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98-562: Varnams are a fundamental form in Carnatic music. All varnams consist of lyrics, as well as swara passages, including a pallavi , an anupallavi , muktaayi swaras , a charanam , and chitta swaras . There are different types of varnams, such as taana varnam , pada varnam , daru varnam and ragamalika varnam . They also come in different taalams (beat cycles). Though the most popular varnams are in Aadi and Ata taalas , there are

196-602: A matra (beat, and duration between beats). A raga is a central concept of Indian music, predominant in its expression. According to Walter Kaufmann, though a remarkable and prominent feature of Indian music, a definition of raga cannot be offered in one or two sentences. Raga may be roughly described as a musical entity that includes note intonation, relative duration and order, in a manner similar to how words flexibly form phrases to create an atmosphere of expression. In some cases, certain rules are considered obligatory, in others optional. The raga allows flexibility, where

294-450: A raga , while Carnatic performances tend to be short composition-based. However, the two systems continue to have more common features than differences. Another unique classical music tradition from the eastern part of India is Odissi music , which has evolved over the last two thousand years. The roots of the classical music of India are found in the Vedic literature of Hinduism and

392-425: A saptaka of Hindustani music but Carnatic music assumes 24 śruti . A svara is a selected pitch from 22 śruti s, using several of such svara s a musician constructs scales, melodies and raga s. In the presence of a drone-sound of perfectly tuned Tanpuras , an ideal svara sounds sweet and appealing to human ear but particularly some 10 śruti s of the saptaka sound out of pitch (besuraa) when compared to

490-456: A tala in Indian music covers "the whole subject of musical meter". Indian music is composed and performed in a metrical framework, a structure of beats that is a tala . A tala measures musical time in Indian music. However, it does not imply a regular repeating accent pattern, instead its hierarchical arrangement depends on how the musical piece is supposed to be performed. The tala forms

588-535: A certain sequencing of how the musician moves from note to note for each raga , in order for the performance to create a rasa (mood, atmosphere, essence, inner feeling) that is unique to each raga . A raga can be written on a scale. Theoretically, thousands of raga are possible given 5 or more notes, but in practical use, the classical Indian tradition has refined and typically relies on several hundred. For most artists, their basic perfected repertoire has some forty to fifty ragas . Raga in Indian classical music

686-698: A different way than Carnatic music. Hindustani music style is mainly found in North India , Pakistan and Bangladesh. Prior to the Taliban's ban on music, it also had a strong presence in Afghanistan. It exists in four major forms: Dhrupad , Khyal (or Khayal), Tarana , and the semi-classical Thumri . Dhrupad is ancient, Khyal evolved from it, Thumri evolved from Khyal. There are three major schools of Thumri: Lucknow gharana, Banaras gharana and Punjabi gharana. These weave in folk music innovations. Tappa

784-482: A gentle goodbye, that are ideally mathematical fractions such as dagun (half), tigun (third) or chaugun (fourth). Sometimes a fifth stanza called Bhoga is included. Though usually related to philosophical or Bhakti (emotional devotion to a god or goddess) themes, some Dhrupads were composed to praise kings. Improvisation is of central importance to Hindustani music, and each gharana (school tradition) has developed its own techniques. At its core, it starts with

882-459: A history spanning over two thousand years, authentic sangita-shastras or treatises, unique Ragas & Talas and a distinctive style of rendition. The various aspects of Odissi music include odissi prabandha, chaupadi, chhānda, champu, chautisa, janāna, mālasri, bhajana, sarimāna, jhulā, kuduka, koili, poi, boli, and more. Presentation dynamics are roughly classified into four: raganga, bhabanga, natyanga and dhrubapadanga. Some great composer-poets of

980-489: A much larger role in Carnatic concerts than in Hindustani concerts. Today's typical concert structure was put in place by the vocalist Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar . The opening piece is called a varnam , and is a warm-up for the musicians. A devotion and a request for a blessing follows, then a series of interchanges between ragams (unmetered melody) and Tanam (the ornamentation within a melorhythmic cycle, equivalent to

1078-557: A number of varnams in other talas as well (e.g., jampa tala , triputa tala , matya talam , roopaka talam , etc). A varnam is traditionally performed as an opening item by musicians in Carnatic music concerts or as a centre main piece in Bharatanatyam dance concerts. As a foundation to Carnatic music, varnams are also practised as vocal exercises by performers of Carnatic music, to help develop voice culture, and maintain proper pitch and control of rhythm. The melodic patterns in

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1176-422: A part called "Anubandham" following this. Varnams are traditionally rendered in a format that consists of pallavi , anupallavi and chitta swaram ( mukthayi swaram ) being sung first in a relatively slow pace and repeated immediately after in double the speed. The rest of the composition ( charanam onwards) is sung in a madhyama kala or approximately 1.5 times the speed used at the start. Each swara passage

