Carnatic Instrumental Music: Need for a change?
(Ganesh Kumaresh)
Given my work commitments it is becoming difficult to keep posting regularly. Yet sometimes something happens which makes you drop what you are doing and jot down your thoughts. A good friend sent me a youtube link of Kumaresh (of Ganesh - Kumaresh duo) giving a TED lecture cum demonstration at NIT Suratkal (as per the video.) This set me thinking. I wanted to jot down my thoughts. First, here is the youtube video:
It is a nice video. Do listen to what he says and also listen to his playing of Begada ragam.
I am sure you have heard what he said but just in case you skipped (or are behind a firewall which doesn't allow youtube), here is the crux of what he spoke. Instrumental music is very different from vocal music. In Carnatic music all instrumentalists play the krithis. While the words of the krithis are good for vocal music, they are not necessary for instrumental music. So they (Ganesh and Kumaresh) play pieces where they explore a raga without playing any krithi. They call it Raga Pravaham. To demonstrate this, Kumaresh played Begada on the violin, giving full rein to various instrumental techniques which are possible on the violin.
This is a debate which I have seen in multiple forums and I don't think anyone has come to a conclusion on it. If you take Hindustani music, the separation of instrumental music from vocal music is very clear. The instrumentalists don't play the khayal cheez. They have their own pieces composed for instruments which they play. Whereas in Carnatic Music, instrumentalists end up playing krithis, which is basically the tool of a vocalist. So should instrumentalists in the Carnatic domain play krithis or not? Is it something which restricts them? If they decide not to play the krithi, will that give them more independence?
I will give my personal view on both sides of the debate. In case of instruments like Nadaswaram, I am of the strong opinion that they need not play the krithi. Whenever I hear Rajaratnam Pillai playing the raga alapana, I don't want him to stop the alapana and start a krithi. That instrument seems to be so designed to bring out the best of any raga when you play the raga alapana. It also seems to be designed so as to encourage the player to give out his best and display wonderful phrases from his imagination. I would say Nadaswaram must be a 'raga only' instrument!!!
Listen to Rajaratnam play the ragams here in this MusicIndia Online site. I am sure you will agree with my statement on the nadaswaram:
On the other hand, the Veena seems to be designed to play the krithis!! I am not saying you cannot play imaginatively in it. Not at all. What I am trying to say is that Veena seems to an instrument which is very good for structured pieces. Tanam and Krithis are best played on Veena. Whereas Nadaswaram seems to be designed for unstructured pieces like raga alapana. (Ofcourse the great masters ensure that raga alapana also has a structure but that is a different point.). The other instruments fall somewhere in between.
(Kalpagam Mami plays the krithi 'Bruhannayaki' (Andhali - Dikshitar) on veena. The krithi glows when played on the veena. Ofcourse Mami's superb playing helps as well.)
Other than the character of the instrument itself, what are the benefits for an instrumentalist to play a krithi. First one is the obvious one: connect. If you play a known krithi like 'Vataphi', 'Mahaganapathim', 'Samagavaragamana' etc, you instantly connect with the audience. Some krithis seem to be designed for instruments (or have been so adapted). 'manavi aalakincha raadhate', sara sara samare', 'niravathi sukadha' etc. There is good scope for instrumentalist to display his / her virtuosity in such krithis. The flip side to this is obvious. For sake of easy connect some instrumentalists end up playing the same krithi again and again in various concerts, leading many a time to boredom.
(Kadri playing the famous 'Alaipaayude')
The second reason for instrumentalists to play a krithi is because many of the krithis by the Trinity are repositories for some of the best phrases in the raga. The contain within themselves an universe as far as the raga is concerned. So if you play a krithi sincerely you will ensure that a very good picture of the raga is painted, which will satisfy many a listener, even if they are unaware of the krithi.
The third reason for instrumentalists to play a krithi is because it provides a structure. I feel that unconsciously we all look for structure in art. Even the most abstract of arts has a structure which may or may not manifest itself. The krithi, by its very definition, is a structured entity and if you play it, other than the raga part, the structural part also leads to satisfaction amongst the listeners.
In essence, the challenge for a carnatic instrumentalist is three fold: connection with the audience, imagination and structure. I would say that all these three are interlinked.
