Basic information on Carnatic Music

 Music has no language.Everyone in the world has a system in presenting their music.Carnatic music (in Sanskrit::KarnATaka sangEta) is a system of music,mostly associated with the people of south India.

It is one of the two main sub-genres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient hindu traditions; the other sub-genre being Hindustani music, which emerged as a distinct form because of Persian and Islamic influences in North India.

 Carnatic music involve:

1)Shruthi

2)Swara

3)Raga

4)Tala

1)Shruthi::

Shruthi is the relative musical pitch.A shruti is considered the smallest interval of pitch that the human ear can detect.

2)Swara::

Swara is a note in the octave.The seven basic notes of the scale (swaras), in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri (Carnatic) or Re (Hindustani), Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N.

 

3)Raga::

Raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music. A raga uses a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is constructed. However, the way the notes are approached and rendered in musical phrases and the mood they convey are more important in defining a raga than the notes themselves. In the Indian musical tradition, ragas are associated with different times of the day, or with seasons. Indian classical music is always set in a raga.

4)Tala::

Tala is the term used in Indian classical music for the rhythmic pattern of any composition.A tala is a regular, repeating rhythmic phrase, particularly as rendered on a percussive instrument with an ebb and flow of various intonations represented as a theka, a sequence of drum-syllables or bol.

There are several composers in Carnatic/Karnatic music. Tyagaraja (1759–1847), Muthuswami Dikshitar (1776–1827) and Syama Sastri (1762–1827) are known as the Trinity of Carnatic music, while Purandara Dasa (1480–1564) is the father of Carnatic music.