1274-524: A part of the Qajar court in Tehran , an interaction that continued through the 20th century with import of Indian musical instruments in cities such as Herat near Afghanistan-Iran border. Odissi music is a distinct type of Classical music of Eastern India. This music is sung during performance of classical Odissi dance . The traditional ritual music for the service of Lord Jagannatha , Odissi music has

1372-470: A standard composition (bandish), then expands it in a process called vistar . The improvisation methods have ancient roots, and one of the more common techniques is called Alap , which is followed by the Jor and Jhala . The Alap explores possible tonal combinations among other things, Jor explores speed or tempo (faster), while Jhala explores complex combinations like a fishnet of strokes while keeping

1470-407: A varnam are considered to be characteristic patterns of a particular raga. Pallavi| tanam ]]-like rhythmic qualities, tana varnams only have lyrics for the pallavi , anupallavi and charanam . With rhythmic elements like a padam , pada varnams are generally sung to accompany South Indian classical dance, including bharatanatyam . Unlike the tana varnam which only has lyrics for

1568-488: Is teental . In the two major systems of classical Indian music, the first count of any tala is called sam . Instruments typically used in Hindustani music include the sitar , sarod , surbahar , esraj , veena , tanpura , bansuri , shehnai , sarangi , violin , santoor , pakhavaj and tabla . Instruments typically used in Carnatic music include veena , venu , gottuvadyam , harmonium , mridangam , kanjira , ghatam , nadaswaram and violin . Players of

1666-453: Is a rhythmic poetry describing the king and has the Raaja mudra and the second is a lilting Solkattu swara which is embodied in expression by bharatanatyam dancers. Svara Traditional Swara ( Sanskrit : स्वर ( swara ) is an Indian classical music term that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel , a note, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and

1764-612: Is found in Chapter 28 of the text Nāṭya Śāstra , estimated to have been completed between 200 BCE to 200 CE. It names the unit of tonal measurement or audible unit the śruti , with verse 28.21 introducing the musical scale as follows: तत्र स्वराः – षड्‍जश्‍च ऋषभश्‍चैव गान्धारो मध्यमस्तथा । पञ्‍चमो धैवतश्‍चैव सप्तमोऽथ निषादवान् ॥२१॥ | नत्य शास्त्र | २८.२१ | tatra svarāḥ – ṣaḍ‍jaś‍ca ṛṣabhaś‍caiva gāndhāro madhyamastathā । pañ‍camo dhaivataś‍caiva saptamo'tha niṣādavān ॥21॥ Natya Shastra – 28.21 This text contains

1862-609: Is generally described using terms like Shastriya Sangeet and Marg Sangeet . It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as Hindustani and the South Indian expression known as Carnatic . These traditions were not distinct until about the 15th century. During the period of Mughal rule of the Indian subcontinent, the traditions separated and evolved into distinct forms. Hindustani music emphasizes improvisation and exploration of all aspects of

1960-412: Is intimately related to tala or guidance about "division of time", with each unit called a matra (beat, and duration between beats). A raga is not a tune, because the same raga can yield a very large number of tunes. A raga is not a scale, because many ragas can be based on the same scale. A raga , states Bruno Nettl and other music scholars, is a concept similar to mode, something between

2058-406: Is one of the reasons why swara is considered a symbolic expression for the number seven. In another loose comparison to western music, saptank (as an octave or scale) may be interpreted as solfège , e.g. the notes of a scale as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti (and Do). The word svara (Sanskrit: स्वर ) is derived from the root svr which means "to sound". To be precise, the svara is defined in

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2156-419: Is possible towards lower and higher pitches, thus ma is taken for granted as fixed in any tonal music ( madhyama avilopi , मध्यम अविलोपी). One- svara Vedic singing is called ārcika chanting, e.g. in chanting the following texts on one note: or the like. Two- svara Vedic singing is called gāthika chanting, e.g. in chanting the following text on two notes: The musical octave is said to have evolved from

2254-403: Is referred to as "the music of spheres", and the sun is stated to be "humming the wheel of the world". According to Ananda Coomaraswamy , the roots " svar ", meaning "to shine" (whence " surya " or sun), and " svr ", meaning "to sound or resound" (whence " svara ", “musical note”) and also in some contexts "to shine", are all related in the ancient Indian imagination. The concept of a svara

2352-409: Is sung, followed by the lyrics of the charanam . Some performers do not follow this, though, preferring to sing the entire composition in madhyama kala or relatively fast pace. Varnams are generally sung in two varieties of talas , or meter systems, adi tala (eight-beat cycle) and ata tala (fourteen-beat cycle), where ata tala varnams are generally more complicated and advanced. In most of

2450-548: Is the ancient Indian classical music that became distinct after Hindustani music was established. It is dated back to ancient periods, but was only distinct after Hindustani music was established. Purandara Dasa (1484–1564) was a Hindu composer and musicologist who lived in Hampi of the Vijayanagara Empire . He is considered Pithamaha (literally, "great father or grandfather") of the Carnatic music. Purandara Dasa