What do I mean by imagination here? When you play a krithi, as I said earlier, lot of the raga is exposed by the krithi. If you are eschewing the krithi, you have to ensure that you expose the raga in all its splendor without any help. So the demand will be that only a very imaginative person, who understands the intricacies of the raga, can become a good instrumentalist. Added to it, if he / she has good virtuosity over the instruments, it can lead to unfolding of the raga in ways we would not have imagined.
Coming to the structure part, I think the answer is available from other types of music. Hindustani music, Western Music all have a refrain / motif which drives any piece. As in khayal where the first two lines give you the foundation around which you build your raga empire, so too in Hindustani instrumental music you find some refrain / motif around which everything is done. They use terms like alap, jod, jhala, gat etc to denote these. (I am not aware the exact meaning of these words. alap ofcourse is the alapana).
So if carnatic musicians want to play non krithi based pieces, they must start building a repertoire of such motifs. Initially these could be the phrases taken from some of the krithis. This will give the necessary familiarity to the audience. Instrumentalists can then build up on these motifs. This needs to be done consistently so that audience will start identifying these refrains and motifs. They will start relating to it. Then they will not be looking for krithis in instrumental music concerts.
(Ustad Akbar Ali Khan playing a lovely Bageshree on the Sarod:)
I would probably suggest a middle path. I sincerely believe that any carnatic musician can get a hang of the internals and scope of any raga only if he / she learns a lot of krithis. After all they were composed by some of the greatest musical brains ever born on planet earth. It will also help them in nurturing their manodharma, which is a very important aspect if they have to play without the krithis. Once they understand the raga's scope, possibilities the raga offers and also what makes a raga, 'carnatic' , then they should start experimenting with providing instrumental music sans krithi. I would personally like to hear concerts in future which will provide a mix of both, krithis and music without the krithis. I don't know how far the concept would go but I personally do agree with the vision of Ganesh and Kumaresh. That is a good way to move forward in the instrumental arena in Carnatic music.
What are you thoughts on this? Do pen them down in the comments section.
P.S.: The lecture ends on a very ironic note, providing a clear idea of the challenge the instrumentalists face.
Comments
I think the instrumentalist first can express himself, by exploring the raaga (imagination) and slowly bring the traces of structures, within his imagination so that people can get the connect, once they identify the structure. This is easier said than done. What I mean is - he can explore a Ahir Bhairav like a aalaap and not adhering to any krithi as such and then somewhere in between (just as he senses that the audience is getting bored), he can bring in a "Pibare Raama Rasam", or may be flow into its charanams directly which makes the audience sit up, once familiarity strikes them and he can explore the structure and then slowly move out of the krithi and build his own composition, through exploring/showcasing the raaga in full splendour. I know what I am suggesting is tough but in a certain way, it ties with what your opinion is.
The question is - who can do this well, without overdoing this? A lot of instrumentalists can spoil this by overdoing. They need to have lot of command and also 'nigraham', to delicately take the audience in and out of the krithi and letting their own imagination explore the contours of the raaga and its bhaavam.
But a well written article Suresh!
First rate post, congrats.
Trouble to comment about this blog post is that, threshold of knowledge / expertise on music that is required itself is very high :-(
That said, whenever i hear a song where the lyrics is known and add to that if it is a known language, the experience is of much higher order.
With that, i rest my case.
regards
madhu
Excellent comments there.
I agree with you in that the artist can use familiarity to lure in the listeners ensuring they don't drift off.
More importantly, you other point about not overdoing stuff is the most important one. I wanted to write about it but it was taking me all over the place and the article was getting lengthier. So I left it at the structure stage itself. This control requires, as you pointed out, 'nigraham'. I have seen many a could-be classic act being destroyed by loss of proportion. This also means that the instrumentalist must have a very good aesthetic sense which controls him / her.
Good discussion.
In my opinion, Carnatic music has the most comprehensive canvas for musical expression. Assuming that music is man made for man listening, man's vocabulary of expressions consist of both maatu(words) and dhaatu(musical idiom). To maximise musical empathy, both are leveraged in CM, thorugh first raga alapana, then very expressive songs or lyrical music, with phonetic fulcrums for musical embellishment as well as word meanings, in addition to rhythmic cycles and repetitive musical refrains like pallavi and charanam. The neraval offers even more scope for musical improvisation pegged to words and rhythm. In swaras, the improvisation is again pegged to the word line, as well as rhythmic boundaries. In addition, a typical concert has many types of songs, and thus variegated scope for musical expression. Instrumentalists might have started off playing their own type of music, but over centuries, they have joined the band wagon of Carnatic music precisely because of its most comprehensive canvas of possibilities. As such, raga pravaham and such experiments can only be a type of subset of the super set of musical possibilities called CM.
