Who Were the Typical Proponents of Art Music and What Did They Value?

Music genre originating in southern India

Carnatic music, known as Karnāṭaka saṃgīta or Karnāṭaka saṅgītam in the Due south Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South Bharat, including the mod Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka.^{[ane] [2]} It is ane of two main subgenres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient Sanatana dharma sciences and traditions, especially the Samaveda.^[3] The other subgenre existence Hindustani music, which emerged as a distinct form because of Persian or Islamic influences from Northern India. The principal emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; about compositions are written to be sung, and fifty-fifty when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in gāyaki (singing) way.

Although at that place are stylistic differences, the basic elements of śruti (the relative musical pitch), swara (the musical sound of a unmarried note), rāga (the mode or melodic formulæ), and tala (the rhythmic cycles) form the foundation of improvisation and composition in both Carnatic and Hindustani music. Although improvisation plays an important role, Carnatic music is mainly sung through compositions, especially the kriti (or kirtanam) – a class developed betwixt the 14th and 20th centuries past composers such as Purandara Dasa and the Trinity of Carnatic music. Carnatic music is also usually taught and learned through compositions. Telugu language predominates in the evolution of Carnatic Music^[four] every bit most compositions are in Telugu or Sanskrit, with a few in Tamil.^[5]

Carnatic music is usually performed by a pocket-sized ensemble of musicians, consisting of a primary performer (commonly a vocalist), a melodic accessory (usually a violin), a rhythm accompaniment (normally a mridangam), and a tambura, which acts as a drone throughout the performance. Other typical instruments used in performances may include the ghatam, kanjira, morsing, venu flute, veena, and chitraveena. The greatest concentration of Carnatic musicians is to be institute in the metropolis of Chennai.^[6] Diverse Carnatic music festivals are held throughout Republic of india and abroad, including the Madras Music Season, which has been considered to exist one of the world's largest cultural events.^{[7] [8]}

Origins, sources and history

Like all fine art forms in Indian civilisation, Indian classical music is believed to be a divine art form which originated from the Devas and Devis (Hindu Gods and Goddesses),^{[9] [10]} and is venerated as symbolic of nāda brāhman .^[xi] Ancient treatises also describe the connexion of the origin of the swaras, or notes, to the sounds of animals and birds and human being'south effort to simulate these sounds through a great sense of observation and perception. The Sama Veda, which is believed to have laid the foundation for Indian classical music, consists of hymns from the Rigveda, gear up to musical tunes which would be sung using 3 to seven musical notes during Vedic yajnas.^[10] The Yajur-Veda, which mainly consists of sacrificial formulae, mentions the veena as an accessory to vocal recitations.^[12] References to Indian classical music are made in many ancient texts, including epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Yajnavalkya Smriti mentions वीणावादन तत्त्वज्ञः श्रुतीजातिविशारदः ताळज्ञश्चाप्रयासेन मोक्षमार्गं नियच्छति ( vīṇāvādana tattvajñaḥ śrutijātiviśāradaḥ tālajñaścāprayāsena mokṣamārgaṃ niyacchati, "The one who is well versed in veena, one who has the noesis of srutis and one who is adept in tala, attains liberation (moksha) without dubiousness").^[xiii] Carnatic music is based every bit it is today on musical concepts (including swara, raga, and tala) that were described in detail in several ancient works, particularly the Bharata'due south Natya Shastra and Silappadhikaram by Ilango Adigal.^[fourteen]

Owing to Persian and Islamic influences in North India from the 12th century onwards, Indian classical music began to diverge into two distinct styles — Hindustani music and Carnatic music.^[6] Commentaries and other works, such as Sharngadeva's Sangita Ratnakara, further elaborated on the musical concepts institute in Indian classical music.^[15] Past the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a articulate demarcation between Carnatic and Hindustani music;^[16] Carnatic music remained relatively unaffected by Farsi and Standard arabic influences. Information technology was at this time that Carnatic music flourished in Vijayanagara, while the Vijayanagar Empire reached its greatest extent.^[17] Purandara Dasa, who is known as the "begetter (Pitamaha) of Carnatic music", formulated the system that is commonly used for the education of Carnatic music.^{[10] [xviii]} Venkatamakhin invented and authored the formula for the melakarta organization of raga classification in his Sanskrit work, the Chaturdandi Prakasika (1660 AD).^[16] Govindacharya is known for expanding the melakarta system into the sampoorna raga scheme – the system that is in common use today.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Carnatic music was mainly patronised past the local kings of the Kingdom of Mysore, Kingdom of Travancore, and the Maratha rulers of Tanjore.^[xix] Some of the royalty of the kingdoms of Mysore and Travancore were themselves noted composers and proficient in playing musical instruments, such as the veena, rudra veena, violin, ghatam, flute, mridangam, nagaswara and swarabhat.^[xx] Some famous court-musicians skillful in music were Veene Sheshanna (1852–1926)^[21] and Veene Subbanna (1861–1939),^[22] amidst others.

