Analysis - II

Starting time : 2:26
Ending time : 4:35

Let me take the Chatursram 2nd round of Mani sir.
Started with the usual 6 syllable, Kita tha ka thaka thom thom ka (2nd speed).
The abhiprayam is structured as the first part decreasing from 5, 4, 3 with the second half increasing from 1,2,3.

The total Mathrais for the abhiprayam is 99. It is splitted into 3 halfs, the first half will be for 31 mathrais and the second one for 34 mathrais and the final one for 34 mathrais. The mathrais are including of the karvais (gaps) that is given between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd part.

After that, it’s a free flow Chatusra Sarva laghu with different varieties. I don’t think any explanation required for this part alone.

Appreciate Mridangam Playing

After two-and-a-half hours of playing, Mridangam loses its tonal quality. The mridangist becomes physically tired & exhausted. The audience too need a break after hearing continous music. They are thus forced to stretch or go out for a brief walk & refreshment. However great be the performer, the ability to make the audience sit through & enjoy the Thani, with all the above mentioned disadvantages around, is a big question mark.

Full of Jargon

anga name symbol aksharakaalas movement anudrutam U 1 beat with palm drutam 0 2 beat with palm + turn (wave) druta viramam U0 3 (2 + 1) drutam + anudrutam laghu |(#) 4 (or 3,5,7,9) beat + finger counts laghu viramam U| 5 (4+1) laghu + anudrutam laghu drutam 0| 6 (4+2) laghu + drutam laghudruta viramam U0| 7 (4+2+1) laghu + drutam + anudrutam guru 8 8 wave to left and rightor circle with thumb-up guru viramam U8 8 (8+1) guru + anudrutam guru drutam 08 10 (8+2) guru + drutam gurudruta viramam U08 11 (8+2+1) guru + drutam + anudrutam plutam |8 12 (8+4) beat + wave to sides pluta viramam U|8 13 (12+1) plutam + anudrutam pluta drutam 0|8 14 (12+2) plutam + drutam pluta druta viramam U0|8 15 (12+2+1) plutam + drutam + anudrutam kaakapaadam + 16 beat plus wave up and to sides

KaLai & EDuppu

KaLai
Another term is kaLai, which refers to using multiple beats in one beat. Thus 2nd kaLai of aadi taaLam will use 2 beats for every one beat of the taaLam. This is noticeable in the speed of the song and the length of the aavartanam (cycle of the taaLam).

EDuppuIn some cases, the taaLam doesn't "begin" on the beginning of the first beat (called the samam). It may begin just 1/2 beat before or after, or 1 1/2 beat after, for example. The place where a particular section of a song (anupallavi, pallavi, or charaNam) begins in the taaLam is called the graham or eDuppu.

m u s i c

Music is an extremely subjective, aural experience. Some sounds are perceived by us as pleasant and some others as unpleasant. What is considered pleasant or unpleasant can be quite personal, based on our specific culture, exposure to particular kinds of music and perhaps even on what our parents told us. A song could be a major hit in one country and could be completely disliked and ignored in some other country. Our musical tastes are indeed developed. As we grow up, and discover music from other cultures or newer musical styles, our tastes too change. Sometimes, we even discover a pleasant piece of music purely by accident - because it simply happened to resonate with our inner sensibilities. Oh, nothing like self discovery ! Or Can we say
Minute Understanding Of Sound In Creation
An equally interesting exercise - think of five songs you really like. Can you explain why you like them or what is in common with all of them ? Can you 'explain' and define your musical taste ? Unfortunately, however much analysis one does, in terms of frequencies and so forth, it finally boils down to psychological factors when it comes to music and taste. Analysis is merely a tool to understand some of its structure. It can never explain why some musical sounds are deemed 'romantic' or 'harsh' or why some ragam is an evening ragam (if you believe in such things). Such mystique about music will come back to haunt us and will forever prevent us from understanding its totality in an objective manner.

Marga & Chanda Talams

Apart from the desi talas, there are other set of talas called "Marga Talas". These talas, in addition to the angams in the desi talas - laghu, drtham and anudrtham have other angams called Guru, Plutham, Kakapadam. The 108 talas and other groups of talas come under this group.