As Kamal suggests, the instrumentalist can start with a Kanada alapanai and then take the first line from 'alaipaayudhe' and build patterns around it. That way, you will be hooked and the instrumentalist can explore a lot more.
Well said.
What I was trying to say is that this should be done within the framework of Carnatic Music. An instrumental concert sans krithi may not be our sanskrithi (pardon the pun). What I was suggesting is that the instrumentalists first learn the krithis to imbibe multiple things: the raga bhavam, the emotion brought out in the krithi via the raga, the scope of the raga, the phrasings which are pleasing and also the relationship between notes which the krithis explore. This will form an ideal education about music. Then the instrumentalist can build on this and come with instrumental pieces which don't need the support of words. A tall order which will require very knowledgeable musicians and as Kamal pointed out, musicians with good aesthetic sense.
Thanks for the excellent post and the nice links as well. As Madhu has said, I don't think I am qualified to comment, but when I heard Kumaresh play the piece, in many bits it sounded quite a lot like Western classical music. Not sure if this was intentional, but this cross over (if I may say so) probably does not happen when you play the kritis.. Also, when we have sections like Neraval, Kalpana Swarams in a traditional kriti rendering, doesn't that give sufficient scope for the instrumentalist to show his imagination and also the full potential of the instrument? I don't know the grammar for Neraval or Kalpana Swaram, but I thought the Carnatic Music system essentially gives enough leeway to explore, but to still sound "carnatic"..
Sorry if my comments are very naive as my knowledge on this topic is very limited..
Best Regards,
N.R. Ramesh.
What you say is not naive but very valid points. Those will generally be the arguments.
The manodharmam that Carnatic music allows us still revolves round the krithi. As you know the neraval is very intimately tied to the krithi and as such the instrumentalist has to 'reproduce' those words. Otherwise the effectiveness of the neraval will be lost. Instead if the instrumentalist chooses a motif or refrain which is more suitable to him, the audience will only hear the tune and will not look for any words. That way the instrumentalists have more leeway. Same way, the expectation of the audience from the kalpana swaras is also closely linked to the krithi.
The point you raise is also valid. In this approach what are the chances that the instrumentalists will get carried away and stray from the carnatic grammar? It is very much possible and then the effect may be lost. (Or enhanced depending on who hears it :) ) So the whole thing needs to be done keeping the Carnatic 'soul' intact. (What constitutes the 'soul' is ofcourse very much debatable.)
That's a nice way to put it. I too think a combination of both can happen and then slowly lead to complete instrumental music sans krithis.
Raga pravaham is just not about being able to play raga alapanai and kalpanaswarams the way instrumental players want or a singer wants to sing...
Ragapravaham is also about giving meaning to the raga through a composition without the baggage of lyrics.....
Compositions have become the mainstay of our music, for that matter any music... It is through them that the music is identified...,Compositions have become the vehicle to understand , appreciate, educate, practise,
profess music.. Hence to do all these through instruments in the shape of compositions is the challenge here......especially because the style and form of compositions have become so entrenched in our system that to get audiences to appreciate any other way is an uphill task...
So, right now the concentration is on compositions which have no
lyrics....That is what instruments dont have to boast about..... we need a bank of compositions without lyrics designed for different instruments, so in a span of 10,20 30 years we will have thousands which can also be
propogated by the instrumental gurus and in turn by their students.....
the essential need is that all quality instrumental players have to compose without lyrics and popularize them amongst their students of music and audiences in general..
The experiment of playing a "pure raga without lyrics" on an instrument was tried by Chitti Babu on the Veena (Ranjana mala, Wedding Bells etc.)
http://www.hummaa.com/music/album/ranjanamala/26926
http://gaana.com/#!/streamalbums/chittibabu-wedding-bells-veena
Notice how he plays a bit of "Siva siva siva enarada" - but in Subhapanthuvarali - which would give some sense of connect to the listener between the raga and song. Very soft and soothing to listen.
There are some other very nice albums like "Call of the Valley", "Nothing but Wind" (Ilayaraaja) etc.
