Come December and the sabhas (meetings) in Chennai gear up to witness a one-of-its-kind spectacle – “The Margazhi Maha Utsav”. A Carnatic music season is a regular feature in the calendar of many an NRI walking into Chennai and also the local crowds.
But what do people really go to the concerts for? Do they really nod their heads in desperation or is it in complete understanding of what the artist performs? Do they really UNDERSTAND everything about the Concert? Or is it just to have a fun-filled stress-free evening to ease the mood?
People might find out a raga being performed, but do they really know the raga? One thing that has always baffled me is how the theory of Carnatic music works. Just like how the letters of the English alphabet are necessary for sentence construction, just like how numbers and complex formulae make math what it is, so are the swaras of Carnatic music.
It is imperative that one has a complete understanding of these, in order that one understands and appreciates Carnatic music. Unfortunately, the scenario in the real world is quite different. There are far too many singers but very few notators. Ask them to sing and they will give you all brigas and sancharas, ask them to sing an alaap and they are found wanting, for it needs an understanding of the basic notes and a bit of creative thinking and a lot of permutation and combination to read music – a tougher process than singing!
A Melakartha scheme has been formulated many centuries ago by Venkatamukhi (17th Century B.C). It is a table similar to the periodic table of Science textbooks. There are 72 fundamental ragas in Carnatic music (Melakartha ragas) which give rise to infinite derivatives called janya ragas – sort of a parent-child relationship.
The elements that make up the Melakartha ragas are called swaras – SA, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni and Sa. Of these, the first SA, pa and the last Sa are fixed notes while Ri, Ga, MA, Dha and Ni are variables, meaning there are different variations of these denoted by R1, R2, R3(for Ri), G1, G2, G3(For Ga) and similarly for Ma, Dha and Ni. In all, there are 17 notes which are used in Carnatic music.
Each raga has two aspects – the Arohanam(ascent) and the Avarohanam(descent) which are made up of a particular set of notes. These define the raga. The point to be noted is that the notes can be used in any order while singing, but care should be taken not to bring in any note other than the ones specified, for it would mean a different raga in itself, even if there is a small violation.
For example, if a raga is made of Sa-R1-G2-Ma-Pa-D1-N3 and SA in the ascent and the same set of notes in the reverse order in the descent, these can be used in any which way to beautify the raga, but we cannot use an R3 or a D2 which is not part of this raga.
Just a simple understanding of these concepts would ensure that we start finding greater singers, handling tougher ragas, interacting better with the listeners and ultimately resulting in better overall quality of performance.
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