During the late 19th century, the metropolis of Chennai (and then known as Madras) emerged equally the locus for Carnatic music.^[23] With the dissolution of the erstwhile princely states and the Indian independence movement reaching its conclusion in 1947, Carnatic music went through a radical shift in patronage into an art of the masses with ticketed performances organised by private institutions called sabhās.

Nature

The main accent 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 equally gāyaki).^[24] Like Hindustani music, Carnatic music rests on two main elements: rāga , the modes or melodic formulæ, and tāḷa , the rhythmic cycles.^[24]

Today, Carnatic music is presented past musicians in concerts or recordings, either vocally or through instruments. Carnatic music itself developed around musical works or compositions of phenomenal composers (meet beneath).

Important elements

Śruti

Śruti unremarkably refers to musical pitch.^[25] Information technology is the approximate equivalent of a tonic (or less precisely a key) in Western music; it is the annotation from which all the others are derived. It is also used in the sense of graded pitches in an octave. While in that location are an infinite number of sounds falling within a scale (or raga) in Carnatic music, the number that can exist distinguished by auditory perception is twenty-two (although over the years, several of them take converged). In this sense, while sruti is adamant past auditory perception, it is also an expression in the listener's mind.^[26]

Swara

Swara refers to a type of musical sound that is a single annotation, which defines a relative (higher or lower) position of a note, rather than a defined frequency.^[25] Swaras as well 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). These names are abbreviations of the longer names shadja, rishabha, gandhara, madhyama, panchama, dhaivata and nishada. Different other music systems, every member of the solfege (called a swara) has three variants. The exceptions are the drone notes, shadja and panchama (also known equally the tonic and the dominant), which have but ane grade; and madhyama (the subdominant), which has ii forms. A 7th century stone inscription in Kudumiyan Malai^[27] in Tamil Nadu shows vowel changes to solfege symbols with ra, ri, ru etc. to announce the higher quarter-tones. In one calibration, or raga, in that location is usually only i variant of each note nowadays. The exceptions be in "light" ragas, in which, for artistic event, there may be two, one ascending (in the arohanam) and another descending (in the avarohanam).

Raga system

Main article: Raga

A raga in Carnatic music prescribes a prepare of rules for edifice a melody – very similar to the Western concept of mode.^[28] Information technology specifies rules for movements up (aarohanam) and down (avarohanam), the scale of which notes should figure more than and which notes should exist used more than sparingly, which notes may be sung with gamaka (ornamentation), which phrases should exist used or avoided, and then on. In result, it is a series of obligatory musical events which must be observed, either absolutely or with a particular frequency.^[29]

In Carnatic music, the sampoorna ragas (those with all seven notes in their scales) are classified into a system called the melakarta, which groups them co-ordinate to the kinds of notes that they have. There are seventy-2 melakarta ragas, xxx half-dozen of whose madhyama (subdominant) is shuddha (perfect fourth from the tonic), the remaining xxx-six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is prati (an augmented 4th from the tonic). The ragas are grouped into sets of six, called chakras ("wheels", though actually segments in the conventional representation) grouped co-ordinate to the supertonic and mediant scale degrees. At that place is a system known as the katapayadi sankhya to determine the names of melakarta ragasouthward.

Ragadue south may be divided into two classes: janaka ragadue south (i.due east. melakarta or parent ragas) and janya ragasouthward (descendant ragas of a detail janaka raga). Janya ragas are themselves subclassified into various categories.

Tala system

Tala refers to a stock-still fourth dimension cycle or metre, set for a particular composition, which is congenital from groupings of beats.^{[ citation needed ]} Talas have cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely change inside a song. They accept specific components, which in combinations can give ascension to the variety to exist (over 108), allowing different compositions to have dissimilar rhythms.^[thirty]

Carnatic music singers unremarkably keep the beat by moving their hands up and downwards in specified patterns, and using their fingers simultaneously to go on 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 7 basic tala groups which can exist formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam:

• Ata tala
• Dhruva tala
• Eka tala
• Jhampa tala
• Matya tala^{[ citation needed ]}
• Rupaka tala
• Triputa tala

A laghu has five variants (called jaathis) based on the counting pattern. Five jaathis times seven tala groups gives thirty-five basic talasouthward, although utilise of other angas results in a total of 108 talasouth.

