Carnatic music or Karnāṭaka Saṃgīta is a system of music commonly associated with
the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to
four modern states of India: Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala,
and Tamil Nadu. It is
one of two main sub-genres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient Hindu traditions; the other sub-genre being Hindustani music,
which emerged as a distinct form because of Persian and Islamic influences in
North India. 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 ingāyaki (singing) style.
Although there are stylistic differences, the basic elements of śruti (the relative musical pitch), swara (the musical sound of a single 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 form developed between the 14th and 20th
centuries by composers such as Purandara Dasa and the Trinity of Carnatic music. Carnatic music is also
usually taught and learnt through compositions.
Carnatic music is usually performed by a small ensemble of
musicians, consisting of a principal performer (usually a vocalist), a melodic
accompaniment (usually a violin), a rhythm accompaniment (usually 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
most outstanding performances, and the greatest concentration of Carnatic
musicians, are found in the city of Chennai.[1] Various festivals are held throughout India
and abroad which mainly consist of Carnatic music performances, like the Madras
Music Season, which has been considered as one of the world's
largest cultural events.
Origins, sources and history
Like all art forms in Indian
culture, Indian classical music is believed to be a divine art form
which originated from the Devas and Devis(Hindu Gods and Goddesses), and is venerated as symbolic of nāda brāhman. Ancient treatises also describe the connection
of the origin of the swaras, or notes, to the sounds of animals and
birds and man's effort to simulate these sounds through a keen 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, set to
musical tunes which would be sung using three to seven musical notes during
Vedicyajnas. The Yajur-Veda,
which mainly consists of sacrificial formulae, mentions the veena as an accompaniment to vocal recitations. References to Indian classical music are made
in many ancient texts, including epics like the Ramayana andMahabharata. The Yajnavalkya
Smriti mentions vīṇāvādana tattvajñaḥ śrutijātiviśāradaḥ
tālajñaścāprayāsena mokṣamārgaṃ niyacchati ("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 based as it is today on
musical concepts (including swara, raga, and tala) that were described in detail in several
ancient works, particularly the Bharata's Natya Shastra and Silappadhikaram by Ilango
Adigal.
Owing to Persian and Islamic influences in North India from the 12th century onwards, Indian
classical music began to diverge into two distinct styles, being Hindustani
music and Carnatic music. Commentaries and other
works, such as Sharngadeva's Sangita Ratnakara, further elaborated on the musical concepts
found in Indian classical music. By the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a clear demarcation
between Carnatic and Hindustani music; Carnatic music remained relatively unaffected by Persian and
Arabic influences. It was at this time that Carnatic music flourished in Vijayanagara, while
the Vijayanagar
Empire reached its greatest
extent. Purandara Dasa, who
is known as the father (Pitamaha) of Carnatic Music, formulated the
system that is commonly used for the teaching of Carnatic music. Venkatamakhin invented and authored the formula for the melakarta system of raga classification in his Sanskrit
work, the Chaturdandi Prakasika (1660 AD). Govindacharya is known for expanding the melakarta system into
the sampoorna raga scheme – the system that is in common use
today.
Carnatic music was mainly patronized by the local kings of the Kingdom of Mysore and Kingdom of Travancore in the 18th through 20th centuries. 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. Some famous court-musiciansproficient in music were Veene Sheshanna (1852–1926) and Veene Subbanna (1861–1939), among others.
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 organized by private institutions called sabhās. During the
19th century, the city of Chennai (then known as Madras) emerged as
the locus for Carnatic music.
Nature of Carnatic music
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.
Today, Carnatic music is presented by musicians in concerts or
recordings, either vocally or through instruments. Carnatic music itself
developed around musical works or compositions of phenomenal composers (see
below).
Important elements of Carnatic music
Śruti
Śruti commonly refers 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 derived. It is also used in the sense of
graded pitches in an octave. While there are an infinite number of sounds
falling within a scale (or raga) in Carnatic music, the number that can be
distinguished by auditory perception is twenty-two (although over the years,
several of them have converged). In this sense, while sruti is determined by
auditory perception, it is also an expression in the listener's mind.