1 Guru - 1 beat and counting 7 fingers
1 Plutham - 1 beat, 1 krshyai & 1 sarpini
1 Kakapadam - 1 beat, 1 krshyai, 1 sarpini & 1 pathakam
1 krshyai - waving the hand towards left, it has 4 aksharams
1 sarpini - waving the hand towards right, it has 4 aksharams
1 pathakam - raising the hand vertically, has 4 aksharams

These talas are complicated and are found in very few compositions. In fact, the music of Tamils in ancient times had complicated rythm patterns like Chandha talam. Rythm was given importance. The Thiruppugazh is a classic example of the variety and complex nature of tala pattern in Carnatic music. The uniqueness of this tala lies in the fact that it varies according to the stress and rhyme-patterns (called Chanda) in the Tiruppugazh.

An example of a tala that uses all the units mentioned so far is Simhanandana tala, the longest tala, with 128 units.

Anaagatha - Atheetha

what more complexity you want?

There is another aspect of taalam which merits attention - the starting point of the song in relation to the taalam or the eduppu as it is called. Many songs start simultaneously with the beat and this is termed as sama eduppu indicating that the start is level with the taalam. Often, the song starts after the taalam is started, leaving an empty rhythm pattern at the beginning. This gap allows the singer and the instrumentalist a greater freedom in improvisation. This is indicated by the term anaagatha eduppu. Sometimes, the song starts before the beat and this is termed atheetha eduppu. This construction is often used to add a one or two syllable prefix (eg. Hari, Sri, Amba) to the text of the melodic line. A peculiar eduppu is associated with a taalam called Desadi taalam. Though this taalam actually consists of four movements, each of two aksharam duration, it is customary to keep pace for this taalam using simple Aadi taalam. Then, the eduppu is at one and half aksharams from the start of the taalam or three eighths way into the laghu. An example for Desadi eduppu is the song 'Bantu reethi kolu iya vayya Raama' in the ragam Hamsanaadham.

Prominent Talas

Adi Tala: It has eight counts per cycle. It is rendered with a beat and three finger counts followed by two identical sets of a beat and a wave. (In technical terms, this is nothing but Chaturasra jati Triputa tala, i.e., Chaturasra laghu and 2 drutams) Roopaka Tala: Six counts but only 3 units are rendered externally. (An anudrutam and a drutam) Misra Chapu: Seven units. (Three beats in the ratio of 3:2:2) Khanda Chapu: Five units. (Three beats in the ratio of 2:1:2)

Its 175 now ;-)

It's once again a simple extension of the 7 and 35-tala concepts. Let's use the same example given above, Dhruva tala. Now we already know that it can be of five different jatis. Suppose we specify the Jaati as Chaturasra, let's see how the gati can affect it.
We know that the Chaturasra Jaati Dhruva tala has an external count of 14. However, while rendering the tala, how are we to ensure that the time-interval between each beat is uniform? This is where we introduce Gati. Now, we could have a fixed interval of 4, 3, 7, 5 or 9 counts between each beat. Let's take the example of Chaturasra Jaati dhruva tala with an interval of 4 units per beat, i.e. Chaturasra gati. The external count of 14 is multiplied by 4 (gati units) and we get a total of 56 internal counts for the tala. The same would change to 42 in Tisra Gati (14*3). In other words, each of the 35 talas can be rendered in any of the 5 different gatis. Thus the 35-talas become 175 (35*5).

Yet another Jargon - Gati

Gati refers to a specific but fixed time-interval between any two beats within a tala. It can again be of five types: Chaturasra, Tisra, Misra, Khanda and Sankeerna.
The important thing to remember here is that the common names for the types of Jaati and Gati are only indicators of the values 4, 3, 7, 5 and 9. Whereas Jaati refers to the external finger-counting, Gati refers to the internal count between beats in the tala-cycle. Jaati gives a structure to the tala and Gati determines the gait of the tala.

How come 35 Taalas then?