Improvisation

Improvisation in raga is the soul of Indian classical music^[31] – an essential aspect.^[32] "Manodharma Sangeetam" or "kalpana Sangeetam" ("music of imagination") every bit it is known in Carnatic music, embraces several varieties of improvisation.^{[32] [33]}

The main traditional forms of improvisation in Carnatic music consist of the post-obit:^{[34] [35]}

• Alapana
• Niraval
• Pallavi
• Ragam
• Swarakalpana
• Tanam
• Tani Avartanam

Raga Alapana

An alapana, sometimes also called ragam,^[36] is the exposition of a raga or tone – a dull improvisation with no rhythm,^[37] where the raga acts equally the ground of embellishment.^[29] In performing alapana, performers consider each raga as an object that has beginnings and endings and consists somehow of sequences of thought.^[29]

The performer will explore the ragam and bear on its diverse nuances,^[36] singing in the lower octaves first, so gradually moving upward to college octaves, while giving a hint of the song to be performed.^[37]

Theoretically, this ought to be the easiest type of improvisation, since the rules are so few, simply in fact, it takes much skill to sing a pleasing, comprehensive (in the sense of giving a "feel for the ragam") and, nigh importantly, original raga alapana.

Niraval

Niraval, usually performed by the more than advanced performers, consists of singing one or two lines of text of a song repeatedly, but with a series of melodic improvised elaborations.^[38] Although niraval consists of extempore melodic variations, generally, the original patterns of duration are maintained;^[39] each word in the lines of text stay ready within their original identify (idam) in the tala wheel.^[xl] The lines are then also played at dissimilar levels of speed which can include double speed, triple speed, quadruple speed and even sextuple speed.^[41] The improvised elaborations are made with a view of outlining the raga, the tempo, and the theme of the composition.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Kalpanaswaram

Kalpanaswaram, as well known equally swarakalpana, consists of improvising melodic and rhythmic passages using swaras (solfa syllables).^[42] Similar niraval,^[43] kalpanaswaras are sung to finish on a particular swara in the raga of the melody and at a specific place (idam) in the tala cycle.^[44]

Kalpanaswaras have a somewhat predictable rhythmical structure;^[45] the swaras are sung to end on the samam (the first trounce of the rhythmical cycle).^[41] The swaras can also be sung at the same speed or double the speed of the tune that is being sung, though some artists sing triple-speed phrases too.^[41]

Kalpanaswaram is the virtually simple type of improvisation, ordinarily taught earlier whatsoever other form of improvisation.

Tanam

Tanam is i of the well-nigh important forms of improvisation, and is integral to Ragam Tanam Pallavi.^[46] Originally developed for the veena, information technology consists of expanding the raga with syllables similar tha, nam, thom, aa, nom, na, etc.

Ragam Tanam Pallavi

Ragam, Tanam, and Pallavi are the principal long course in concerts,^[46] and is a composite class of improvisation. Equally the name suggests, it consists of raga alapana, tanam, and a pallavi line. Gear up to a slow-paced tala, the pallavi line is frequently composed by the performer. Through niraval, the performer manipulates the pallavi line in complex melodic and rhythmic ways.^[36] The niraval is followed by kalpanaswarams.

Tani Avartanam

Tani Avartanam refers to the extended solo that is played by the percussionists in a concert,^[47] and is usually played after the main composition in a concert.^[40] The percussionist displays the full range of his skills and rhythmic imagination during the solo, which may take from two to twenty minutes.^[47]

Compositions

In contrast to Hindustani music of the northern part of India, Carnatic music is taught and learned through compositions, which encode many intricate musical details, also providing scope for gratis improvisation. Well-nigh every rendition of a Carnatic music limerick is unlike and unique as it embodies elements of the composer's vision, equally well as the musician's interpretation.

A Carnatic composition really has ii elements, one being the musical element, the other being what is conveyed in the composition. It is probably because of this fact that nearly Carnatic music compositions are composed for singing. In addition to the rich musical experience, each composition brings out the knowledge and personality of the composer, and hence the words are as important as the musical element itself. This poses a special challenge for the musicians because rendering this music does not involve just playing or singing the correct musical notes; the musicians are expected to empathize what was conveyed by the composer in diverse languages, and sing musical phrases that deed to create the outcome that was intended past the composer in his/her composition.

There are many types/forms of compositions.

Geethams and swarajatis (which have their own peculiar limerick structures) are principally meant to serve as basic learning exercises.