My 2p - which would differ from from what most of the other bloggers':
At least for Carnatic Music such experiments should be just left at that - experiments :-) The beauty of Carnatic music is that it satisfies you at all levels - raga for the ears, lyrics for the intellect, bhava for the heart and bhakthi for the soul. All 4 dimensions are required for a complete experience. With all due respect to Sri Ganesh, I strongly disagree that lyrics are "baggage".
e.g. When I listen to Lalgudi's "Enna thavam seithanai" where he plays a really "pleading" note for the phrase "kenja vaiththai" I am able to appreciate it better after understanding the lyrics.
A good instrumentalist can surely bring out all aspects of the raga during the alapana (and in neraval/swaram) - I really don't see a pressing need for having instrument-only songs without lyrics. And as you mention, without the discipline of lyrics, there is always the risk that the instrumentalist may get carried away to demonstrate the versatility of the instrument itself, and run amok. That is when the music becomes cacophony :(
IMO, the way to increase the popularity of CM could be to have more krithis in other languages (to attract more listeners who may not be able to appreciate the lyrics in Sanskrit and Telugu).
Cheers,
Ramki.
I was waiting for a response from you :) You being an instrumentalist yourself.
When you bring Lalgudi into the picture, it becomes a very difficult point to argue against :) Having said that, yes, what Lalgudi does with 'enna thavam seidhanai' is lovely. Here the instrumentalist has an advantage. He / She can concentrate on getting the bhava right while the audience plays the song in their minds. That way there is no mispronunciation of words and the audience is able to participate in the rendition. Therefore you end up getting much more joy due to this involvement.
Having said that, I would think this applies more towards the pieces sung towards the end. Ragas like Bageshree, Kapi, Yamuna Kalyani, Behag etc easily attract the listener and if you know the words, then it becomes a joy. While the same cannot be said for the majestic krithis. In those case, the raga bhavam takes precedence. For example, Dikshitar krithis are fairly impersonal. There the majestic construction, the superb pacing and the raga bhavam are paramount, imo. Here the instrumentalist derives more joy in getting the raga bhavam than the sahithya bhava. Also as I had mentioned earlier, sahithya bhava has this danger of the instrumentalists choosing only those songs which the audience knows.
As everyone expresses, the greatest fear is that instrumentalists will go berserk without the structure the krithi provides. In order to address this my feeling is that the instrumentalists should slowly develop a grammar of their own for playing non krithi based pieces. This grammar should ensure that there is a certain restraint placed on the instrumentalists. Afterall great aesthetics comes from restriction.
"A very logical and thought provoking article!
Carnatic Music mainly revolves around sahitya.The structure of many ragas were conceived by the Trinity though ragas did exist before them.
In my opinion,it is the Sahitya that gives the bhava.I can quote some kritis and the phrases to show this(maybe sometime later).
Is it possible for us to appreciate 'Carnatic Music' as a whole if the instrumentalists play just the ragas?Well.. we do this even when a vocalist sings a Ragam Taanam Pallavi(but here too the one line sahityas are very interesting-for example ShakarabharaNanai azhiththodi vaa kalyani).
But let us remember that RTP-which has been in vogue for at least 2 centuries- has become a part and parcel of a major concert and therefore will not fall under the so called 'raga pravaagam'.
It may not be out of place to mention about a recent article in The Hindu written by a young senior vidwan(oxymoron?) known for his rebellious thinking where he has questioned the structure of the concert(as many of you know, it was the great Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar who devised the structure).
I disagree with the thoughts expressed by that young senior vidwan and also with what Ganesh-Kumaresh have said.Though their credentials as great violinists can never be questioned, what can be questioned is their classicism.In the last 10 years or so, their style of playing has changed so much that it borders on showmanship to say the least.
Therefore, I am not at all surprised with their ideas and thoughts.
I for one would want the instrumentalists to stick to the compositions of the great masters in a carnatic concert and play 'Raga Pravaagams' and 'Raga Bhavams' in some other forums like Fusion concerts' or even Jugalbandhis' with Hindustani musicians.
Thanks! "
"Dear Suresh,
I am not a musicologist or an expert in music; I listen to the music and can differentiate between what pleases the mind and soul and what plays a discordant note. Carnatic music did not have violin as an instrument originally; it was intoduced to us through our colonial rulers,but, adapted to our music system by great artists of yore.
