Carnatic Music

Continued

3 Functioning Layers

• Melodic Layer

• Drone

• Rhythm

–Associated with particular instruments

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

Veena

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLA58vT-FI0&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL91F824B8ECE3D33C

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 (shruti) Box: Played with bellows– Today electronic synthesizer

Tambura (Tambur)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxPwJ93aWcI

• Sruti Box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBwAV8urkvw Shruti Box

Rhythm/Percussion

• Bedrock of the ensemble• Mridangam: principal percussion instrument

• Ghatam: large clay pot• Kanjira: tambourine• Morsang: jaw’s harp

Mridangam

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!

Concert Song Forms

• Start: Varnam• Continues: String of Kritis• Main Item: Often a Kriti• End: More relaxed atmosphere–Devotional music bhajan • Slokam: chanted religious verses• Songs from bharatanatyam

Kriti

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

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

More on Alapana• Raga is derived from the kriti• Natai Raga – associated with Siva in the

form of Nataraja “The Lord of Dance”–Oscillation on second note of scale in

descent–Musical personality: • The Dance of Shiva shakes the

universe with its power and fury

Tanam

• Highly-rhythmic exposition of the raga• Improvised patterns and drone on veena • No tala cycles but strong sense of beat• Like Alapana trace from low to high in

graduated steps and back down again.

Kriti

• The major song form of the concert• May be short or very long• Very flexible structure but compositions

remain recognizable

• Sung or not, the words influence the performance

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

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

Bharatanatyam

• South Indian Classical Dance• Accompanied by Carnatic Music• Dates back to 1000 B.C.

• “Fire Dance”• Celebrating spiritual universe

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

Aspects of Dance• Karanas: 108 transitional movements• Hastas: Expressive hand gestures• Adavus: Basic rhythmic dance unit (108-150)- Most use around

60 (syllables)• Bhedas – head, neck, eye movements• http://www.ehow.com/video_2382623_basic-bharatanatyam

-dance-hand-gestures.html

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prQOdTmF8u0• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96AGc1qRWDI&feature=re

lmfu (group)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waEXlvat5GA Bollywood

Psychedelic Rock

• Late 1960s – West• Counterculture• Attempts to replicate and enhance mind-

altering experiences• Draws on ragas and drones of Indian music• The Beatles, The Byrds, The Yardbirds, Grateful

Dead

Fusion

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtzrbbJ6N2g Yehudin Menhuin and Ravi Shankar

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1g2o7nVy-g&feature=related George Harrison and Ravi Shankar

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljnv3KGtcyI&feature=related Within You Without You

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI9RJbljBLw Rohan Krishnamurthy video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLA58vT-FI0&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL91F824B8ECE3D33C Veena Master

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBwAV8urkvw Shruti Box

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxPwJ93aWcI With Tampura