Compositions more commonly associated with Indian classical dance and Indian devotional music have also been increasingly used in the Carnatic music repertoire. The performance of the Sanskrit sloka, Tamil viruttam and Telugu padyamu or sisapadya forms are particularly unique. Though these forms consist of lyric-based verses, musicians improvise raga phrases in complimentary rhythm, like an alapana,^[38] and so both the sound value, and the significant of the text, guide the musician through elaborate melodic improvisations.^[48] Forms such as the divya prabandham, thevaram and ugabhoga are ofttimes performed similarly, however, these forms tin likewise accept a set melody and rhythm like the devaranama, javali, padam, thillana and thiruppugazh forms.

The most common and meaning forms in Carnatic music are the varnam and the kriti (or kirtanam).

Varnam

Varnams are brusque metric pieces which encapsulate the main features and requirements of a raga.^[49] The features and rules of the raga (likewise known as the sanchaaraas of a raga) include how each note of the raga should exist stressed, the scale of the raga, and and then on.^[50] All varnams consist of lyrics,^[51] too as swara passages, including a pallavi, an anupallavi, muktayi swaras, a charanam, and chittaswaras.^[fifty]

Known for their complex structure, varnams are a fundamental form in Carnatic music.^[51] Varnams are practised as vocal exercises in multiple speeds by performers of Carnatic music, to help develop voice civilization, and maintain proper pitch and command of rhythm. In Carnatic music concerts, varnams are oft performed by musicians as the opening item – acting as a warm up for the musicians,^[52] and equally a means of grabbing the attention of the audition.^[fifty]

Kriti

Carnatic songs (kritis) are varied in structure and fashion, simply more often than not consist of three units:

1. Pallavi. This is the equivalent of a refrain in Western music, with one or 2 lines.
2. Anupallavi. This is the 2nd poetry, likewise as ii lines.
3. Charana. The final (and longest) verse that wraps up the song. The Charanam unremarkably borrows patterns from the Anupallavi. At that place tin can be multiple charanas.

This kind of song is called a keerthanam or a kriti. At that place are other possible structures for a kriti, which may in addition include swara passages named chittaswara. A chittaswara consists only of notes, and has no words. Still others have a verse at the end of the charana, chosen the madhyamakāla. It is sung immediately after the charana, simply at double speed.

Prominent composers

There are many composers in Carnatic music. Purandara Dasa (1484–1564) is referred to equally the Pitamaha (the father or granddaddy) of Carnatic music equally he formulated the basic lessons in educational activity Carnatic music, and in honour of his significant contribution to Carnatic music. He structured graded exercises known as Swaravalis and Alankaras, and at the same fourth dimension, introduced the Raga Mayamalavagowla as the first scale to be learnt by beginners. He likewise composed Gitas (simple songs) for novice students.

The contemporaries Tyagaraja (1767– 1847), Muthuswami Dikshitar, (1776–1835) and Syama Sastri, (1762–1827) are regarded every bit the Trinity of Carnatic music considering of the quality of Syama Sastri'south compositions, the varieties of compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Tyagaraja's prolific output in composing kritis.^[53]

Prominent composers prior to the Trinity of Carnatic music include Sripadaraja, Vyasatirtha, Kanakadasa, Vadiraja Tirtha, Arunachala Kavi, Annamacharya, Narayana Theertha, Vijaya Dasa, Jagannatha Dasa, Gopala Dasa, Bhadrachala Ramadas, Sadasiva Brahmendra and Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi. Other composers are Swathi Thirunal, Gopalakrishna Bharathi, Neelakanta Sivan, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Mysore Vasudevachar, Koteeswara Iyer, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Subramania Bharathiyar, Kalyani Varadarajan, M. Balamuralikrishna and Papanasam Sivan. The compositions of these composers are rendered often past artists of today.

Composers of Carnatic music were ofttimes inspired by religious devotion and were usually scholars skillful in one or more of the languages Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, or Telugu. They usually included a signature, chosen a mudra, in their compositions. For example, all songs past Tyagaraja (who composed in Telugu) have the word Tyagaraja in them, all songs by Muthuswami Dikshitar (who composed in Sanskrit) have the words Guruguha in them; songs by Syama Sastri (who composed in Telugu) take the words Syama Krishna in them; all songs by Purandaradasa (who equanimous in Kannada) have the words Purandara Vittala; while Gopalakrishna Bharathi (who composed in Tamil) used the signature Gopalakrishnan in his compositions. Papanasam Sivan, who has been hailed as the Tamil Tyagaraja of Carnatic music,^[54] equanimous in Tamil and Sanskrit,^[54] and used the signature Ramadasan in his compositions.

Learning

Carnatic music is traditionally taught co-ordinate to the system formulated past Purandara Dasa. This involves sarali swaras (graded exercises), alankaras (exercises based on the seven talas), geetams or uncomplicated songs, and Swarajatis. After the student has reached a certain standard, varnams are taught and later on, the pupil learns kritis. It typically takes several years of learning earlier a student is adept enough to perform at a concert.

