1. Classical Music of South India
Carnatic Music
Classical Music of South India

2. India Population: Over 1 billion Area 1/3 of United States
15 major languages and alphabets
Many regional dialects
5,000 year history

5. Influenced and Unique Cut off from neighboring lands by ocean Deserts
Impenetrable jungle
Major mountain ranges – highest in the world

6. LONG History Stone Age Evidence Found
2500 BCE: Indus Valley Civilization
Birth of high culture
1700 – 500 BCE: The Aryans
Invaders from Central Asia
Brought literature: The Vedas
Prototypes of Gods
Believed to be source of Indian classical music

7. KINGDOMS 500 BCE – 1400 CE Burgeoning of Hindiusm Patronage of arts
Natya Sastra
Literature and sciences
Ramayana and Mahabarata written
Painting, sculpture, music (sound?)

8. Saraswati: Hindu God
of music
(playing the veena)

9. The Moghuls
Muslim traders and warlords from Central Asia and Afghanistan
General Babur – 1527 Created powerful Moghul Dynasty which dominated until 1700s
Muslim
Lavish patrons of arts
Great cultural mixing – ragas, hybrid instruments

10. British Colonization 1600s-1947
Economic Exploitation and inherent racism
Also contributions:
Railways, communications infrastructure, universities (English)
Imported their own music- i.e. pianos and bands
Pax Britannica

11. Golden Age of Carnatic Music
Flourished under British Rule ( )
1920s- recording industry in India
1930s movies with sound
Adapted European instruments into Carnatic music – i.e. violin, harmonium (portable reed organ) clarinet

12. Recent Carnatic Music History
“Golden Age” – Late-18th and early-19th century
Three saint-poet-composers dominate
Best-known is Tyagaraja ( )
Very accessible songs
Noted female composers

13. South India
Encompasses states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu
Occupies 19.31% of area of India

14. Geography Very diverse Lies in peninsular Deccan Plateau
Bounded by Arabian Sea (West), Indian Ocean (South) and Bay of Bengal (East)
Two mountain ranges – Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats
Major rivers: Godavari, Krishna …

15. Culture Very diverse culture
Most speak one of five Dravidian Languages –
A number of dynastic kingdoms ruled over parts of South India
Most recently colonized by the British

16. Carnatic Music Roots in distant past
Courts, palaces, kingdoms, temples
Vivid imagery from sculpture, murals and miniature paintings
Actual sound and style?

17. Oral Tradition Cannot be frozen in time by transcription
Lives uniquely in each performance:
Particular day, particular hour, spontaneity of improvisation
Effect of recording technology?

18. Dance
Very similar to classical music is music for South India’s dance traditions
Particularly bharata natyam
Nattavangam – chanted rhythmic syllables (with dance)
Lyrics often repeated many times

19. 2 Basic Concepts: Raga and Tala

20. Raga Melodic system/Musical personality “That which colors the mind.”
No Western equivalent
Definition
A collection of notes, a scale, intonation, ornaments, resting tones. It has particular musical characteristics and phrases that give it a distinct recognizable identity.

21. More on Raga Each raga has its own rules Ornamentation Changing notes
Learn a raga GRADUALLY. Over many years.
“Like getting to know a close friend.”

22. Raga Continued Connected with human emotions
9 traditional rasa – “flavors”
Love, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, wonder, heroism, laughter, religious devotion (peacefulness)
Can be very powerful- magical properties
Causing rain, auspiciousness, charm snakes
Can be associated with deities, seasons, time of day

23. Raga-mala Genre of miniature paintings of raga
Viewers of painting hear raga
Listeners of raga imagine painting

24. 1650?
Scene?

25. Melakarta System
All ragas relate to a melakarta – a basic parent scale
Each melakarta scale has seven notes:
Sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, da ni
Sa is tonal center. Never changes!
Pa is the perfect fifth. Never changes!
Five of the seven notes change to form 72 possible scales!

26. Hundreds of raga Hundreds of raga in use
Some are popular, some are rare
Some are “major” some are “minor”
Some are simple some are complicated
Some are very old some are recent inventions
Raga are heart and soul of India’s music

27. Tala Organization of time in music
Tala: regularly recurring metric cycle
Spectrum of time in Indian thought
Fraction of a second
Yugahs – goelogical time periods

28. Tala Continued Theoretically there are hundreds of tala
Four dominate today
Most tala can be performed at a fast, medium or slow tempo
Differ from Western time signatures: accents occur in uneven groupings

29. 3 Functioning Layers Melodic Layer Drone Rhythm
Associated with particular instruments

30. Melodic Layer Two Parts:
Principal melodic soloist that dominates the ensemble
Usually voice. Can be violin, bamboo flute, veena..
Melodic Accompanist who aids the soloist
Plays with vocalist
Echoes and supports improvisations
Plays solo improvisations

31. Veena

32. Drone Holds one or two notes throughout a piece
Specialized drone instruments
Tambura: four-stringed plucked instrument tuned to tonal center and fifth
Purposeful Buzzing timbre
Sruti Box: Played with bellows
Today electronic synthesizer

33. Tambur

34. Sruti Box

35. Rhythm/Percussion Bedrock of the ensemble
Mridangam: principal percussion instrument
Ghatam: large clay pot
Kanjira: tambourine
Morsang: jaw’s harp

36. Mridangam

37. Drummer’s Art Improvisatory style
Based on hundreds of memorized rhythm patterns and drum strokes
Art centers on drum strokes
Sollukattu – spoken syllables
Drummer is crucial!

38. Gurukula System
Apprenticeship with guru
Very rigorous training

39. Concert Song Forms Start: Varnam Continues: Kriti
Main Item: Often a Kriti
End: More relaxed atmosphere
Devotional music

40. Kriti Made up of numerous sections i.e. Alapana Tanam
Kriti “Sarasiruha”
Kalpana svaras 1 & 2
Tani avartanam
Kriti (return and close)

41. Alapana First section of a performance
Free-flowing exposition and exploration of the raga of the kriti
Voice/instrument and drone background
Nonmetrical (no regular beat/tala)
Has general plan
Slow, low  high, fast  slow, low

42. Tanam Highly-rhythmic exposition of the raga Improvised
No tala cycles but strong sense of beat
Like Alapana trace from low to high in graduated steps and back down again.

43. Kriti The major song form of the concert May be short or very long
Very flexible structure
Sung or not, the words influence the performance

44. Kalpana Svaras Improvised section At the end of or after a kriti
Singer sings names of notes!
Returns to phrase from kriti as home base (idam)
First short simple improvisations
Then longer and more complex

45. Tani Avartanam Improvised and precomposed rhythmic solo By mridangam
Conclusion of the main item in a concert
Can be 10/15 minutes or more
Displays his skills and imagination
Ends on korvai – big pattern repeated three times
Leads back into kriti phrase

46. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI9RJbljBLw Rohan Krishnamurthy video
Veena Master
Shruti Box
With Tampura