2548-475: Is the basic svara from which all the other 6 svara s are produced. When we break the word Shadaj then we get, Shad- And -Ja. Shad is 6 and ja is 'giving birth' in Indian languages. So basically the translation is : The absolute frequencies for all svara s are variable, and are determined relative to the saptak or octave. E.g. given Sa 240 Hz, Re 270 Hz, Ga 288 Hz, Ma 320 Hz, Pa 360 Hz, Dha 405 Hz, and Ni 432 Hz, then

2646-535: Is the lack of "strong, weak" beat composition typical of the traditional European meter. In classical Indian traditions, the tala is not restricted to permutations of strong and weak beats, but its flexibility permits the accent of a beat to be decided by the shape of musical phrase. The most widely used tala in the South Indian system is adi tala . In the North Indian system, the most common tala

2744-630: Is the most folksy, one which likely existed in Rajasthan and Punjab region before it was systematized and integrated into classical music structure. It became popular, with the Bengali musicians developing their own Tappa. Khyal is the modern form of Hindustani music, and the term literally means "imagination". It is significant because it was the template for Sufi musicians among the Islamic community of India , and Qawwals sang their folk songs in

2842-403: Is the practical concept of Indian music comprising seven + five= twelve most useful musical pitches. Sage Matanga made a very important statement in his Brihaddeshi some 1500 years ago that: i.e. Shadaj, Rishabh, Gandhar, ... (and their utterance) are not the real svaras but their pronunciation in the form of aa-kar, i-kaar, u-kaar ... are the real form of the svaras. It is said that Shadaj

2940-534: Is unclear when the process of differentiation of Hindustani music started. The process may have started in the 14th century courts of the Delhi Sultans. However, according to Jairazbhoy, the North Indian tradition likely acquired its modern form after the 14th or after the 15th century. The development of Hindustani music reached a peak during the reign of Akbar . During this 16th century period, Tansen studied music and introduced musical innovations, for about

3038-448: The tívra Ma has a line on top which can be vertical or horizontal. (Or, if a note with the same name - Sa, for example - is an octave higher than the note represented by S, an apostrophe is placed to the right: S'. If it is an octave lower, the apostrophe is placed to the left: 'S. Apostrophes can be added as necessary to indicate the octave: for example, ``g would be the note komal Ga in the octave two octaves below that which begins on

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3136-527: The jor ). This is intermixed with hymns called krithis . The pallavi or theme from the raga then follows. Carnatic pieces also have notated lyrical poems that are reproduced as such, possibly with embellishments and treatments according to the performer's ideology, referred to as Manodharmam. Primary themes include worship, descriptions of temples, philosophy, and nayaka-nayika (Sanskrit "hero-heroine") themes. Tyagaraja (1759–1847), Muthuswami Dikshitar (1776–1827) and Syama Sastri (1762–1827) have been

3234-476: The śruti concept in Indian music . Both the svara and the śruti are but the sounds of music. According to the music scholars of the distant past, the śruti is generally understood as a microtone besides veda and an ear. In the context of advanced music, a śruti is the smallest gradation of pitch that a human ear can detect and a singer or instrument can produce. There are 22 śruti or microtones in

3332-571: The Gana also implied singing. The Vedic Sanskrit musical tradition had spread widely in the Indian subcontinent, and according to Rowell, the ancient Tamil classics make it "abundantly clear that a cultivated musical tradition existed in South India as early as the last few pre-Christian centuries". The classic Sanskrit text Natya Shastra is at the foundation of the numerous classical music and dance traditions of India. Before Natyashastra

3430-499: The Sama Veda , Natya shastra (classic treatise on music theory, Gandharva), Dattilam , Brihaddesi (treatise on regional classical music forms), and Sangita Ratnakara (definitive text for Carnatic and Hindustani traditions). Most historic music theory texts have been by Hindu scholars. Some classical music texts were also composed by Buddhists and Jain scholars, and in 16th century by Muslim scholars. These are listed in

3528-543: The adi tala varnams, the tala is placed in the two- kalai version, so therefore, each beat and finger count is placed twice. Adi Tala varnams include: Ata Tala varnams include: The Arabhi ragam varnam is supposed to be the only longest piece with jantai and dhatu prayogas . The "Mathe Malayadhwaja" by Harikesanalloor Mutthiah Bhasgavatar is a unique varnam because the chitta swara has two different types of saahitya arranged according to it. The first

3626-443: The equal-temperament tuning system. Also, unlike modern Western classical music, Indian classical music places great emphasis on improvisation. The underlying scale may have four , five , six or seven tones , called swaras (sometimes spelled as svaras ). The swara concept is found in the ancient Natya Shastra in Chapter 28. It calls the unit of tonal measurement or audible unit as Śhruti , with verse 28.21 introducing

3724-416: The musical gamut and its tuning , categories of melodic models and the raga compositions. Perhaps the greats like Bharata, Sage Matanga and Shaarnga-deva did not know the secret of tuneful tones (up to acceptable level of normal human ear, on the basis of taanpuraa drone) for they do not mention use of drone sound for any of the musical purposes. Most of the practicing musicians knew very well that all

