South Indian Classical (Carnatic) Music
The Carnatic Song
Carnatic compositions are structured musical forms that are passed down by ear, sometimes over centuries. These are committed to memory and practised until an ease and intimacy with them is achieved, after which they are performed in concerts and taught to others. There are many thousands of compositions in the Carnatic repertoire, largely from the past five centuries, each set to a particular rāga and tāḷa. Carnatic compositions are almost always with lyrics, but can still be either sung or played. The languages used are either Sanskrit (a pan-Indian classical language) or the main south Indian languages (Telugu, Tamizh, Kannada, Malayalam). The content is usually devotional or philosophical in nature, though there are also paeans to saints and royalty, romantic pieces, songs of patriotic and cultural pride, songs with social or nature themes, and so on.
The great composers who defined modern Carnatic music include the Musical Trinity of Tyāgarāja, Muttusvāmi Dīkṣhitar, and Shyāma Shāstri (all 1700s-1800s), as well as a host of other great saints, scholars, and musicians (by no means exhaustive):
Pre-Trinity (1500s-1700s):
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Annamāchārya
a poet from Tirupati whose thousands of Telugu & Sanskrit works range from devotional to philosophical and even satirical |
Purandaradāsa
renowned prolific Kannada & Sanskrit composer of many evocative devotional and philosophical songs; also credited with crafting the pedagogy for students of Carnatic music still used today |
Ūttukkāḍu Veṅkaṭa Kavi
a visionary Tamil & Sanskrit composer of hundreds of unique pieces, including in rare rāgas and tāḷas and in experimental musical forms; also composed many operatic and classical dance-oriented pieces |
...and so on |
Trinity
| Shyāma Shāstri
a multilingual, though mainly Telugu & Sanskrit, composer whose compositions of intense longing for the Mother Goddess are laden with an enigmatic melodic and rhythmic depth |
Tyāgarāja
perhaps the most influential composer of modern Carnatic music. While his works include some of the most iconic Carnatic compositions today, they have also deeply influenced the way music is experienced and explored by the generations since, for example in the understanding of many rāgas & tāḷas, the concept of saṅgati (melodic variations upon a song line), and so on. |
Muttusvāmi Dīkṣhitar
a composer with many unique Sanskrit compositions in a stately style to his credit. A keen traveller, he has composed songs on the deities of temples and shrines all over India. He also studied Hindustāni music and composed in Hindustāni rāgas, as well as in Western tunes. |
Junior Contemporaries of the Trinity and Onwards (1800s-present)
| Mahārājā Svāti Tirunāḷ ruler of Tiruvanantapuram in present-day Kerala and a genius in many diverse disciplines, his musicianship left behind hundreds of lilting compositions in various musical forms and several languages (including the less-common Maṇipravāḷam and Hindi). |
Gōpālakṛṣhṇa Bhārati a musician who composed many moving and inspiring Tamil compositions on Lord Shiva, including the famous operatic series 'Nandanār Charitram' |
...and so on |
Improvisation: Music of the Moment
These age-old compositions are complemented by impromptu musical improvisation. With the piece's rāga and tāḷa as the foundation, a musician expresses ideas in a creative flow, creating a very personal musical experience that can be grand, climactic, moving, subtle, as suits the moment.
Forms of Improvisation
Before the song:
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Ālāpanā
free-flowing melodic improvisation with no lyrics or rhythmic structure |
Tānam
melodic improvisation with a strong undercurrent rhythm, but no formal tāḷa |
Viruttam/Shlōkam/Ugābhōga
poetic verses in improvised melody; no formal tāḷa |
Following the song:
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Niṟaval
repetition of a line in the song with improvisation in the melody |
Kalpanā Svaram
passages of musical notes that culminate back into a line of the song as a refrain |
Tani Āvartanam
percussion solo - an elaborate rhythmic essay comprised of passages of ideas developed, call-and-response rallies (if there are multiple percussionists), and a climactic finale |
Musical snippets from yesteryear legends:
'Manavyālakiñcha' in Rāga Nalinakānti
Parur Sundaram Ayyar & Parur M S Gopalakrishnan (violin)
T Brinda & T Mukta (vocal), R K Venkatarama Sastry (violin), Karaikkudi Krishnamurthy (mrdangam)
K V Narayanaswamy (vocal), M Chandrasekharan (violin), Palghat Raghu (mrdangam)
in 'Shōbhillu Saptasvara', Rāga Jaganmōhini
M Balamralikrishna (vocal), Lalgudi G Jayaraman (violin), Umayalpuram K Sivaraman (mrdangam)
Madurai Mani Ayyar (vocal), Lalgudi G Jayaraman (violin)