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). These names are abbreviations of the longer names shadja, rishabha, gandhara, madhyama, panchama, dhaivata and nishada. Unlike 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 as the tonic and the dominant),
which have only one form; andmadhyama (the subdominant), which
has two forms. A 7th century stone inscription in Kudumiyan Malai in Tamil
Nadu shows vowel changes to
solfege symbols with ra, ri, ru etc. to denote the higher quarter-tones. In one
scale, or raga, there is usually only one variant of
each note present. The exceptions exist in "light" ragas, in which,
for artistic effect, there may be two, one ascending (in the arohanam) and another descending (in the avarohanam).
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 specifies 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 (ornamentation), which phrases should be used
or avoided, and so on. In effect, it is a series of obligatory musical events
which must be observed, either absolutely or with a particular frequency.
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 according to the kinds of
notes that they have. There are seventy-two melakarta ragas, thirty six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is
sadharana (perfect
fourth from the tonic), the
remaining thirty-six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is prati (an augmented fourth from the tonic). The ragas are grouped into sets of six, called chakras ("wheels", though actually segments
in the conventional representation) grouped according to the supertonic and mediant scale degrees. There is a system known as the katapayadi
sankhya to determine the names
ofmelakarta ragas.
Ragas may be divided into
two classes: janaka ragas (i.e. melakarta or parent ragas) and janya ragas (descendant ragas of a particular janaka raga). Janya ragas
are themselves subclassified into various categories.
Tala system
Tala refers to a fixed time cycle or metre, set for
a particular composition, which is built from groupings of beats. Talas have cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely change
within a song. They have specific components, which in combinations can give
rise to the variety to exist (over 108), allowing different compositions to
have different rhythms.
Carnatic music singers usually keep the beat by moving their
hands up and down in specified patterns, and using their fingers simultaneously
to keep 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 basictala groups which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam:
·
Dhruva tala
·
Matya tala[citation needed]
·
Rupaka tala
·
Jhampa tala
·
Triputa tala
·
Ata tala
·
Eka tala
A laghu has five variants (called jaathis) based on the counting pattern. Five jaathis times seven tala groups gives thirty-five basic talas, although use of other angas results in a total
of 108 talas.
Improvisation
Improvisation in raga is the soul of Indian classical music – an essential aspect. "Manodharma Sangeetam" or "kalpana
Sangeetam" ("music of imagination") as it is known in
Carnatic music, embraces several varieties of improvisation.
The main traditional forms of improvisation in Carnatic music
consist of the following
·
Alapana
·
Niraval
·
Swarakalpana
·
Ragam
·
Tanam
·
Pallavi
·
Tani Avartanam
Raga Alapana
An alapana, sometimes also called ragam, is the exposition of a raga or tone – a slow improvisation with no rhythm, where the raga acts as the basis of
embellishment. In performing alapana,
performers consider each raga as an object that has beginnings and endings and
consists somehow of sequences of thought.
The performer will explore the ragam and touch on its various nuances, singing in the lower octaves first, then
gradually moving up to higher octaves, while giving a hint of the song to be
performed.
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 raga alapana.
Niraval
Niraval, usually performed by the more advanced performers,
consists of singing one or two lines of text of a song repeatedly, but with a
series of melodic improvised elaborations. Although niraval consists of extempore melodic variations,
generally, the original patterns of duration are maintained; each word in the lines of text stay set within
their original place (idam) in the tala cycle. The lines are then also played at different levels of speed
which can include double speed, triple speed, quadruple speed and even sextuple speed. The improvised elaborations are made with a view of outlining
the raga, the tempo, and the theme of the composition.[citation needed]
Kalpanaswaram
Kalpanaswaram, also known as swarakalpana, consists of
improvising melodic and rhythmic passages using swaras (solfa syllables). Like niraval, kalpanaswaras are sung to end on a particular swara in the raga of the melody and at a specific place (idam)
in the tala cycle.