3822-516: The pallavi , anupallavi and charanam and swaras for the rest of the sections, a pada varnam also has lyrics that correspond to the muktaayi and chitta swaras of the varnam, so generally, pada varnams contain more lyrical content than a tana varnam . The swaras in this type of varnam are suitable for intricate footwork. Padajathi varnams are simply pada varnams that also contain jatis , making them again more suitable for South Indian classical dance. The name varnam (meaning 'letter')

3920-431: The raga and the tala are two foundational elements. The raga forms the fabric of a melodic structure, and the tala keeps the time cycle. Both raga and tala are open frameworks for creativity and allow a very large number of possibilities, however, the tradition considers a few hundred ragas and talas as basic. Raga is intimately related to tala or guidance about "division of time", with each unit called

4018-431: The tabla , a type of drum, usually keep the rhythm, an indicator of time in Hindustani music. Another common instrument is the stringed tanpura , which is played at a steady tone (a drone) throughout the performance of the raga, and which provides both a point of reference for the musician and a background against which the music stands out. The tuning of the tanpura depends on the raga being performed. The task of playing

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4116-480: The 16th century began the Carnatic style of Indian classical music. Carnatic music, from South India , tends to be more rhythmically intensive and structured than Hindustani music. Examples of this are the logical classification of ragas into melakartas , and the use of fixed compositions similar to Western classical music. Carnatic raga elaborations are generally much faster in tempo and shorter than their equivalents in Hindustani music. In addition, accompanists have

4214-727: The 1980s, 1990s and particularly the 2000s onwards, Indian Classical Music has seen rapid growth in reception and development around the globe, particularly in North America , where immigrant communities have preserved and passed on classical music traditions to subsequent generations through the establishment of local festivals and music schools. Numerous musicians of American origin, including Ramakrishnan Murthy , Sandeep Narayan, Pandit Vikash Maharaj, Abby V, and Mahesh Kale have taken professionally to Indian Classical Music with great success. In his 2020 released video, Canadian singer Abby V demonstrated 73 different Indian Classical ragas in

4312-545: The 3rd century, such as in the works of Chinese lyricist Li Yannian . In 1958, Ravi Shankar came to the US and started making albums. These started a 1960s penchant for Indian classical music in the States. By 1967 Shankar and other artists were performing at rock music festivals alongside Western rock, blues, and soul acts. This lasted until the mid-1970s. Ravi Shankar performed at Woodstock for an audience of over 500,000 in 1969. In

4410-399: The Bengali classical tradition . This openness to ideas led to assimilation of regional folk innovations, as well as influences that arrived from outside the subcontinent. For example, Hindustani music assimilated Arabian and Persian influences. This assimilation of ideas was upon the ancient classical foundations such as raga , tala , matras as well as the musical instruments. For example,

4508-649: The Carnatic system however, the beginner exercises are sung in the raga Mayamalavagowla , which corresponds to the Western Double harmonic scale . The reason for this being the symmetry of the scale, with the first half mirroring the second half, and the existence of all the important inrervals (half, whole and double note). This is something that is absent in the major scale, which only consists of half and whole notes. In any seven-tone mode (starting with S), R, G, D, and N can be natural ( shuddha , lit. 'pure') or flat ( komal , 'soft') but never sharp, and

4606-537: The Khyal format. Dhrupad (or Dhruvapad), the ancient form described in the Hindu text Natyashastra , is one of the core forms of classical music found all over the Indian subcontinent. The word comes from Dhruva which means immovable and permanent. A Dhrupad has at least four stanzas, called Sthayi (or Asthayi), Antara, Sanchari and Abhoga. The Sthayi part is a melody that uses the middle octave's first tetrachord and

4704-469: The M can be natural or sharp ( teevra ) but never flat, making twelve notes as in the Western chromatic scale . If a svara is not natural ( shuddha ), a line below a letter indicates that it is flat ( komal ) and an acute accent above indicates that it is sharp ( tīvra , 'intense'). Sa and Pa are immovable (once Sa is selected), forming a just perfect fifth . In some notation systems,

4802-516: The Odissi tradition are the 12th-century poet Jayadeva , Balarama Dasa , Atibadi Jagannatha Dasa , Dinakrusna Dasa, Kabi Samrata Upendra Bhanja , Banamali Dasa , Kabisurjya Baladeba Ratha , Abhimanyu Samanta Singhara and Kabikalahansa Gopalakrusna Pattanayaka . Classical Indian music is one genre of South Asian music; others include film music, various varieties of pop, regional folk, religious and devotional music. In Indian classical music,

4900-552: The Persian Rāk is probably a pronunciation of Raga . According to Hormoz Farhat, Rāk has no meaning in modern Persian language, and the concept of raga is unknown in Persia. If Hindustani music is taken in as an entirely new form of music created from Indian classical music and Persian music , then Carnatic music was a form from the south of the sub-continent that developed further natively after this divergence. Carnatic music

