels which are modified with diacritics), the solfage is written with the characters for Sa, Ri, Ga, Pa, Da and Ni. Beacause Carnatic music is very rarely performed by people from North India, the alphabets given here are primarily those of Dravidian, i.e., South Indian, languages.

The raga system

Melakatas

In Carnatic music, the sampurna ragas (the ones that have seven notes in their scales) are classified into the melakarta system, which groups them according to the kinds of notes that they have. There are seventy-two melakarta ragas, thirty-six of which have F (suddha madhyamam) as the fourth note of the scale, thirty-six of which have F sharp (prati madhyamam) as the fourth note. The ragas are grouped into sets of six, called chakras ("wheels", though actually sectors in the conventional representation) based on the second and third notes of the scale.

Hierarchy

The highest level of the hierachy of ragas is the melakarta, because the melakartas have seven notes and use each only once in the arohanam and only once in the avarohanam. Ragas that have gaps in their scales (properly called varja ragas) or which

The tala system

In carnatic music, singers keep the beat by moving their hands in specified patterns. These patterns are called talas (sing. tala(m)). All of the which are formed with three basic movements: lowering the palm of the hand onto the thigh, lowering a specified number of fingers in sequence (starting from the little finger), and turning the hand over. These basic movements are grouped into three kinds of units: the laghu (lowering the palm and then the fingers, notated as 1), the dhrtam (lowering the palm and turning it over, notated as 0), and the anudhrtam (just lowering the palm, notated as ☾). Only these units are used.

There are seven kinds of talas which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam:

  • Eka talam 1
  • Rupaka talam 0 1
  • Triputa talam 1 0 0
  • Jhampa talam 1 ☾ 0
  • Ata talam 1 1 0 0
  • Matya talam 1 0 1
  • Dhruva talam 1 0 1 1

You may ask how many fingers must be lowered in a laghu. That is determined by the jathi, a number showing how many fingers to lower. It can only be 3, 4, 5, 7, or 9. (For numbers greater than five, the "sixth finger" is the same as the little finger.) Five jathis times seven patterns gives thirty-five possible talas.

Set music and improvisation

Compositions: Styles and structures

Composers of Carnatic music were often inspired by devotion and were usually scholars proficient in Telugu and/or Sanskrit (although languages like Tamil and Kannada would occasionally be used.) They would usually include a signature, called a mudra, in their compositions. For example, all songs by Tyagaraja have the word Tyāgarāja in them, and all songs by Muthuswami Dikshitar have the words guru guha in them.

Kīrtanas

Carnatic songs are varied in structure and style, but generally consist of three verses:

  1. Pallavi (पल्लवि). This is the equivalent of a refrain in Western music. Two lines.
  2. Anupallavi (अनुपल्लवि). The second verse. Also two lines.
  3. Caraṇam (चरणं). The final (and longest) verse that wraps up the song. The Charanam usually borrows patterns from the Anupallavi. Usually three lines.

This kind of song is called a keerthanam (कीर्तनं). But this is only one possible structure for a keerthanam. Some keerthanas, such as Sārasamuki sakala bhāgyadē have a verse between the anupallavi and the caraṇam, called the ciṭṭaswaram (चिट्टस्वरं). This verse consists only of notes, and has no words. Still others, such as Rāmacandram bhāvayāmi have a verse at the end of the caraṇam, called the madhyamakālam. It is sung immediately after the caraṇam, but at double speed.

Varnams

A Varnam is a special kind of song which tells you everything about a raga; not just the scale, but also which notes to stress, how to approach a certain note, classical and characteristic phrases, etc. It's like reading the Bible in a foreign language. A varnam has a pallavi, an anupallavi, a muktāyi swaram, whose function is identical to that of the ciṭṭaswaram in a kīrtanam, a caraṇam, and ciṭṭaswaras, after each of which the caraṇam is repeated:

  1. Pallavi
  2. Anupallavi
  3. Muktāyi swaram
  4. Charanam
  5. Ciṭṭaswaras
    1. First
    2. Second
    3. Third
    4. et cetera

There are many more kinds of songs such as geethams and swarajatis, but for lack of room, they will not be explained here.

Special compositions

Some special sets of compositions deserve to be noted here, the Pancaratna Kīrtanas (पञ्चरत्न कृति) of Tyagaraja, the Navagraha Kritis of Muttusvami Dikshitar, and the Ashtapadis(अष्टपदी) of Jayadeva.

