Delightful Laya patterns in Carnatic Music

Tālam & Layam related topics
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thanjavooran
Posts: 2972
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:44

Delightful Laya patterns in Carnatic Music

Post by thanjavooran »

delightful laya patterns in Karnatic Muxic

Lec Dem by Shri Chitraveena Narasimhan at Arkay convention on 03 05 2015

The above Lecdem under the auspices of Karnatic Music Forum started et 10 00 hrs with the introdcuction by Dr, Sundar. He mentioned that Shri Narasimahan is a regular guest attending all the workshop conducted by the forum.
Some of the interesting points noted are given below.

Shri Narasimhan was assisted by
M/s Anahitha
Apoorva
Sowmya
Vishal on vocal and
Vineeth on Mirudhangam

The program started with Vinayaka sthuthi Prnavakaram sidhivinyakam in Arabhi by O V
There are five divisions viz Aksharaganam, Mathra ganam , Lagu , Guru and Drutham
Mirudhangam was asked to play for sollu of Kamakshi, Bhavani and Ambika,
There were initially only three types Lagu, Guru and Dhrutham .
In 17th Century Govindhakavi's wrote first book on Layam
Few lines on Sarojathala nethri, Makelara were sung.
MD has composed few kritis set to thalam before.
Varnam is mixture of Arohi, Avarohi and sanchari
Chathusra thisram initially composed by Lalgudi and shared it with Alathur
Selem Desikan was an expert in this thalam
Pallavi can be with any words but should be meaningful
Demonstrated with the following pallavi ' Nanum Neeyum pogalama inru malai maalukku' and
' Saravanabavaguga thirumaal maruga'
Pallavi should be selected based on situation and rasikas' mood
Even while speaking kalapramanam should be maintained
Srothoham and Gopucham were discussed.
Dem on Simma nandhana Thalam was done with pallavi ' Mampahi Sri Rajarajeswari'
Myaltoor Sami Iyer F/O Mylattor Ramahandran was the first Vidwan to publish a book on Mirudhangam playing
The following single line Pallavis were sung by the group
Manikka guna in Thodi
Senthil velane unadhu padham in Begada
Byravi Ata thala varnam in different patterns of thala

My observation

Shri Narasimhan is a very knowledgeable Vidwan in layam and his lecture was mostly in Tamil
There were 60 rasikas till the end
Mostly the demonstration was in swaram singing only at different kalam and nadai
The services of Mirudhangam could have been utilized as Vineeth was sitting idle without much participation. Pallavis could have been demonstrated more elaborately so that all rasikas enjoyed listening music too. In general Lec Demo session was well conducted and appreciated by all. He touched most of the points discussed by Vidwan J. Venkataraman at Parthasarathi swamy Sabha during his Lec Dem on Pallavi singing few years back.
Any corrections quite welcome.
Thanjavooran
04 05 2015

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Re: Delightful Laya patterns in Carnatic Music

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Thanks for the report Thanjavooran. As always, your regular attendance of the lec dems and reporting on them is very much appreciated. Quite useful to all of us.
Even while speaking kalapramanam should be maintained
Great point. That aspect of linguistics that deals with language rhythm is called Isochrony and it will be quite appealing to our percussionists.

Ranganayaki
Posts: 1760
Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23

Re: Delightful Laya patterns in Carnatic Music

Post by Ranganayaki »

vasanthakokilam wrote:. That aspect of linguistics that deals with language rhythm is called Isochrony and it will be quite appealing to our percussionists.

Prosody, I think, not isochrony.

Rsachi
Posts: 5039
Joined: 31 Aug 2009, 13:54

Re: Delightful Laya patterns in Carnatic Music

Post by Rsachi »

Thank you Ranganayaki and VKM, for educating me on two related things!
Wikipedia says:
Isochrony is the postulated rhythmic division of time into equal portions by a language. Rhythm is an aspect of prosody, others being intonation, stress and tempo of speech.

Three alternative ways in which a language can divide time are postulated:

The duration of every syllable is equal (syllable-timed);
The duration of every mora is equal (mora-timed).
The temporal duration between two stressed syllables is equal (stress-timed)


Somebody had raised the subject of matras and syllables recently with me :)

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