Carnatic, or the South Indian style of classical music, traces its early roots to the vedas. Bharata's Natya Sastra, from around the 5th century A.D., and Saranga Deva's Sangita Ratnakara , from the 13th century A.D., are considered the earliest recorded treatises on the theory and performance of Indian music. The history of Carnatic music points to a tremendous rejuvenation in its practice and popularity with the contributions of the saints Sri Purandharadasaru (15th century A.D.), Sri Thyagarajar, Sri Shyama Sastri (all of 18th century A.D.), and left an enduring legacy of compositions.

Carnatic music differs from Western classical music in terms of a greater stress on melody rather than on harmony among instruments. A carnatic music concert showcases one or two main performers (vocal or instrumental), accompanied by a small number of supporting musicians on a combination of percussion, wind and/or string instruments. The violin, played in the Indian style (against the knee), the flute, the ghatam (a large clay pot used as a percusion instrument), and the mridangam (a double headed drum) are the most usual accompanying instruments. Performances are given in a chamber-music setting, and the artists seek to develop a rapport with their audience, thereby involving the audience in the performance. Knowledeable audience members 'keep beat' by softly clapping to the beat of the artists.

Carnatic music is based on a 22 scale note contrary to the 12 note scale that is used in the western classical music. But, generally, not more than 16 notes are used in practice. An unique combination of these notes, or swara as they are called, gives rise to a raga. The features and the constraints of a raga will be clearly defined in the arrangement of the notes in its arohanam (ascending notes) and avarohanam (descending notes). Given a raga, any deviation from the order defined in its arohanam-avarohanam is considered to be incorrect. Thus, in Carnatic music, the raga is a pre-defined form of melody. Different combinations of the notes gives rise to different raga. Thus, there are thousands of unique raga in the literature though very few of them are being performed currently. Two important features of the raga are the gamaka and brigha. The former refers to the frequency modulation about a particular note and the latter refers to the speed with which one performs a set of notes. The gamaka and the brigha adds to the beauty of the melody that is performed. Western music is mostly based on flat notes whereas, here, the notes are performed with modulations. The brigha could be an eight, sixteenth or so on. Another important aspect of the Carnatic music is the thalam. The thalam refers to the rhythm of the music that is performed. There are more than hundreds of thalam, but again, very few are in practice. The most popular thalam have 3, 4, 5, 7 or 8 beats.

In Carnatic music, the artist organizes each song into three categories, namely, the alpana, the krithi and the niraval. The objective of alpana is to exploit the nuances and features of a raga. A performer chooses a raga and through his creativity, brings out the depth of the raga using various sets of swara, gamaka and brigha. The alpana is not set to any rhythm. The next part of the performance is the lyrics of the song, called the krithi or the keerthana. The importance of the krithi can not be understressed, because, it is the core around which the entire music is being built . The krithi will have devotional content. Then comes the niraval, in which the artist uses the swara to bring out the depth of the raga in a rhythmic pattern. Accompaniments like violin, mridangam and the ghatam greatly enhance the quality of the overall performance.

Carnatic concerts usually begin with a short piece called varnam, followed by elaborate compositions called krithi. A krithi consists of segments reffered to as pallavi, anupallavi and charanam. The pallavi illustrates the unique theme of the raga in its lower range, while the anupallavi sets up a constrasting theme of the raga in its upper range. The charanam are different stanzas of the compositions. The main piece of a performance is a kriti which is preceded by an elaborate alapana, in which the artist improvises on the basic structure, and displays his ingenuity in performance. Performances end with a mangalam, an invocation for the welfare of the world.
By: V.Balaji and SPIC MACAY ( Texas A&M Chapter)

More Information on Other Web Sites:
M.S. Sheela Music Download

All India Site: Music Index
A Gentle Introduction to South Indian Classical (Karnatic) Music
Carnatic Central
Carnatic Corner
Classical Music of India
Ohio State University: Carnatic Music Home Page
South Indian Classical Music
Yahoo's Indian Music Links