The Pancaratna Kīrtanas (lit. five gems), composed by Tyagaraja, are a set of five compositions regarded as the masterpieces of the great composer. They deviate from conventional structure in that they all have between eight and twelve caraṇas. Sādincanē Ō Manasā, the third of the compositions, deviates even more in that after the anupallavi, there is a short phrase after which the caraṇas are sung. Also, instead of repeating the pallavi after each caraṇam, the phrase between the anupallavi and the first caraṇam is sung.

Improvisation

There are four main types of improvisation in Carnatic music:

  • Raga Alapana ( रागा आलापना ) This is usually performed before a song. It is, as you may expect, always sung in the ragam of the song. It is a slow improvisation with no rhythm, and is supposed to tune the listener's mind to the appropriate ragam by reminding him/her of the specific nuances, before the singer plunges into the song. Theoretically, this ought to be the easiest type of improvisation, since the rules are so few, but in fact, it takes much skill to sing a pleasing, comprehensive (in the sense of giving a "feel for the ragam") and, most importantly, original ragam.
  • Niraval ( निरवल् ) 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. (A similar thing used to be done in Baroque music).
  • (Kalpana)swaram ( [कल्पना]स्वरं ) The most elementary type of improvisation, usually taught before any other form of improvisation. It consists of singing a pattern of notes which finishes 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 "arohana-avarohana"
  • Taanam ( तानं ) This form of improvisation was originally developed for the veena and consists of repeating the word anantham (अनंतं) ("endless") in an improvised tune. The name thaanam comes from a false splitting of anantham repeated. When the word anantham is repeated, i.e., "anantham-anantham", the laws of sandhi dictate that the consonant at the end of the first word be dropped, hence "ananthaanantham" When the rule is applied to a long string of ananthams, you get "ananthaananthaananthaananthaa..." which got falsely split as "thaananthaananthaanan...", or "thaanamthaanamthaanam...".
  • (Ragam Thanam) Pallavi ( [रागा तानं] पल्लवि )
பல்லவி எந்றால் பதமாம், லயமாம், விஞாஸமாம்
Pallavi means: words (padam), rhythm (layam) and improvisation (viñāsam)
This is a composite form of improvisation. It consists of Ragam, Thanam, then a line sung twice, and Niraval. After Niraval, the line is sung again, twice, then sung once at half the speed, then twice at regular speed, then four times at twice the speed.

Carnatic concerts

Instruments

Carnatic concerts are performed by a small ensemble of musicians. The group usually has a vocalist, a primary instrumentalist, a drone player and a percussionist, in order of importance. This is reflective of the fact that Carnatic music is mainly for the voice, and any instrumental rendering is merely an adaptation to the particular instrument. (However, in recent years, concerts without vocalists, where the main performer is an instrumentalist, have become popular.)

Primary instruments are usually string instruments, such as the vīṇā and violin3, although wind instruments such the flute3 may also be used. Drone instruments, such as the tambūra and sruti box are used to give ostinato accompaniment, to remind the performer of the correct sruti, or key. Percussion instruments, such as the mridangam, ghatam, etc.) are used to help with talam. Unlike drone instruments, percussion instruments can also improvise. See also: Indian musical instruments.

Content

Concerts almost always start with a song in praise of Ganapathi, the remover of obstacles. For this, songs such as vināyakā ninnuvinā brōcuḍaku and gam gaṇapatē, among many, many others, are common.

In the middle are a variety of compositions, generally contrasting in emotion. Sometimes, a rāgam is sung before each of these compositions, and kalpanāswaram is sung after.

Finally, either a light song such as a tillana, or a mangaḷam is sung.

The teaching of Carnatic music

The traditional way

Traditionally, a student of Carnatic music goes to the house of the teacher for lessons. Both student and teacher sit cross-legged on the floor (usually on a mat). The teacher either starts playing the tambūrā or turns on the śruti box. The student sings an elongated "Sā...Pā...Sā (upper octave)...Pā...Sā..." and the class begins.

With the advance of telecommunications, new ways of teaching Carnatic music have arisen. It is not uncommon now for a student to receive lessons by telephone or even webcam. Ironically, these new-fangled methods are being used most frequently in India, not the United States.