Kalpanaswaras have a somewhat predictable rhythmical structure; the swaras are sung to end on the samam (the first beat of the rhythmical cycle). The swaras can also be sung at the same speed
or double the speed of the melody that is being sung, though some artists sing
triple-speed phrases too.
Kalpanaswaram is the most elementary type of improvisation,
usually taught before any other form of improvisation.
Tanam
Tanam is one of the most important forms of improvisation, and
is integral to Ragam Tanam Pallavi. Originally developed for the veena,
it consists of expanding the raga with syllables like tha, nam, thom, aa, nom, na, etc.
Ragam Tanam Pallavi
Ragam, Tanam, and Pallavi are the principal long form in
concerts, and is a composite
form of improvisation. As the name suggests, it consists of raga alapana, tanam,
and apallavi line. Set to a slow-paced tala, the pallavi
line is often composed by the performer. Through niraval, the performer
manipulates the pallavi line in complex melodic and rhythmic ways. The niraval is followed by kalpanaswarams.
Tani Avartanam
Tani Avartanam refers to the extended solo that is played by the
percussionists in a concert, and is usually played
after the main composition in a concert. The percussionist displays the full range of his skills and
rhythmic imagination during the solo, which may take from two to twenty
minutes.
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 free improvisation. Nearly every rendition of a Carnatic
music composition is different and unique as it embodies elements of the
composer's vision, as well as the musician's interpretation.
A Carnatic composition really has two elements, one being the
musical element, the other being what is conveyed in the composition. It is
probably because of this fact that most 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
understand what was conveyed by the composer in various languages, and sing musical
phrases that act to create the effect that was intended by the composer in
his/her composition.
There are many types/forms of compositions.
Geethams and swarajatis (which have their own peculiar composition
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 Telegu padyamu or sisapadya forms are particularly unique. Though these
forms consist of lyric-based verses, musicians improvise raga phrases in free rhythm, like an alapana, so both the sound value, and the meaning of
the text, guide the musician through elaborate melodic improvisations. Forms
such as the divya prabandham, thevaram and ugabhoga are often performed similarly, however, these
forms can also have a set melody and rhythm like the devaranama,javali, padam, thillana and thiruppugazh forms.
Varnam
Varnams are short metric pieces which encapsulate the main
features and requirements of a raga. The features and rules
of the raga (also known as the sanchaaraas of a raga) include how each note of the raga
should be stressed, the scale of the raga, and so on. All varnams consist of lyrics, as well as swara passages, including a pallavi, ananupallavi, muktayi swaras, a charanam, and chittaswaras.
Known for their complex structure, varnams are a fundamental
form in Carnatic music. Varnams are practised
as vocal exercises in multiple speeds by performers of Carnatic music, to help
develop voice culture, and maintain proper pitch and control of rhythm. In
Carnatic music concerts, varnams are often performed by musicians as the
opening item – acting as a warm up for the musicians, and as a means of grabbing the attention of
the audience.
Kriti
Carnatic songs (kritis) are varied in structure and style, but
generally consist of three units:
2.
Anupallavi. This is
the second verse, also as 2 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. A chittaswaraconsists only of notes, and has no words.
Still others have a verse at the end of the charana,
called the madhyamakāla. It is sung immediately after the charana, but at double speed.
Prominent composers
There are many composers in Carnatic music. Purandara Dasa (1480–1564) is referred to as the Pitamaha (the father or grandfather) of Carnatic music as he formulated
the basic lessons in teaching 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 time, introduced the Raga Mayamalavagowla as the first scale to be learnt by beginners.
He also composed Gitas (simple songs) for novice students.
The contemporaries Tyagaraja (1759? – 1847), Muthuswami
Dikshitar, (1776–1827) and Syama
Sastri, (1762–1827) are regarded as the Trinity of Carnatic music because of the quality of Syama Sastri's
compositions, the varieties of compositions of Muthuswami
Dikshitar, and Tyagaraja's prolific
output in composing kritis.
