South Indian Classical (Carnatic) Music

Welcome! Here's a small write-up on Carnatic Music for the benefit of anyone who wants to know more about it. Please read on!

Indian classical music is amongst the oldest living artistic traditions in the world. Said to have originated from the chanting of the Vēdas (ancient scriptures), classical music in India has been documented in scientific detail in works like Bharata’s ‘Nāṭya Shāstra’ and Iḷaṅgō Aḍigaḷ’s ‘Silappadhikāram’, both dated to near the dawn of the Common Era.

Indian classical music falls into two distinct genres: Hindustāni music of the north and Carnatic (Karṇāṭak) music of the south. Both share the basic musical and philosophical fundaments, but each has its own style of expression and unique elements drawing from their diverse regional influences.

Spirituality and philosophy are deeply embedded in both genres of Indian classical music. Music is considerd a form of yoga, an experiential form of spirituality and devotion. In the tradition there have been many saint-composers who inspired people both through their music and their powerful devotion to chosen gods and ideas expressed through it. And music - sound itself - is considered a manifestation of the divine, something to experience and express in itself. In the words of Saint Tyāgarāja (1767-1847 CE):

At a glance

Carnatic music features vastly intricate and rich melodies, rhythms, and lyrics woven together with expression and emotion. It is unique amongst classical art forms in that it gives equal emphasis to its time-honoured tradition of compositions as well as impromptu improvisation. A Carnatic concert features several pieces: at first, shorter, brisk compositions with brief improvisation; then longer, more immersive pieces with elaborate improvisation, culminating in the grand ‘main piece’; and finally a few lighter songs, concluding with a prayer for universal peace and prosperity. Carnatic music is individualistic, performed by a small team consisting of a lead musician (vocalist or melody instrumentalist) and a few melodic and rhythmic accompanists.

Fundaments

Rāga

The two major dimensions of Carnatic music, melody and rhythm, are encapsulated into rāgas and tāḷas respectively. Rāga is at the heart of Indian music. Somewhat akin to modes in the West, it is a ‘living musical scale’ of sorts - a combination of notes, sequences, inter-note movements, idiosyncracies, and so on that form a strong and unique melodic entity explored through compositions and improvisation. Many rāgas have been passed down since antiquity through listening and learning, retaining their identities but evolving over time, much like languages. Many others have been invented by creative musicians and composers over the ages. Today, there are around 200 rāgas that are commonly heard in Carnatic music, and many hundreds more that one may chance upon. (Rāga Surabhi offers resources for exploring different rāgas and learning how to identify them by listening.)

Tāḷa

Rhythm is defined in tāḷas, or beat cycles. There are four major tāḷas in Carnatic music – ādi (8 beats), rūpaka (3 beats), mishra chāpu (7 beats), and khaṇḍa chāpu (5 beats) – as well as hundreds more less-used ones. While the rāga provides the melodic framework for a piece, the tāḷa provides its fundamental rhythm, both for the composition and improvisation. Though the tāḷa remains constant throughout a piece, the music’s relationship to the tāḷa can be very complex with the dynamic interplay of notes, glides, oscillations, and spaces with time. In other words, the music does not squarely follow the beats of the tāḷa, but rather plays with them in a lilting manner. To aid in tracking the fundamental rhythm through complex music, both performers and listeners use a system of simple hand gestures to express the tāḷa, often called 'putting' tāḷa.