India Population Over 1 billion Area 13 of United States 15 major languages and alphabets Many regional dialects 5000 year history Influenced and Unique Cut off from neighboring lands by ocean ID: 809754
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Slide1
Carnatic Music
Classical Music of South India
Slide2India
Population: Over 1 billion
Area 1/3 of United States
15 major languages and alphabets
Many regional dialects
5,000 year history
Slide3Slide4Slide5Influenced and Unique
Cut off from neighboring lands by ocean
Deserts
Impenetrable jungle
Major mountain ranges – highest in the world
Slide6LONG 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
Slide7KINGDOMS 500 BCE – 1400 CE
Burgeoning of
Hindiusm
Patronage of arts
Natya
Sastra
Literature and sciences
Ramayana and
Mahabarata
written
Painting, sculpture, music (sound?)
Slide8Saraswati
: Hindu God
of music
(playing the
veena
)
Slide9The Moghuls 1527 - 1867
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
Slide10British 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
Slide11Golden Age of Carnatic Music
Flourished under British Rule (1700-1900)
1920s- recording industry in India
1930s movies with sound
Adapted European instruments into Carnatic music – i.e. violin, harmonium (portable reed organ) clarinet
Slide12Recent Carnatic Music History
“Golden Age” – Late-18
th
and early-19
th
century
Three saint-poet-composers dominate
Best-known is
Tyagaraja
(1767-1847)
Very accessible songs
Noted female composers
Slide13South India
Encompasses states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu
Occupies 19.31% of area of India
Slide14Geography
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 …
Slide15Culture
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
Slide16Carnatic Music
Roots in distant past
Courts, palaces, kingdoms, temples
Vivid imagery from sculpture, murals and miniature paintings
Actual sound and style?
Slide17Oral Tradition
Cannot be frozen in time by transcription
Lives uniquely in each performance:
Particular day, particular hour, spontaneity of improvisation
Effect of recording technology?
Slide18Dance
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
Slide192 Basic Concepts: Raga and
Tala
Slide20Raga
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.
Slide21More 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.”
Slide22Raga 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
Slide23Raga-mala
Genre of miniature paintings of raga
Viewers of painting hear raga
Listeners of raga imagine painting
Slide241650?
Scene?
Slide25Melakarta 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!
Slide26Hundreds 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
Slide27Tala
Organization of time in music
Tala
:
regularly recurring metric cycle
Spectrum of time in Indian thought
Fraction of a second
Yugahs
–
goelogical
time periods
Slide28Tala 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
Slide293 Functioning Layers
Melodic Layer
Drone
Rhythm
Associated with particular instruments
Slide30Melodic 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
Slide31Veena
Slide32Drone
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
Slide33Tambur
Slide34Sruti
Box
Slide35Rhythm/Percussion
Bedrock of the ensemble
Mridangam
: principal percussion instrument
Ghatam
: large clay pot
Kanjira
: tambourine
Morsang
: jaw’s harp
Slide36Mridangam
Slide37Drummer’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!
Slide38Gurukula System
Apprenticeship with guru
Very rigorous training
Slide39Concert Song Forms
Start:
Varnam
Continues:
Kriti
Main Item: Often a
Kriti
End: More relaxed atmosphere
Devotional music
Slide40Kriti
Made up of numerous sections
i.e.
Alapana
Tanam
Kriti
“
Sarasiruha
”
Kalpana
svaras
1 & 2
Tani
avartanam
Kriti
(return and close)
Slide41Alapana
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
Slide42Tanam
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.
Slide43Kriti
The major song form of the concert
May be short or very long
Very flexible structure
Sung or not, the words influence the performance
Slide44Kalpana
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
Slide45Tani
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
Slide46http://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