4998-910: The Sa after the Ni of 432 Hz has a frequency of 480 Hz i.e. double that of the lower octave Sa, and similarly all the other 6 svaras. Considering the Sa of the Madhya Saptak then frequencies of the other svaras will be, All the other svara s except Shadaj (Sa) and Pancham (Pa) can be komal or tivra svara s but Sa and Pa are always shuddha svara s. And hence svara s Sa and Pa are called achal svaras , since these svara s don't move from their original position. Svara s Ra, Ga, Ma, Dha, Ni are called chal svaras , since these svara s move from their original position. Talking about Shrutis of these Sapta Svaras, And these all Shrutis add up to 22 Shrutis in total. The svara differs slightly from

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5096-576: The Sanskrit nirukta system as: The Kannada word svara and Tamil alphabet or letter suram do not represent a sound, but rather more generally the place of articulation (PoA) (பிறப்பிடம்), where one generates a sound, and the sounds made there can vary in pitch. The word is found in the Vedic literature, particularly the Samaveda , where it means accent and tone, or a musical note, depending on

5194-453: The Vedic literature of Hinduism. The earliest Indian thought combined three arts, syllabic recital ( vadya ), melos ( gita ) and dance ( nrtta ). As these fields developed, sangeeta became a distinct genre of art, in a form equivalent to contemporary music. This likely occurred before the time of Yāska ( c.  500 BCE ), since he includes these terms in his nirukta studies, one of the six Vedanga of ancient Indian tradition. Some of

5292-512: The Yadava dynasty in Maharashtra , mentions and discusses ragas and talas . He identifies seven tala families, then subdivides them into rhythmic ratios, presenting a methodology for improvization and composition that continues to inspire modern era Indian musicians. Sangitaratnakara is one of the most complete historic medieval era Hindu treatises on this subject that has survived into

5390-415: The above-mentioned pairs DO create samvaad or consonances which Bharata did not recognize for unknown reasons. None of the musicologists give in writing the 'practical basis' or technique of ascertaining the ideal tonal gap between the note pairs like saa-re, re-ga, ga-ma, ma-pa, pa-dha, dha-ni, ni-saa* (taar saa) until Sangeet Paarijat of Ahobal (c. 1650). The svara studies in ancient Sanskrit texts include

5488-555: The ancient Natyashastra , the classic Sanskrit text on performing arts by Bharata Muni . The 13th century Sanskrit text Sangeeta-Ratnakara of Sarangadeva is regarded as the definitive text by both the Hindustani music and the Carnatic music traditions. Indian classical music has two foundational elements, raga and tala . The raga , based on a varied repertoire of swara ( notes including microtones ), forms

5586-457: The ancient texts of Hinduism such as the Samaveda ( c.  1000 BCE ) are structured entirely to melodic themes, it is sections of Rigveda set to music. The Samaveda is organized into two formats. One part is based on the musical meter , another by the aim of the rituals. The text is written with embedded coding, where swaras ( octave notes) are either shown above or within

5684-429: The artist may rely on simple expression, or may add ornamentations yet express the same essential message but evoke a different intensity of mood. A raga has a given set of notes, on a scale, ordered in melodies with musical motifs. A musician playing a raga , states Bruno Nettl , may traditionally use just these notes, but is free to emphasize or improvise certain degrees of the scale. The Indian tradition suggests

5782-541: The attached table. The classical music tradition of the ancient and medieval Indian subcontinent (modern Bangladesh, India, Pakistan) were a generally integrated system through the 14th century, after which the socio-political turmoil of the Delhi Sultanate era isolated the north from the south. The music traditions of the North and South India were not considered distinct until about the 16th century, but after that

5880-536: The beat patterns. As with Carnatic music, Hindustani music has assimilated various folk tunes. For example, ragas such as Kafi and Jaijaiwanti are based on folk tunes. Hindustani music has had Arab and Persian music influences, including the creation of new ragas and the development of instruments such as the sitar and sarod. The nature of these influences are unclear. Scholars have attempted to study Arabic maqam (also spelled makam ) of Arabian peninsula, Turkey and northern Africa, and dastgah of Iran, to discern

5978-530: The context. The discussion there focusses on three accent pitch or levels: svarita (sounded, circumflex normal), udatta (high, raised) and anudatta (low, not raised). However, scholars question whether the singing of hymns and chants were always limited to three tones during the Vedic era. In the general sense svara means tone, and applies to chanting and singing. The basic svaras of Vedic chanting are udatta , anudatta and svarita . Vedic music has madhyama or ma as principal note so that tonal movement

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6076-530: The different world music systems. One of the earliest known discussions of Persian maqam and Indian ragas is by the late 16th century scholar Pundarika Vittala. He states that Persian maqams in use in his times had been derived from older Indian ragas (or mela ), and he specifically maps over a dozen maqam . For example, Vittala states that the Hijaz maqam was derived from the Asaveri raga , and Jangula