The learning texts and exercises are more than or less uniform across all the S Indian states. The learning construction is arranged in increasing order of complexity. The lessons outset with the learning of the sarali varisai (solfege ready to a detail raga).

Carnatic music was traditionally taught in the gurukula system, where the student lived with and learnt the art from his guru (perceptor). From the tardily 20th century onwards, with changes in lifestyles and need for young music aspirants to simultaneously pursue a parallel academic career, this organization has found few takers.

Musicians ofttimes take cracking pride in letting people know about their Guru Parampara, or the hierarchy of disciples from some prominent ancient musician or composer, to which they belong. People whose disciple-hierarchies are ofttimes referred to are Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Syama Sastri, Swathi Thirunal and Papanasam Sivan, among others.

In modernistic times, it is common for students to visit their gurus daily or weekly to learn music. Though new technology has made learning easier with the availability of quick-learn media such as learning exercises recorded on audio cassettes and CDs, these are discouraged by most gurus who emphasize that face up-to-confront learning is all-time for students.

Notations

Notation is non a new concept in Indian music. However, Carnatic music continued to be transmitted orally for centuries without existence written downward. The disadvantage with this organization was that if 1 wanted to learn almost a kriti composed, for example, past Purandara Dasa, it involved the difficult job of finding a person from Purandara Dasa's lineage of students.

Written note of Carnatic music was revived in the late 17th century and early 18th century, which coincided with dominion of Shahaji Two in Tanjore. Copies of Shahaji'south musical manuscripts are still bachelor at the Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjore and they requite u.s.a. an thought of the music and its form. They contain snippets of solfege to exist used when performing the mentioned ragas.

Melody

Unlike classical Western music, Carnatic music is notated nigh exclusively in tonic sol-fa notation using either a Roman or Indic script to represent the solfa names. Past attempts to use the staff notation accept mostly failed. Indian music makes use of hundreds of ragas, many more than than the church building modes in Western music. It becomes difficult to write Carnatic music using the staff notation without the use of also many accidentals. Furthermore, the staff note requires that the song be played in a certain central. The notions of key and absolute pitch are deeply rooted in Western music, whereas the Carnatic notation does non specify the primal and prefers to use scale degrees (relative pitch) to denote notes. The singer is free to choose the actual pitch of the tonic note. In the more precise forms of Carnatic notation, in that location are symbols placed to a higher place the notes indicating how the notes should exist played or sung; even so, informally this practice is not followed.

To show the length of a note, several devices are used. If the duration of annotation is to be doubled, the letter is either capitalized (if using Roman script) or lengthened past a diacritic (in Indian languages). For a duration of three, the alphabetic character is capitalized (or diacriticized) and followed by a comma. For a length of four, the letter is capitalized (or diacriticized) and and then followed past a semicolon. In this way any duration tin be indicated using a series of semicolons and commas.

All the same, a simpler notation has evolved which does non apply semicolons and capitalization, but rather indicates all extensions of notes using a respective number of commas. Thus, Sā quadrupled in length would be denoted equally "Southward,,,".

Rhythm

The notation is divided into columns, depending on the construction of the tāḷaṃ. The division betwixt a laghu and a dhrutam is indicated by a।, called a ḍaṇḍā, and then is the sectionalization between 2 dhrutams or a dhrutam and an anudhrutam. The finish of a wheel is marked by a॥, chosen a double ḍaṇḍā, and looks like a caesura.

Performance

Carnatic music is usually performed by a small ensemble of musicians, who sit on an elevated phase. This commonly consists of, at to the lowest degree, a principal performer, a melodic accompaniment, a rhythm accompaniment, and a drone.^[55]

Performances can be musical or musical-dramatic. Musical recitals are either vocal, or purely instrumental in nature, while musical-dramatic recitals refer to Harikatha.^[55] Regardless of what type of recital information technology is, what is featured are compositions which form the core of this genre of music.

Instrumentation

The tambura is the traditional drone musical instrument used in concerts. However, tamburas are increasingly being replaced by śruti boxes, and now more than commonly, the electronic tambura. The drone itself is an integral part of performances and furnishes stability – the equivalent of harmony in Western music.^[56]

In a vocal recital, a concert team may take one or more vocalists as the primary performer(s). Instruments, such every bit the Saraswati veena and/or venu flute, can be occasionally found every bit an accessory, but usually, a vocalist is supported past a violin histrion (who sits on his/her left). The rhythm accompanist is ordinarily a mridangam player (who sits on the other side, facing the violin player). Even so, other percussion instruments such every bit the ghatam, kanjira and morsing oftentimes also accompany the main percussion instrument and play in an virtually contrapuntal style along with the beats.

