NADA: The Essence of Carnatic Music

The distinctive feature of Indian music is 'Manodharma' sangeetha i.e. impoverished music. It is an art music in its purest sense. Performers of classical music take a delight in displaying their powers of creative skill in this sphere of the art.

Nadaloludai : It means,"O Mind : attain the highest bliss, by losing yourself in Nada which is associated with the varieties of Ragas, themselves the manipulations of the seven notes, and which fulfils all righteous desires. The Trinity, all the Gods and the great sages have followed this Nadayoga path. Thyagaraja knows this".

In the words of Einstein "the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of true art and science". Classical music is not the result of erratic expression, but the outcome of maturity governed by intellect and reason. For meaningful appreciation of the nuances of music, the very process of understanding this fine art should have an analytical attitude and subjected to scientific scrutiny. Our classical music is a synthesis of our art, literature, science, mythology, religion and philosophy.

Music is an integral part of India's culture. It is styled as Gandharva Veda. As such Indian music is of divine origin. It has a history of atleast three thousand years. Indian music and dance have been handed down over hundreds of years with all the respect and love that a great heritage deserves. There has been a long evolution before our tradition achieved maturity and yielded variety. The carnatic system of music hass been well guarded, preserved and patronised by the elite with a well laid out grammar, principle and tradition. The conception of Nadabrahma i.e. God as the embodiment of cosmic sound is India's contribution to world's
thought.

MUSIC:

What is music?

Music is the art and science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds or tones in varying melody, harmony, rythm and timbre, especially so as to form structurally and emotionally expressive compositions. "The music of the world started as a melodic stream. After a course, it gave birth to a branch-the harmonic stream. The parent stream as well as the branch stream flowed over rich fields and yielded fruitful results. The concept of Raga took shape in the regions watered by the melodic stream, while the concept of polyphony, counterpoint and harmony took shape in the regions watered by the branch stream. Adopting the medium of musical expression native to their soil,the composersin the two regions have bequeathed to humanity their invaluable compositions".

Indian music is a Raga Sangeetha. The Raga system paved the way for the development of manodharma sangeetha or creative music along systematic lines. Vocal music played a dominent part in the development of Indian music from early times. Since Indian music is not written in any particularkey, the singer here enjoys the freedom to choose any convenient pitch for his keynote (Adharashruthi), a previlage denied to the European singer.

RAGA :

The outstanding feature of Indian music is its Raga system. Every Raga is a distinct musical entity by itself, possessing well defined characteristics. Ragas are solid musical facts and every musicianis cognisent of them. This concept is India's proud contribution to world music.

The ideal of absolute music is reached in the concept of Raga. The whole structure of Indian music is built around the concept of Raga. Each raga has a seperate aesthetic form and can be recognised by a trained ear. Musical compositions are concrete forms of abstract Raga. These compositions are so many manifestations of the various facts of the Raga. Whereas a musical composition presents only a certain aspect of a Raga, the detailed alapana of the same raga enables us to see its full form. Some ragas admit of an elaborate exposition. Such ragas are called the major ragas. Ragas which admit of only a brief exposition are called the minor ragas.

"Ranjayati Raga" : Ranjayati Raga is the etymological definition of raga, that is, that which pleases is raga. In order to have a melodic entity, a raga must take atleast five of the twelve notes of the scale. Madhyama and Panchama being the samvadi svaras (consonental notes) of shadja, it is necessary that atleast one of them should be present in a raga. A raga with both Ma and Pa deleted will lack stability and will be somewhat nebulous in character. Svaras which are eschewed in a raga, if introduced, will shatter its melodic individuality and produce a repulsive effect.

Wish to send us more information about R.K. Srikantan ? Please click here