6174-414: The distinction is made with capital and lowercase letters. When abbreviating these tones, the form of the note which is relatively lower in pitch always uses a lowercase letter, while the form which is higher in pitch uses an uppercase letter. So komal Re/Ri uses the letter r and shuddha Re/Ri, the letter R, but shuddha Ma uses m because it has a raised form - teevra Ma - which uses

6272-512: The domains of tune and scale, and it is best conceptualized as a "unique array of melodic features, mapped to and organized for a unique aesthetic sentiment in the listener". The goal of a raga and its artist is to create rasa (essence, feeling, atmosphere) with music, as classical Indian dance does with performance arts. In the Indian tradition, classical dances are performed with music set to various ragas . According to David Nelson – an Ethnomusicology scholar specializing in Carnatic music,

6370-549: The elaborate and elongated chants of the Samaveda , based on these basic svaras. Siksha is the subject that deals with phonetics and pronunciation. Naradiya Siksha elaborates the nature of svaras, both Vedic chants and the octave. The word also appears in the Upanishads . For example, it appears in Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana section 111.33, where the cyclic rise and setting of sun and world,

6468-545: The fabric of a deeply intricate melodic structure, while the tala measures the time cycle . The raga gives an artist a palette to build the melody from sounds, while the tala provides them with a creative framework for rhythmic improvisation using time. In Indian classical music the space between the notes is often more important than the notes themselves, and it traditionally eschews Western classical concepts such as harmony , counterpoint , chords , or modulation . The root of music in ancient India are found in

6566-546: The first svara that is "sa" , and the fifth svara that is "pa" , are considered anchors ( achal svara s) that are unalterable, while the remaining have flavours ( komal and tivra svara s) that differs between the two major systems. North Indian Hindustani music has fixed names of a relative pitches, but South Indian Carnatic music keeps on making interchanges of the names of pitches in case of ri-ga and dha-ni whenever required. Swaras appear in successive steps in an octave . More comprehensively, svara-graam (scale)

6664-534: The first sixty years of his life with patronage of the Hindu king Ram Chand of Gwalior , and thereafter performed at the Muslim court of Akbar. Many musicians consider Tansen as the founder of Hindustani music. Tansen's style and innovations inspired many, and many modern gharanas (Hindustani music teaching houses) link themselves to his lineage. The Muslim courts discouraged Sanskrit, and encouraged technical music. Such constraints led Hindustani music to evolve in

6762-544: The first that is "sa" , and the fifth that is "pa" , are considered anchors that are unalterable, while the remaining have flavors that differs between the two major systems. Contemporary Indian music schools follow notations and classifications (see melakarta and thaat ). Thaat, used in Hindustani, is generally based on a flawed but still useful notation system created by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande . According to Yukteshwar Kumar, elements of Indian music arrived in China in

6860-430: The fundamentals of heptatonic scales or melakarta raga s and thaat s in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music. The seven svaras are śaḍja (षड्ज), r̥ṣabha (ऋषभ), gāndhāra (गान्धार), madhyama (मध्यम), pañcama (पञ्चम), dhaivata (धैवत) and niṣāda (निषाद). The svara s of the sargam are often learnt in abbreviated form: sā, ri ( Carnatic ) or re ( Hindustani ), ga, ma, pa, dha, ni . Of these,

6958-497: The idiophone in the form of "small bronze cymbals" were used for tala . Almost the entire chapter of Natyashastra on idiophones, by Bharata, is a theoretical treatise on the system of tala . Time keeping with idiophones was considered a separate function than that of percussion (membranophones), in the early Indian thought on music theory . The early 13th century Sanskrit text Sangitaratnakara (literally, "Ocean of Music and Dance"), by Sarngadeva patronized by King Sighana of

7056-404: The important historic scholars of Carnatic music. According to Eleanor Zelliot , Tyagaraja is known in the Carnatic tradition as one of its greatest composers, and he reverentially acknowledged the influence of Purandara Dasa. A common belief is that Carnatic music represents a more ancient and refined approach to classical music, whereas Hindustani music has evolved by external influences. It

7154-481: The kind of elaboration found in the Samaveda . For example, the Gayatri mantra contains three metric lines of exactly eight syllables, with an embedded ternary rhythm. In the ancient traditions of Hinduism, two musical genre appeared, namely Gandharva (formal, composed, ceremonial music) and Gana (informal, improvised, entertainment music). The Gandharva music also implied celestial, divine associations, while

7252-521: The letter M. Sa and Pa are always abbreviated as S and P, respectively, since they cannot be altered. The svara s in Carnatic music are slightly different in the twelve-note system. Each svara is either prakr̥ti (invariant) or vikr̥ti (variable). Ṣaḍjam and Pañcamam are prakr̥ti svara s, whilst R̥ṣabham , Gāndhāram , Mādhyamam , Dhaivatam and Niṣādam are vikr̥ti svara s. Ma has two variants, and each of Ri, Ga, Dha and Ni has three variants. The mnemonic syllables for each vikṛti svara use

