With as layered and subtle as Carnatic music, the singer says it is this selfless exploration that allows the relationship to be refined over time.
I believe that exploration, not perfection, is the highest goal of all artistic/musical pursuits. This is especially true with a form such as Carnatic music, where improvisation is at its core. The context in which you improvise in Carnatic music is layered and multidimensional. Raga is a sweet universe. There are countless ragas and each contains a subtle set of phrase-based melodic vocabulary. These phrases roughly follow an ascending and descending scale (aarohanam / avrohanam), but limiting them to the idea of only one scale is a gross oversimplification. The bank of melodic phrases for a said raga extends from breaking the tempo of melodies into compositions, studying the various ways in which great composers used to twist, twist, climb, tighten and oscillate a melody through the motion of their melodies. allowed to do. , This detail also comes from studying the way in which great composers used melodious phrases of raga when improvising.
search for a chord
One of my favorite examples of this is the rendition of Subbaraya Shastri’s vocal work ‘Emani Ne’ by MD Ramanathan. His voice was deep and melodious and his music was intentional and as loud as it could be. In this particular rendition, his Alapana is a master class in discovering the raga with utmost patience. When he sings the phrase n, d, n; d p, pd n, m, you can feel every little detail when he scoops from da to ni, how he does that ni twice up and down a bit and only a moment before pa maintaining hooks up to the da, just long enough for you to feel the pa, but short enough for you to feel his motion swinging along the fast da, leading to the landing spot of the nee Go. To me, what really makes his expression of this phrase so powerful is how he lets Ni go to Ma. He barely touches the mother as he falls into her and the agony it causes is spiritual. , There is never any ambiguity in MDR’s music, it is always clear which stone he is choosing to turn his path, and the stone is always described in detail with the most beautiful attention, discovered. Yes, it is seen.
To me, the most inspiring feature of Carnatic music is that, although its metaphorical roots find themselves firmly established deep beneath the surface, there is an awe-inspiring freedom within the music itself. It is best viewed through the seemingly infinite number of ways that form can be interpreted. Let’s take the same raga mukhri, but look at a rendition of Sant Thyagaraja’s composition ‘Entha Ninne’ by ML Vasanthakumari. Near the end of her alapana, she utters a flurry of phrases, which move rapidly up and down the melody. Once she completes three or four rounds of mesmerizingly loud accompaniments, she sings a broad phrase of R,, M,, P,, N, dd M, P, D, G, R, S Is. The way she pulls out, Ri Ma and Pa feel a sense of effortless grandeur after such an intense association. MLV had this unique ability to completely dig into the root of the melody without it ever feeling laborious or overwhelming.
These two musicians couldn’t be more different both in terms of their vocal characteristics and their attitude towards music. But they share some deep resonance points; These resonance points are shared with all the legends of Carnatic music. In his music you can hear that he has put the exploratory nature of Roop at the forefront of his journey. Through his discoveries of form, music evolved, he found his own unique voice and point of view. Artistically, they weren’t copying anyone else. When they sang, you could hear the intimate belief that was in their form. They were conversing with music, and it with them.
It is now December 2021. I’ve been doing a series of Carnatic concerts, and a recent conversation with a new friend and collaborator is running through my mind again. We talked about the role of art, music, entertainment in society and stumbled upon an interesting idea. When people talk to each other, they don’t think about whether their language is flawless or not. There is only one goal and one goal – to communicate. Music, in its most powerful form, is a mechanism to express and communicate. As layered and subtle as Carnatic music, there is a process of selflessly exploring the form that allows one’s relationship to be refined over time. I can’t wait to share this development with the audience again in my exploration of Carnatic music; Energy, honesty, love, intensity, dedication and the vulnerability of it all. When one’s interactions with music extend into interactions with co-stars and audiences, the flourishing that occurs is unmatched.
I have seen words like beauty and purity being used by people trying to emphasize some high sense of authority. But beyond anything, there is connection. It lives in a space that cannot be intellectual, framed or controlled. I’ve learned that connection is the only really worthwhile pursuit. Exploration, not perfection.
The writer is a well-known singer from Karnataka.
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