The objective of the accompanying instruments is far more than following the melody and keeping the beats. The accompaniments form an integral part of every composition presented, and they closely follow and broaden the melodic phrases outlined past the lead vocaliser. The vocalist and the violinist take turns while elaborating or while exhibiting inventiveness in sections like raga, niraval and kalpanaswaram.

Dissimilar Hindustani music concerts, where an accompanying tabla histrion can proceed beats without post-obit the musical phrases at times, in Carnatic music, the accompanists have to follow the intricacies of the limerick since there are percussion elements such as eduppu in several compositions.

Some concerts feature a good bit of interaction with the lead musicians and accompanists exchanging notes, and accompanying musicians predicting the pb musician'due south musical phrases.

Contemporary concert content

A contemporary Carnatic music concert (called a kutcheri) commonly lasts near 3 hours, and comprises a number of varied compositions. Carnatic songs are composed in a particular raga, which means that they do not deviate from the notes in the raga. Each composition is set with specific notes and beats, but performers improvise extensively. Improvisation occurs in the melody of the composition also as in using the notes to expound the beauty of the raga.

Concerts usually begin with a varnam or an invocatory detail which will human activity as the opening piece. The varnam is composed with an accent on swaras of the raga, just volition besides have lyrics, the saahityam. Information technology is lively and fast to get the audience's attending. An invocatory item may normally follow the varnam.

Afterwards the varnam and/or invocatory detail, the artist sings longer compositions called kirtanas (commonly referred to as kritidue south). Each kriti sticks to 1 specific raga, although some are composed with more than one raga; these are known as ragamalika (a garland of ragas).

Afterwards singing the opening kriti, usually, the performer sings the kalpanaswaram of the raga to the crush. The performer must improvise a cord of swaras in any octave according to the rules of the raga and return to offset of the cycle of beats smoothly, joining the swaras with a phrase selected from the kriti. The violin performs these alternately with the primary performer. In very long strings of swara, the performers must calculate their notes accurately to ensure that they stick to the raga, accept no awkward pauses or lapses in the beat out of the song, and create a circuitous design of notes that a knowledgeable audience tin can follow.

Performers then begin the main compositions with a section called raga alapana exploring the raga. In this, they utilise the sounds aa, ri, na, ta, etc. instead of swaras to slowly elaborate the notes and flow of the raga. This begins slowly and builds to a crescendo, and finally establishes a complicated exposition of the raga that shows the performer's skill. All of this is done without any rhythmic accessory, or vanquish. Then the melodic accompaniment (violin or veena), expounds the raga. Experienced listeners can place many ragas afterward they hear just a few notes. With the raga thus established, the vocal begins, usually with lyrics. In this, the accompaniment (normally violin, sometimes veena) performs along with the primary performer and the percussion (such equally a mridangam). In the next stage of the song, they may sing niraval or kalpanaswaram once again.

In most concerts, the chief particular will at to the lowest degree accept a department at the finish of the particular, for the percussion to perform solo (called the tani avartanam). The percussion artists perform complex patterns of rhythm and display their skill. If multiple percussion instruments are employed, they engage in a rhythmic dialogue until the chief performer picks up the tune once more. Some experienced artists may follow the main piece with a ragam thanam pallavi mid-concert, if they practise not utilize it as the chief item.

Post-obit the main composition, the concert continues with shorter and lighter songs. Some of the types of songs performed towards the end of the concerts are tillanas and thukkadas – bits of popular kritisouthward or compositions requested by the audience. Every concert that is the final of the day ends with a mangalam, a thankful prayer and conclusion to the musical result.

Audience

The audition of a typical concert will have some agreement of Carnatic music. It is also typical to meet the audience tapping out the tala in sync with the artist's performance. As and when the artist exhibits inventiveness, the audience acknowledge it by clapping their easily. With experienced artists, towards the centre of the concert, requests showtime flowing in. The artist usually sings the requests, and it helps in exhibiting the artist's wide knowledge of the several thou kritis that are in existence.

Festivals

Various music festivals featuring Carnatic music performances are held in Republic of india, and throughout the world.

With the urban center of Chennai (then known as Madras) emerging every bit the locus for Carnatic music during the 19th century,^[23] its musicians founded the Tyagaraja Aradhana festival in 1846. The Aradhana festival is an annual death-ceremony commemoration of the prolific Carnatic music composer, Tyagaraja. Held in the city of Thiruvayaru, thousands of musicians nourish the festival to perform his compositions. Since its inception, other festivals were started in a like way throughout India and abroad, such as the Chembai Sangeetholsavam in the Indian metropolis of Guruvayur, and the Aradhana in the The states metropolis of Cleveland.