Basically the 35-talas are an extension of the Sapta talas. The only element that changes is the Laghu. We already came across the fact that a laghu has five Jaatis (Chaturasra, Tisra, Misra, Khanda and Sankeerna). By incorporating that, we get a total of 35 varieties (7 Talas * 5 Jaatis). For instance, consider Dhruva tala with a Chaturasra laghu. A Chaturasra jaati dhruva tala would have a Chaturasra laghu followed by a dhrutam and two more Chaturasra laghus (It would be represented as I 4 0 I 4 I 4, the 4 near the laghu indicating a Chaturasra laghu). So we get an external count of 14 beats in all (4+2+4+4). Now the same Dhruva tala could have a Tisra laghu, in which case, we render a Tisra laghu instead of a Chaturasra laghu and thereby get a total external count of 11 beats (3+2+3+3) (This would be represented as I 3 0 I 3 I 3, the 3 representing the Tisra laghu). This is applied to all the other talas in a similar fashion. The important thing to be remembered is that it is always advisable to specify the Jaati (type) of the laghu to avoid confusion.

Saptha Talas

Dhruva tala: Comprises a laghu, a drutam followed by two more laghus. It is represented by the symbol - l O l l Mathya tala: Consists of a laghu, a drutam followed by another laghu. Symbol - l O l Roopaka tala: Consists of a drutam followed by a laghu. Symbol - O l Jhampa tala: Comprises a laghu followed by an anudrutam and a drutam. Symbol - l U O Triputa tala: Consists of a laghu followed by two drutams. Symbol - l O O Ata tala: Consists of two laghus followed by two drutams. Symbol - l l O O Eka tala: Consists of just a laghu. Symbol - l

The Tala System

The soundness of a system, primarily mathematical in character, consists of its internal coherency, logical rigidity and numeric accuracy. The tala system in Carnatic music satisfies all these conditions and is not only perfect but also beautifully elastic.

There are six parts (Angas - limbs) of a tala but the following three are used more frequently:
U - Anudrutham, A beat, represented by the symbol "U". This is physically represented as 1 unit
0 - Drutham, A beat and a wave of the hand, represented by the symbol "O". This is physically represented as 2 Unit.
| - Laghu, A beat followed by finger counts starting from the little finger. It is represented by the symbol "l". Laghu can be of five types (Jaati) depending on the number of units.

Units

Chaturasra (Jaati) laghu has a beat plus 3 finger counts, which is a total of 4 units.
Tisra (Jaati) laghu has 3 units i.e. a beat plus 2 finger counts.
Misra (Jaati) laghu has 7 units, i.e. a beat plus six finger counts.
Khanda (Jaati) laghu has 5 units, i.e. a beat plus four finger counts.
Sankeerna (Jaati) laghu has 9 units, i.e. beat plus eight finger counts.

Rhythmic Aspects

The rhythmic aspects in Carnatic music are arguably among the most developed and sophisticated across the world. The patterns range from the simple to the complex. The study of rhythmic aspects involves understanding the terms Tala and Laya.

Tala and Laya
Tala is often confused with Laya. Laya refers to the inherent rhythm in anything. Irrespective of whether it is demonstrated or not, it is always present. This can be better illustrated with an example. We know that the sun, the planets and other heavenly bodies are moving objects. Even as our earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun, these bodies have their own fixed movements and speeds. Even a microscopic disturbance in that speed may lead to disasters of huge proportions. So laya can be explained as the primordial orderliness of movements. Expression of laya in an organised fashion through fixed time cycles is known as Tala. Thus it serves as the structured rhythmic meter to measure musical time-intervals. Tala in Carnatic music is usually expressed physically by the musician through accented beats and unaccented finger counts or a wave of the hand. In other words, Tala is but a mere scale taken for the sake of convenience.

Appreciating Laya

Rhythm is omnipresent. There is rhythm in the movement of heavenly bodies just as in the life cycles of micro organisms. It is only natural that man is endowed with it. Whenever we listen to music, we look for the rhythmic movements in it and then find ourselves tapping our feet or clapping our hands or even dancing to it. But what exactly do we mean by rhythm?
Rhythm can be defined as a process in which the nuclei of attention are separated by individual parts of time. Whenever we listen to music, we cannot but perceive rhythm. Rhythm gives stability and form to music. It can be described as the tangible gait of any musical movement. In Carnatic music, this is referred to as Laya. The common fallacy is that rhythm or laya is confined to percussion instruments and the rhythmic patterns produced therein. But laya is not limited to just that. It is present not only in melodic compositions, which usually have a rhythmic metre in an apparent manner but also in the creative aspects, sometimes conspicuously (like in Neraval or Kalpanaswara) and subtly at others (Raga alapana and Tanam).