The use and disuse of notation

History of notation in Carnatic music

Contrary to what many people think, notation is not a new concept in Indian music. In fact, even the Vedas, although orally transmitted, were written with notation. However, the idea of notation in Carnatic music was not well-received, and it continued to be transmitted orally for centuries. The disadvantage with this system was that if one wanted to learn a kīrtanam composed, for example, by Purandara Dasa, it was necessary to find Purandara Dasa's student's student's student's...student's student, if such a person still existed!

Written notation of Carnatic music was revived in the late 17th century and early 18th century, which coincided with rule of Shahaji II in Tanjore. Copies of Shahaji's musical manuscripts are still available at the Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjore and they give us an idea of the music and its form. They contain snippets of solfage to be used when performing the mentioned ragas.

Form of modern notation

Melody

Unlike Western music, Carnatic music is notated almost exclusively in solfage, although numerous attempts have been made to transcribe it into staff notation. In the more precise forms of Carnatic notation, there are symbols placed above the notes showing how the notes should be sung; however, informally this practice is not followed.

To show the length of a note, several devices are used. If the note is to be sung for twice the ordinary length, the letter is either capitalized (in English) or lengthened by a diacritic (in Indian languages). For a duration of three, the letter is capitalized (or diacriticized) and followed by a comma. For a length of four, the letter is capitalized (or diacriticized) and then followed by a semicolon. In this way any duration can be indicated using a series of semicolons and commas.

However, a new, lazier method has come about which does not bother with semicolons and capitalization, but rather indicates all extensions of notes using a corresponding number of commas. Thus, Sā extended to a length of four wold be denoted as "S , , ,".

Rhythm

The notation is divided into columns, depending on the structure of the tāḷaṃ. The division between a laghu and a dhṛtaṃ is indicated by a ।, called a ḍaṇḍā, and so is the division between two dhṛtaṃs or a dhṛtaṃ and an anudhṛtaṃ. The end of a cycle is marked by a ॥, called a double ḍaṇḍā, and looks like a caesura.

Carnatic people

One of the earliest and prominent composers in South India was the saint, and wandering devine singer of yore Purandara Dasa (1480-1564). Purandara Dasa is believed to have composed 475,000 songs in Kannada and Sanskrit and was a source of inspiration to the later composers like Tyagaraja. He also invented the tala system of Carnatic music.

The Great Composers

Thyagaraja (1759?-1847), Muthuswami Dikshitar (1776-1827) and Syama Sastri (1762-1827) are regarded as the trinity of carnatic music. Other prominent composers include Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi, whose exact lifespan is not known, Swathi Thirunal, Mysore Sadashiva Rao, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar and Papanasam Sivan, to name a few.

Modern singers

M.S. Subbulakshmi, Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna and DK Pattammal are some of the art's greatest living (albeit aging) performers. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, a doyen of carnatic music, who had taught three generations of acclaimed musicians, and who was often acclaimed as the second Pitamaha (Great Father) of Carnatic music, passed away on October 31, 2003.

Today singers of the next generation like Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan, T.V.Sankar Narayanan, Sudha Ragunathan, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, S.Sowmya and Bombay Jayashree are among the top stars in Carnatic music. No large festival of Carnatic music takes place without performances of at least a few of the above.

Modern instrumentalists

U. Srinivas plays the electric mandolin. Kadri Gopalnath plays the alto saxophone. N Ravikiranplays the chitravina, also known as gotuvadyam, an ancient instrument with 21 strings - six main strings, and three drone strings, about twelve sympathetic strings running parallel and below the main strings. It is played with a cylindrical wooden slide in the left hand, and three wire plectrums on the right hand fingers.

Attitudes

Bibliography

Footnotes

  1. This, some argue, makes Carnatic music more creative!
  2. However, the Arab influence on North Indian music did not change its religion; Hindustani classical music remains Hindu to this day. Ironically, some of the leading singers, such as the late Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, are actually Moslem.
  3. The violin of Carnatic music is the same instrument as the violin of Western music, though tuned and held differently. Balusvami Dikshitar (1786 - 1859), brother of Muttusvami Dikshitar, learnt the violin from a European violinist and introduced it to South India in the 19th century, although it became popular only in the 20th century. It is particularly well suited for Indian music because it can produce the microtones which are a distinguishing feature. In North India, however, indigenous bowed Indian instruments such as the sarangi continue to be used. The flute was invented independently in India and the West; Krishna is said to have been a master. The difference is that the Indian flute is a bamboo instrument with open holes, quite unlike the modern western version.
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