As Thyagaraja wrote, our music is basically imbued with bhakthi and hence krithis became important to bring the effect. As onr of your fans wrote, alapana gives enough and more scope for virtuoso perfromance by the instrumentalist, if desired. Nadhaswaram is largely connected early, to temple music and as you have rightly written does not need support of a sahitya to bring the devotional fervour.For majority of listeners, hearing a good alapana by the vocalist, followed on the supporting instrument to fuller exposition, and faithful rendering of the krithi with bhava will be more satisfying than the musical circus some want to play. When they play solo, all instrumentalists are at liberty to blend both
the classical form(traditional) and modern form giving a full exposition to their imagination and also creating an awareness of this type of music in the listeners.
A very well written article; I just thought that I will record my views also/
May God Bless you.
Krishnan"
I finally got to read your post! Very very nicely written! As a student/player of the carnatic violin, I do totally agree with the challenges that you have listed. I would say that connect and imagination are very hard to balance in a concert. My own mother, when she was initially a rookie rasika, never did enjoy instrumental concerts too much, due to lack of familiarity - the 'connect'. Gradually though, she's begun to enjoy these concerts as well.
Also, the motifs you've mentioned here - aren't they really our Pallavis? How many instrumentalists play pallavis these days? Even if they do, how many folks sit and listen? Pallavis offer plenty of scope for imagination and there is enough structure in them - Imaginative structure if you will. Increasingly, the 'connect' in pallavis these days happens in the end, during the ragamalika swaras. Plenty of imagination / virtuosity..etc. Lalgudi sir has played tons of RTPs. And, so have many other masters.
I feel instrumentalists should play slightly longer and elaborate pallavis and should choose to explore hitherto less-explored ragams for the pallavi.
I definitely hope to do so some day :)
Always nice to have a perspective from the performer in these cases. Thanks for the comment. (And you can drop the 'sir' part :) )
What you say is very true. Pallavis are in a way motifs. And yes, they offer tremendous scope for the instrumentalist to experiment. The only thing about pallavis is that many of them are intricate and rhythmically complex. So along with pallavis, the instrumentalists will also need to develop some very simple motifs as well. Something which people can hum as well. Basically something which does away with the rhythmic complexity of the pallavi and is easy for a novice listener to hum. If they do this over lot of concerts, people may start looking forward to these pieces.
Second thing I think will be important, when you do such stuff, is to develop a grammar over and above the carnatic grammar. So if you play a non-krithi piece, what should the structure be like, how should do the neraval in it, how do you play with going overboard etc. (This is what is the concern of many people when non-krithi pieces are suggested.) I personally feel such a grammar should differ from instrument to instrument. For example, veena can concentrate more on the thanam part of RTP, while violin can do more of the alapanai etc.
Ofcourse, all this is a tall order but tougher things have been achieved earlier by the artists :)
And good luck for your playing. Looking forward to hearing your playing soon.
This is not true in case of instruments like Sarangi. Sarangi, traditionally was always an accompaniment instrument and traditionally all Sarangiyas played gayaki pieces (as they always accompanied gavaiyas & were sometimes even tutored/nurtured/encouraged by gavaiyas). Sarangi, very recently evolved to a solo playing status and sarangiyas today may/may not be adhering to the gayaki and depending on their taaleem. Having said that, I agree with your point, where the base is giving by the khayal piece and the improvisation is done as per the motif by the instrumentalist. But that is the case with a gavaiya as well. They are taught bandishes (mukhdas & antaras) and they are taught a way to sing them. When they improvise on that, it is completely extempore (at least if the gavaiya is genuine).
Also, if you take instruments like Sitar, sitariyas like Ustad Vilayat Khan have always played the gayaki ang on the Sitar. In fact the instruments (sitars) were modified to play the gayaki ang, the meends on the Sitar. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan plays the gayaki ang on the Sarod (and his Sarod/ his playing is very different from somebody like Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's). Ustad Bismillah Khan's Shehnai is another gayaki ang example.
That said, wherever the gayaki ang was not possible to exploit, musicians have explored playing with different elements of the music (of course, keeping in the motif in mind again). Pt.Shivkumar Sharma's layakari with the Santoor is a prime example.
I have a few doubts as I don't know too much about Hindustani music. While I understand the 'gayaki ang' being played on instruments, do the use the same 'cheeze' as what vocalists do. Like if someone is playing Miyan Ki Malhar on sitar/sarod, will he used 'karim naam tero' as a base to develop the raga or do they have their own 'cheez' for the instrument using which they develop the raga? If it is former I stand corrected for I was definitely implying the latter.
You listen to Pt.Ravi Shankar's or Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's recordings and you will not find them eluding to the gayaki bandishes. Not all artists play the same cheez as it is sung but those who do, do it genuinely.