Prominent composers prior to the Trinity of Carnatic music include 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 and Papanasam Sivan. The
compositions of these composers are rendered frequently by artists of today.
Composers of Carnatic music were often inspired by religious
devotion and were usually scholars proficient in one or more of the languages Kannada,Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, or Telugu. They usually
included a signature, called a mudra, in their compositions. For example, all songs by 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) have the
words Syama Krishna in them; all songs by Purandaradasa (who
composed 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, composed in Tamil and Sanskrit, and used the signature Ramadasan in his compositions.
Learning Carnatic music
Carnatic music is traditionally taught according to the system
formulated by Purandara Dasa. This
involves varisais (graded exercises), alankaras (exercises based on the seven talas), geetams or simple songs, and Swarajatis. After
the student has reached a certain standard, varnams are taught and later, the student learns kritis.
It typically takes several years of learning before a student is adept enough
to perform at a concert.
The learning texts and exercises are more or less uniform across
all the South Indian states. The learning structure is arranged in increasing
order of complexity. The lessons start with the learning of the sarali varisai (solfege set to a particular 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 late 20th century onwards, with changes in
lifestyles and need for young music aspirants to simultaneously pursue a
parallel academic career, this system has found few takers.
Musicians often take great 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 often referred to are Tyagaraja, Muthuswami
Dikshitar, Syama Sastri, Swathi Thirunal and Papanasam
Sivan, among others.
In modern 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-to-face learning is best for students.
Notations
Notation is not a new concept in Indian music. However, Carnatic
music continued to be transmitted orally for centuries without being written
down. The disadvantage with this system was that if one wanted to learn about a kriti composed, for example, by Purandara Dasa, it
involved the difficult task of finding a person from Purandara Dasa's lineage
of students.
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 solfege to be used when performing the mentioned
ragas.
Melody
Unlike classical Western music,
Carnatic music is notated almost 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 have mostly failed. Indian music makes use of
hundreds of ragas, many more than the church
modes in Western music. It
becomes difficult to write Carnatic music using the staff notation without the
use of too many accidentals.
Furthermore, the staff notation requires that the song be played in a certain key. The notions of
key and absolute pitch are deeply rooted in Western music, whereas the Carnatic
notation does not specify the key 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, there are symbols placed above the notes indicating how the notes
should be played or sung; however, informally this practice is not followed.
To show the length of a note, several devices are used. If the
duration of note is to be doubled, the letter is either capitalized (if using
Roman script) 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 simpler notation has evolved which does not use
semicolons and capitalization, but rather indicates all extensions of notes
using a corresponding number of commas. Thus, Sā quadrupled in length
would 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 dhrutam is indicated by a ।, called a ḍaṇḍā, and so is the division between two dhrutams or a dhrutam and an anudhrutam.
The end of a cycle is marked by a ॥, called a double ḍaṇḍā, and looks like a caesura.
Performances of Carnatic music
Carnatic music is usually performed by a small ensemble of
musicians, who sit on an elevated stage. This usually consists of, at least, a
principal performer, a melodic accompaniment, a rhythm accompaniment, and a
drone.
Performances can be musical or musical-dramatic. Musical
recitals are either vocal, or purely instrumental in nature, while
musical-dramatic recitals refer to Harikatha. But irrespective of what type of recital it
is, what is featured are compositions which form the core of this genre of
music.
Instrumentation
The tambura is the traditional drone instrument used in concerts. However, tamburas
are increasingly being replaced by śruti boxes,
and now more commonly, the electronictambura.
The drone itself is an integral part of performances and furnishes stability –
the equivalent of harmony in Western music.
