I thought I had already written about this earlier but for some reason I cannot find it so no harm in writing once more.
This post is dedicated to my son. We were recently at a Carnatic concert and while he enjoyed the music, he couldn't quite grasp the structure of the concert so I promised him that I will write a post about it explaining everything.
DISCLAIMER: As I have noted in several other posts, a vast majority of Carnatic rendition is manodharma music which literally means "that which feels right to the heart". Unlike Western classical where the structure is more or less rigid, Carnatic music gives a lot of creative freedom to the musician. This means that any attempt at "defining the structure" will be incomplete at best. Below, I present a more or less accepted structure. This by no means is bounding.
For the purpose of this post I give below 2 links So you can use that as a reference to understand the structure.
Any concert can be divided into three parts - Introduction, Main Course, Culmination.
Introductions consists of invokation pieces on Ganesha, Varnam, a small song, a slightly longer song in a "deeper" raga etc. The Main Course usually consists of 1 or 2 main pieces that the musician elaborates and shows his/her mastery of the piece/raga etc. These are usually in ragas with a lot of scope for improvisation. Some of common ragas in this category are Shakarabharanam, Mohanam, Kalyani, Karaharpriya, Shanmukhapriya, Todi, Kambhoji, Simmedramadyamam, ... well the list is kind of long. While it is common to see main pieces sung in these ragas, some musicians have taken up rare ragas to do the main piece as well. Culmination is the last part where the concert is nearing the end. Unlike Movies (or some western recitals), the grand finale is not really at the end of a Carnatic Concert, it occurs in the middle. The last part is mostly winding down. You can imagine a concert to be almost like a mountain/plateau where the introduction slowly build up, the main course maintains that high altitude and the culmination makes way for a beautiful descent.
Introduction:
As mentioned every concert usually starts either with invokation to Ganesha or a Varnam or both. If the musician decides to sing both, it will usually be a varnam followed by the ganesha song. A varnam is a "beginner" piece and acts as a good warm up for the musician. More on varnam here. Ganesha song because he's considered the remover of obstacles so it is customary to invoke him for a successful concert. (Just writing about this reminds me that I should write a post on divinity in Carnatic music, maybe some day). This typically is followed by one or two short krithis followed by a slightly longer one with a wee bit of alapana to provide a taste of what's coming. The songs themselves may either be popular or in popular ragas that peps up the audience.
Main course:
Usually this consists on 1 or 2 LONG songs and/or a Ragam Thanam Pallavi (or RTP as its fondly called by aficionados) These usually run anywhere between 15 mins to 45 mins/1hr per song. There are usually 1 or 2 short and swift numbers in between them to break the momentum a bit.
Now the question is are the songs really that long? The short answer is NO. The same song can be sung in 3-4mins too so why does rendering it during the main course of a concert make it so long? Because the musician embellishes and uses this as an opportunity to show off his talents. As mentioned earlier, these pieces are sung in ragas that have LOTs of scope for improvisation. Each main piece starts with a raga alapana. This is where the musician lets the audience "know" the raga without the song itself but bringing out several nuances of the raga. This can be as elaborate as time/talent permits. This is followed by the alapana by the violinist. Usually the alapana by the accompaniment is shorter than the main vocalist but nevertheless i have seen concerts where they outshine the main singer even with a short alapana.
This is followed by the song itself. The song like any other consists of pallavi, anupallavi and charanam (or multiple charanams). Each line is sung several times not only for emphasis but also to bring out the beauty of the raga and the emotions. Towards the end of the song, the singer chooses a particular line for "neraval". Neraval is a technique by which the singer sings the same line several times each time with a little extra. If you have ever seen a parotta master or a cook knead parotta dough or roti dough and how they continuously pound on it until it becomes super soft and pliable, that is what neraval does to a line. (Music Purists are probably going to flame me right now but I think this imagery works really well to explain Neraval). At the end of it the singer has pretty much stretched the line to its max such that it readily gives way to Kalpanaswara. Kalpanaswara literally means swaras of imagination. The singer sings several intricate patterns of swaras all adhering to the raga (or the scale) and culminating with the neraval line.