The metropolis of Chennai also holds a six-week-long grand "Music Flavor", which has been described as the world'south largest cultural consequence.^[57] The Music Season was started in 1927, to mark the opening of the Madras Music Academy. It used to be a traditional calendar month-long Carnatic music festival, but since then information technology has besides diversified into trip the light fantastic toe and drama, as well as non-Carnatic art forms. Some concert organisers likewise feature their own Carnatic music festivals during the flavour. Thousands of performances are held by hundreds of musicians beyond various venues in the city.

The Karnataka Ganakala Parishat is an annual conference of Carnatic music, held in February every year, which has lectures and demonstrations in the morning, and performances in the afternoons and evenings.

See also

• List of Carnatic composers
• List of Carnatic singers
• Listing of Carnatic instrumentalists
• Trinity of Carnatic music

Notes

1. ^ Srinivasan, Anil. "Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora: The new forcefulness spreading Carnatic music and dance worldwide". Scroll.in . Retrieved 10 June 2016.
2. ^ "Tamil of Sri Lanka Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Tamil of Sri Lanka". encyclopedia.com . Retrieved 10 June 2016.
3. ^ Sriram, Parthasarathy. "A Karnatic Music Primer" (PDF).
4. ^ University, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Jawaharlal Nehru (25 August 2017). Historical Lexicon of the Tamils. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 88. ISBN978-1-5381-0686-0.
5. ^ Fuller, C. J.; Narasimhan, Haripriya (11 November 2014). Tamil Brahmans: The Making of a Middle-Class Caste. University of Chicago Printing. p. 201. ISBN978-0-226-15288-2.
6. ^ ^{a b} Carnatic music. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 Apr 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online
7. ^ The Music Academy Archived 26 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Written by Malathi Rangaswamy, Secretary of Music Academy
8. ^ Nettl (2005), p38
9. ^ Moorthy (2001), p17
10. ^ ^{a b c} "History of Music, Origins". The Carnatica Grouping. Carnatica.net. Retrieved 3 July 2007.
11. ^ "Sci Tech / Speaking Of Science : The music of we primates: Zero Brahmam". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 31 March 2005.
12. ^ "Veena in Yajurveda". Archived from the original on 31 Oct 2006.
13. ^ YjS 3.115. "Yajnavalkya on Music".
14. ^ Singer, Thou. (1958). "The Dandy Tradition in a Metropolitan Eye: Madras". The Periodical of American Folklore. American Sociology Society. 71 (281): 347–388. doi:10.2307/538567. JSTOR 538567.
15. ^ Moorthy (2001), p18
16. ^ ^{a b} Subramaniam, Fifty. (1999). "The reinvention of a tradition: Nationalism, Carnatic music and the Madras Music Academy, 1900–1947". Indian Economic & Social History Review. 36 (2): 131–163. doi:x.1177/001946469903600201. S2CID 144368744.
17. ^ Ries, R. Eastward. (1969). "The Cultural Setting of South Indian Music". Asian Music. University of Texas Press. 1 (2): 22–31. doi:ten.2307/833909. JSTOR 833909.
18. ^ Theory of Music, Vasanthamadhavi P.183
19. ^ "Royal tribute to Thanjavur rulers". The New Indian Express.
20. ^ Pranesh (2003), p54-55, p92, p162-163, p225-226
21. ^ Pranesh (2003), p108
22. ^ Pranesh (2003), p128
23. ^ ^{a b} Hughes, S. P. (2002). "The 'Music Blast' in Tamil Due south Bharat: gramophone, radio and the making of mass culture". Historical Journal of Movie, Radio and Television. 22 (iv): 445–473. doi:10.1080/0143968022000012129. S2CID 191466174.
24. ^ ^{a b} Breyer, Barbara (1972). "Composers and Tradition in Karnatik Music". Asian Music. Academy of Texas Press. 3 (2): 42–51. doi:10.2307/833958. JSTOR 833958.
25. ^ ^{a b} "Royal Carpet: Glossary of Carnatic Terms Due south". karnatik.com.
26. ^ "Sound of India". Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved xviii December 2006.
27. ^ S. Santhanlingam, Kudumiyan Malai, Tamil Nadu Government Archeology Section publication, 1981
28. ^ "Royal Carpeting: Glossary of Carnatic Terms Thousand". karnatik.com.
29. ^ ^{a b c} Nettl, Bruno (1974). "Thoughts On Improvisation: A Comparative Approach". Musical Quarterly. LX: ix–12. doi:x.1093/mq/Sixty.ane.1.
30. ^ "Royal Carpeting: Glossary of Carnatic Terms T". karnatik.com.
31. ^ MacCarthy, M. (1912). "Some Indian Conceptions of Music". Proceedings of the Musical Association. 38th Sess: 41–65. doi:ten.1093/jrma/38.one.41.
32. ^ ^{a b} Kassebaum, One thousand. R. (1987). "Improvisation in Alapana Performance: A Comparative View of Raga Shankarabharana". Yearbook for Traditional Music. International Council for Traditional Music. 19: 45–64. doi:10.2307/767877. JSTOR 767877.
33. ^ Kassebaum (2000), p17
34. ^ Higgins, J. B. (1973). "untitled". Asian Music. 4 (2): 27–35. doi:10.2307/833829. JSTOR 833829.
35. ^ Viswanathan & Cormack (1998), pp. 219–220.
36. ^ ^{a b c} Wolf, R. (1999). "untitled". Asian Music. xxx (1): 199–203. doi:10.2307/834271. JSTOR 834271.
37. ^ ^{a b} "Royal Carpet: Glossary of Carnatic Terms R". karnatik.com.
38. ^ ^{a b} Higgins, J. B. (1987). "Performing Arts in Republic of india: Essays on Music, Trip the light fantastic toe, and Drama". Asian Music. xviii (2): 103–118. doi:10.2307/833942. JSTOR 833942.
39. ^ Randel (2003), p562
40. ^ ^{a b} Viswanathan & Cormack (1998), p232
41. ^ ^{a b c} Henry, E. O. (2002). "The Rationalization of Intensity in Indian Music". Ethnomusicology. Society for Ethnomusicology. 46 (i): 33–35. doi:10.2307/852807. JSTOR 852807.
42. ^ Viswanathan & Cormack (1998), p219
43. ^ Viswanathan & Cormack (1998), p232
44. ^ Viswanathan & Cormack (1998), p221
45. ^ Solis & Nettl (2009), p188
46. ^ ^{a b} Palackal, J. J. (1998). "untitled". Yearbook for Traditional Music. 30: 207. doi:x.2307/768616. JSTOR 768616.
47. ^ ^{a b} Kassebaum (2000), 158
48. ^ Higgins, J. B. (1985). "Bharat". Ethnomusicology. Social club for Ethnomusicology. 29 (1): 162–166. doi:10.2307/852348. JSTOR 852348.
49. ^ Nettl (2005), p189
50. ^ ^{a b c} "Royal Carpet: Glossary of Carnatic Terms V". karnatik.com.
51. ^ ^{a b} Bradnock (1992), p631
52. ^ Gupta (2006), p68
53. ^ "The golden era". The Hindu. Archived from the original on xix September 2006.
54. ^ ^{a b} "Focus on veena'south exalted status". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 June 2003.
55. ^ ^{a b} L'Armand, A. K.; L'armand, Adrian (1983). "One Hundred Years of Music in Madras: A Case Report in Secondary Urbanization". Ethnomusicology. Society for Ethnomusicology. 27 (3): 411–438. doi:ten.2307/850653. JSTOR 850653.
56. ^ Rosenthal, E. (1931). "Tyagaraja: A Smashing South Indian Composer". Musical Quarterly. XVII: 14–24. doi:10.1093/mq/XVII.i.14.
57. ^ "Musical Musings". The Hindu. Chennai, Bharat. iii February 2005. Archived from the original on seven February 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2007.