In a vocal recital, a concert team may have one or more
vocalists as the principal performer(s). Instruments, such as the Saraswati veena and/or venu flute, can be occasionally found as a rhythmic
accompaniment, but usually, a vocalist is supported by a violin player (who
sits on his/her left). The rhythm accompanist is usually a mridangam player (who sits on the other side, facing the
violin player). However, other percussion instruments such as the ghatam, kanjira and morsing frequently also accompany the main percussion
instrument and play in an almost contrapuntal fashion 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 augment the
melodic phrases outlined by the lead singer. The vocalist and the violinist
take turns while elaborating or while exhibiting creativity in sections like raga, niraval and kalpanaswaram.
Unlike Hindustani music concerts, where an accompanying tabla player can keep beats without following the
musical phrases at times, in Carnatic music, the accompanists have to follow
the intricacies of the composition 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 lead musician's musical phrases.
Contemporary concert content
A contemporary Carnatic music concert (called a kutcheri) usually lasts about three 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 as well as in using the notes to expound the beauty of the raga.
Concerts usually begin with a varnam or an invocatory item which will act as the
opening piece. The varnam is composed with an emphasis on swaras of the raga, but will also have lyrics, the saahityam. It is lively and fast to get the audience's attention. An
invocatory item may usually follow the varnam.
After the varnam and/or invocatory item, the artist sings longer compositions
called kirtanas (commonly referred to as kritis). Each kriti sticks to one specific raga, although some are composed with more than one raga; these are
known as ragamalika (a garland of ragas).
After singing the opening kriti, usually, the performer sings the kalpanaswaram of the raga to the beat. The performer must improvise a
string of swaras in any octave according to the rules of the raga and return to
beginning of the cycle of beats smoothly, joining the swaras with a phrase selected from the kriti. The violin performs these alternately with
the main performer. In very long strings of swara, the performers must calculate their notes
accurately to ensure that they stick to the raga, have no awkward pauses or lapses in the beat
of the song, and create a complex pattern of notes that a knowledgeable
audience can follow.
Performers then begin the main compositions with a section
called raga alapana exploring the raga. In this, they use 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 accompaniment, or beat. Then the melodic accompaniment (violin or
veena), expounds the raga. Experienced listeners can identify many ragas after they hear
just a few notes. With the raga thus established, the song begins, usually with lyrics. In this,
the accompaniment (usually violin, sometimes veena) performs along with the
main performer and the percussion (such as a mridangam).
In the next stage of the song, they may sing niraval or kalpanaswaram again.
In most concerts, the main item will at least have a section at
the end of the item, 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 main performer picks
up the melody once again. Some experienced artists may follow the main piece
with a ragam
thanam pallavi mid-concert, if they
do not use it as the main item.
Following 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 andthukkadas – bits of popular kritis or compositions requested by the audience. Every concert that
is the last of the day ends with a mangalam,
a thankful prayer and conclusion to the musical event.
Audience
The audience of a typical concert will have some understanding
of Carnatic music. It is also typical to see the audience tapping out the tala in sync with the artist's performance. As and when the artist
exhibits creativity, the audience acknowledge it by clapping their hands. With
experienced artists, towards the middle of the concert, requests start flowing
in. The artist usually sings the requests, and it helps in exhibiting the
artist's broad knowledge of the several thousand kritis that are in existence.
Modern performances
Every December, the city of Chennai in India has its six week-long Music
Season, which has been described as the world's largest cultural
event. The Music Season was
started in 1927, to mark the opening of the Madras
Music Academy. It used to be a traditional month-long Carnatic music
festival, but since then it has also diversified into dance anddrama,
as well as non-Carnatic art forms.
Artists
Carnatic music artists often have to have had several years of
intense training and practice before being qualified as musicians who can
perform on stage.
Therapeutic Effect
Research shows that children receiving Carnatic classical
musical training were in advantage for phonological awareness (PA) and verbal
working memory (VWM) along with enhanced pitch perception abilities. It was
also found that the children who had undergone longer duration of training
showed better performance in these areas. Post-operative patients can ease their pain and reduce their
dependence on pain-killers by listening to One of the famous Ragas of Carnatic
music, Anandha Bhairavi.
Source: Wikipedia
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