RTP: Sometimes in lieu of a LONG song, singers may decide to perform an RTP. It consists of 3 sections Ragam - Thanam and Pallavi. Ragam is nothing but raga alapana as before, but the alapana for RTP tends to be a little longer than for the other songs. This is one of the indications that the singer is going to sing a RTP instead of regular song. The next section is thanam. The best explanation of thanam is that it's percussion beats but sung not played. This also adheres to the raga. This is followed by a pallavi - usually only 1 line is sung (not the entire song) but the same line is repeated with Neraval and kalpanaswaram. Sometimes the singer also sings the same line in multiple ragas finally returning to the original raga of the RTP. (Note: this is not a requirement but most singers do anyways to showcase their skill/mastery of the ragas).
Culmination
This section is sometimes called Thukkada (or tiny pieces). Now that the grand finale (the long piece or RTP) is over, the singer finally winds down. Sings a few short pieces. These are usually fast/peppy numbers or bhajan or abhang, sometimes a short krithi preceded by a tamil virutham or sanskrit sloka.
Links to concerts:
http://www.sangeethamshare.org/kasturi/UPLOADS-0001-0200/097_SemmangudiSrinivasaIyer/?p=kasturi/UPLOADS-0001-0200/097_SemmangudiSrinivasaIyer
http://www.sangeethamshare.org/manjunath/Carnatic/Audio/UPLOADS-301-600/453-suDha_raghunAThan-vocal--2006/
This post is dedicated to my son. We were recently at a Carnatic concert and while he enjoyed the music, he couldn't quite grasp the structure of the concert so I promised him that I will write a post about it explaining everything.
DISCLAIMER: As I have noted in several other posts, a vast majority of Carnatic rendition is manodharma music which literally means "that which feels right to the heart". Unlike Western classical where the structure is more or less rigid, Carnatic music gives a lot of creative freedom to the musician. This means that any attempt at "defining the structure" will be incomplete at best. Below, I present a more or less accepted structure. This by no means is bounding.
For the purpose of this post I give below 2 links So you can use that as a reference to understand the structure.
Any concert can be divided into three parts - Introduction, Main Course, Culmination.
Introductions consists of invokation pieces on Ganesha, Varnam, a small song, a slightly longer song in a "deeper" raga etc. The Main Course usually consists of 1 or 2 main pieces that the musician elaborates and shows his/her mastery of the piece/raga etc. These are usually in ragas with a lot of scope for improvisation. Some of common ragas in this category are Shakarabharanam, Mohanam, Kalyani, Karaharpriya, Shanmukhapriya, Todi, Kambhoji, Simmedramadyamam, ... well the list is kind of long. While it is common to see main pieces sung in these ragas, some musicians have taken up rare ragas to do the main piece as well. Culmination is the last part where the concert is nearing the end. Unlike Movies (or some western recitals), the grand finale is not really at the end of a Carnatic Concert, it occurs in the middle. The last part is mostly winding down. You can imagine a concert to be almost like a mountain/plateau where the introduction slowly build up, the main course maintains that high altitude and the culmination makes way for a beautiful descent.
Introduction:
As mentioned every concert usually starts either with invokation to Ganesha or a Varnam or both. If the musician decides to sing both, it will usually be a varnam followed by the ganesha song. A varnam is a "beginner" piece and acts as a good warm up for the musician. More on varnam here. Ganesha song because he's considered the remover of obstacles so it is customary to invoke him for a successful concert. (Just writing about this reminds me that I should write a post on divinity in Carnatic music, maybe some day). This typically is followed by one or two short krithis followed by a slightly longer one with a wee bit of alapana to provide a taste of what's coming. The songs themselves may either be popular or in popular ragas that peps up the audience.