7350-458: The lower octave notes. The Antara part uses the middle octave's second tetrachord and the higher octave notes. The Sanchari part is the development phase, which builds using parts of Sthayi and Antara already played, and it uses melodic material built with all the three octave notes. The Abhoga is the concluding section, that brings the listener back to the familiar starting point of Sthayi, albeit with rhythmic variations, with diminished notes like

7448-492: The metrical structure that repeats, in a cyclical harmony, from the start to end of any particular song or dance segment, making it conceptually analogous to meters in Western music. However, talas have certain qualitative features that classical European musical meters do not. For example, some talas are much longer than any classical Western meter, such as a framework based on 29 beats whose cycle takes about 45 seconds to complete when performed. Another sophistication in talas

7546-806: The modern era, many original works on Indian music are believed to be lost, and are known to have existed only because they are quoted and discussed in other manuscripts on classical Indian music. Many of the encyclopedic Puranas contain large chapters on music theory and instruments, such as the Bhagavata Purana , the Markandeya Purana , the Vayu Purana , the Linga Purana , and the Visnudharmottara Purana . The most cited and influential among these texts are

7644-994: The modern era, that relates to the structure, technique and reasoning behind ragas and talas . The centrality and significance of music in ancient and early medieval India is also expressed in numerous temple and shrine reliefs , in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism , such as through the carving of musicians with cymbals at the fifth century Pavaya temple sculpture near Gwalior , and the Ellora Caves . The post-Vedic era historical literature relating to Indian classical music has been extensive. The ancient and medieval texts are primarily in Sanskrit (Hinduism), but major reviews of music theory, instruments and practice were also composed in regional languages such as Kannada , Odia , Pali (Buddhism), Prakrit (Jainism), Tamil and Telugu . While numerous manuscripts have survived into

7742-405: The modern names: [Here are the] swara s - Shadaj, Rishabha, Gandhara, Madhyama, Panchama, Dhaivata, [and seventh] Nishada. These seven svaras are shared by both major raga systems of Indian classical music , that is the North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic). Sapta svara , also called sapta swara or sapta sur , refers to the seven distinct notes of the octave or

7840-406: The musical scale as follows, तत्र स्वराः – षड्‍जश्‍च ऋषभश्‍चैव गान्धारो मध्यमस्तथा । पञ्‍चमो धैवतश्‍चैव सप्तमोऽथ निषादवान् ॥ २१॥ These seven degrees are shared by both major raga systems , that is the North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic) systems. The solfege ( sargam ) is learnt in abbreviated form: sa, ri (Carnatic) or re (Hindustani), ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, sa . Of these,

7938-406: The nature and extent. Through the colonial era and until the 1960s, the attempt was to theoretically study ragas and maqams and suggested commonalities. Later comparative musicology studies, states Bruno Nettl – a professor of music, have found the similarities between classical Indian music and European music as well, raising the question about the point of similarities and of departures between

8036-617: The note S (that is, two octaves below g).) In other words, the basic rule is that the number of dots or apostrophes above or below the svara symbol means the number of times dots or apostrophes, respectively, above or below the corresponding svara in madhya saptak (middle octave). The basic mode of reference in the Hindustani system is that which is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode or major scale (called Bilaval thaat in Hindustani music, Sankarabharanam in Carnatic ). In

8134-546: The preceding svara, re or dha shall have an interval of 3 shrutis measured from the pitch of the preceding svara and ga or ni shall have an interval of 2 shrutis measured from the pitch of the preceding svara respectively. The following quote explains it all: Bharata also makes some unscientific and unacceptable observations ignoring practically proven truths like samvaad (samvaada/ संवाद) or consonance of ma-ni, re-dha, re-pa and ga-ni as each of these svara pairs do not have equal number of shrutis to establish samvaad. In reality,

8232-401: The seven successive svara s of a saptak . The sapta svara can be collectively referred to as the sargam (which is an acronym of the consonants of the first four svara s). Sargam is the Indian equivalent to solfège , a technique for the teaching of sight-singing . As in Western moveable-Do solfège, the svara Sa is the tonic of a piece or scale. The seven svara s of the saptak are

8330-427: The song is called "sahityam" and sahityam is just like singing the swaras altogether but using the lyrics of the song. The code in the form of swaras have even the notation of which note to be sung high and which one low. The hymns of Samaveda contain melodic content, form, rhythm and metric organization. This structure is, however, not unique or limited to Samaveda . The Rigveda embeds the musical meter too, without

8428-619: The successive steps of the octave , or saptanka . More comprehensively, it is the ancient Indian concept of the complete dimension of musical pitch . At its most basic comparison to western music, a swara is, essentially, a "note" of a given scale. However, that is but a loose interpretation of the word, as a swara is identified as both a musical note and tone; a "tone" is a precise substitute for sur , relating to "tunefulness". Traditionally, Indian musicians have just seven swara s/notes with short names: sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, which they collectively refer to as saptank or saptaka . This