References

• Kassebaum, Gayatri Rajapur. 'Karnatak raga' (2000). In Arnold, Alison. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. New York & London: Taylor & Francis.
• Moorthy, Vijaya (2001). Romance of the Raga. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.
• Nettl, B. (2009). In Solis, Gabriel; Nettl, Bruno (2009). Musical Improvisation: Art, Education, and Society. University of Illinois Press.
• Pranesh, Meera Rajaram (2003). Musical Composers during Wodeyar Dynasty (1638–1947 A.D.). Bangalore: Vee Emm Publications.
• Randel, Don Michael (2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music. United States: Harvard Academy Press.
• Viswanathan, T. & Cormack, Jody (1998). In Nettl, Bruno; Russell, Melinda (15 December 1998). In the Course of Operation: Studies in the Earth of Musical Improvisation . Chicago & London: University of Chicago Printing. ISBN0-226-57411-3.

Bibliography

• Charles Russel 24-hour interval (1891). The Music and Musical Instruments of southern India and the Deccan. William Gibb (lllus.). Novello, Ewer & Co., London -.
• "[Carnatic music]". Encyclopædia Britannica (fifteen ed.). 2005.
• Panchapakesa Iyer, A. S. (2003). Gānāmruta Varna Mālikā. Gānāmruta Prachuram.

External links

• Carnatic music at Curlie

quirionunfinamess.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnatic_music

Share this post