Main course:
Usually this consists on 1 or 2 LONG songs and/or a Ragam Thanam Pallavi (or RTP as its fondly called by aficionados) These usually run anywhere between 15 mins to 45 mins/1hr per song. There are usually 1 or 2 short and swift numbers in between them to break the momentum a bit.
Now the question is are the songs really that long? The short answer is NO. The same song can be sung in 3-4mins too so why does rendering it during the main course of a concert make it so long? Because the musician embellishes and uses this as an opportunity to show off his talents. As mentioned earlier, these pieces are sung in ragas that have LOTs of scope for improvisation. Each main piece starts with a raga alapana. This is where the musician lets the audience "know" the raga without the song itself but bringing out several nuances of the raga. This can be as elaborate as time/talent permits. This is followed by the alapana by the violinist. Usually the alapana by the accompaniment is shorter than the main vocalist but nevertheless i have seen concerts where they outshine the main singer even with a short alapana.
This is followed by the song itself. The song like any other consists of pallavi, anupallavi and charanam (or multiple charanams). Each line is sung several times not only for emphasis but also to bring out the beauty of the raga and the emotions. Towards the end of the song, the singer chooses a particular line for "neraval". Neraval is a technique by which the singer sings the same line several times each time with a little extra. If you have ever seen a parotta master or a cook knead parotta dough or roti dough and how they continuously pound on it until it becomes super soft and pliable, that is what neraval does to a line. (Music Purists are probably going to flame me right now but I think this imagery works really well to explain Neraval). At the end of it the singer has pretty much stretched the line to its max such that it readily gives way to Kalpanaswara. Kalpanaswara literally means swaras of imagination. The singer sings several intricate patterns of swaras all adhering to the raga (or the scale) and culminating with the neraval line.
RTP: Sometimes in lieu of a LONG song, singers may decide to perform an RTP. It consists of 3 sections Ragam - Thanam and Pallavi. Ragam is nothing but raga alapana as before, but the alapana for RTP tends to be a little longer than for the other songs. This is one of the indications that the singer is going to sing a RTP instead of regular song. The next section is thanam. The best explanation of thanam is that it's percussion beats but sung not played. This also adheres to the raga. This is followed by a pallavi - usually only 1 line is sung (not the entire song) but the same line is repeated with Neraval and kalpanaswaram. Sometimes the singer also sings the same line in multiple ragas finally returning to the original raga of the RTP. (Note: this is not a requirement but most singers do anyways to showcase their skill/mastery of the ragas).
Culmination
This section is sometimes called Thukkada (or tiny pieces). Now that the grand finale (the long piece or RTP) is over, the singer finally winds down. Sings a few short pieces. These are usually fast/peppy numbers or bhajan or abhang, sometimes a short krithi preceded by a tamil virutham or sanskrit sloka.
Links to concerts:
http://www.sangeethamshare.org/kasturi/UPLOADS-0001-0200/097_SemmangudiSrinivasaIyer/?p=kasturi/UPLOADS-0001-0200/097_SemmangudiSrinivasaIyer
http://www.sangeethamshare.org/manjunath/Carnatic/Audio/UPLOADS-301-600/453-suDha_raghunAThan-vocal--2006/
1 comment:
Hey Vidya, Nice work! I have been wanting to write on the exact topic, but haven't found the time to realize it. While the 3-phase structure is fairly established and common knowledge for the uninitiated, but devoted listener, I would have wanted to capture one more level down. For example, typical ragas used for warming up and why they are chosen. Same for main/ RTP. I think thukkadas can be detailed further. And btw, no word on mangalam?! Why it is important.
On a separate note, I have always been wanting to write something on secularism and carnatic music (which you are approaching from the opposite angle - divinity in carnatic music). May be we can collaborate on this.
The other topic that interests me is a mathematician's guide to carnatic music.
Post a Comment