8526-401: The svara pairs saa-ma and saa-pa are samvaadi svaras (consonant pair) and are located at the interval of 9 and 13 shruti respectively. Similarly, svara pairs re-dha and ga-ni are samvaadi svara too. Without giving any example of 'a standard measure' or 'equal interval' between two successive shrutis, Bharata declared that saa, ma or pa shall have an interval of 4 shrutis measured from the pitch of

8624-587: The tanpura traditionally falls to a student of the soloist. Other instruments for accompaniment include the sarangi and the harmonium . Indian classical music is both elaborate and expressive. Like Western classical music , it divides the octave into 12 semitones of which the 7 basic notes are, in ascending tonal order, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni for Hindustani music and Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni for Carnatic music, similar to Western music's Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti . However, Indian music uses just-intonation tuning, unlike some modern Western classical music, which uses

8722-406: The text, or the verse is written into parvans (knot or member); in simple words, this embedded code of swaras is like the skeleton of the song. The swaras have about 12 different forms and different combinations of these swaras are made to sit under the names of different ragas. The specific code of a song clearly tells us what combination of swaras are present in a specific song. The lyrical part of

8820-406: The traditions acquired distinct forms. North Indian classical music is called Hindustani , while the South Indian expression is called Carnatic (sometimes spelled as Karnatic ). According to Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy , the North Indian tradition acquired its modern form after the 14th or the 15th century. Indian classical music has historically adopted and evolved with many regional styles, such as

8918-460: The tuneful tones of seven notes could be discovered with the help of the theory of samvaad, in which saa-saa* (*means upper octave), saa-ma and saa-pa play the most crucial role. As per the widely used Bhatkhande Svara Lipi (Bhakthande's Swar Notation script), a dot above a letter (svara symbol) indicates that the note is sung one saptak (octave) higher, and a dot below indicates one saptak lower. Komal notes are indicated by an underscore, and

9016-405: The two svaras each at pitch positions 4, 10 and 11. Through svara , Īśvara [God] is realized. — A proverb among Indian musicians Translator: Guy Beck So each svara is said to be sourced from the sound produced by an animal or a bird. Indian classical music Traditional Modern Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent . It

9114-511: The very drone. A tuneful and pleasing tone of the svara is located at a fixed interval but there is no fixed interval defined for two consecutive śruti s anywhere that can safely and scientifically be used throughout with respect to a perfect drone sound. The ancient Sanskrit text Natya Shastra by Bharata identifies and discusses twenty two shruti and seven shuddha and two vikrita svara . The Natya Shastra mentions that in Shadaj graama,

9212-483: The vowels "a", "i" and "u" successively from lowest to highest. For example, r̥ṣabham has the three ascending variants "ra", "ri" and "ru", being respectively 1, 2 and 3 semitones above the tonic note, ṣaḍjam . As you can see above, Catuśruti Ṛṣabham and Śuddha Gāndhāram share the same pitch (3rd key/position). Hence if C is chosen as Ṣaḍjam , D would be both Catuśruti R̥ṣabham and Śuddha Gāndhāram . Hence they will not occur in same rāgam together. Similarly for

9310-546: Was a monk and a devotee of the Hindu god Krishna (Vishnu, Vittal avatar). He systematised classical Indian music theory and developed exercises for musicians to learn and perfect their art. He travelled widely sharing and teaching his ideas, and influenced numerous South Indian and Maharashtra Bhakti movement musicians. These exercises, his teachings about raga , and his systematic methodology called Suladi Sapta Tala (literally, "primordial seven talas") remains in use in contemporary times. The efforts of Purandara Dasa in

9408-468: Was derived from the Bangal . In 1941, Haidar Rizvi questioned this and stated that influence was in the other direction, Middle Eastern maqams were turned into Indian ragas , such as Zangulah maqam becoming Jangla raga . According to John Baily – a professor of ethnomusicology, there is evidence that the traffic of musical ideas were both ways, because Persian records confirm that Indian musicians were

9506-618: Was finalized, the ancient Indian traditions had classified musical instruments into four groups based on their acoustic principle (how they work, rather than the material they are made of) for example flute which works with gracious in and out flow of air. These four categories are accepted as given and are four separate chapters in the Natyashastra , one each on stringed instruments (chordophones ), hollow instruments ( aerophones ), solid instruments ( idiophones ), and covered instruments ( membranophones ). Of these, states Levis Rowell,

9604-409: Was likely given to this form of song due to the prevalence of swara letters in this type of composition. Lyrical content of varnams are commonly either devotional or amorous. The varnam consists of two parts: poorvadham (first half) - consisting of pallavi, anupallavi and muktaayi swaram and uttarardham (second half) - consisting of charanam and charana swarams. Some of the older compositions have

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