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Gamakam - a unique character of Carnatic Music

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While Hindustani music do not emphasize Gamakams, Carnatic music is not possible without its unique emphasis Gamakams........
Dear T K S Sir,

I am totally surprised to read this!! Hindustani without gamakams?? No way, Sir. :)

Actually, though some of us are unable to enjoy that form of music, the Sruthi shuddham is a must in Hindustani.

The main difference between these two forms of music is this:

Carnatic rAgams are based on phrases where as Hindustani rAgams are based on swarams - Each swaram

has its own oscillation (gamakam) and elaborately played. Hindustani rAgams have more glides between swarams.

For example, please listen to DarbAri KAnadA and (Carnatic) KAnadA which have the same set of swarams. :)
 
Dear T K S Sir,

I am totally surprised to read this!! Hindustani without gamakams?? No way, Sir. :)

Actually, though some of us are unable to enjoy that form of music, the Sruthi shuddham is a must in Hindustani.

The main difference between these two forms of music is this:

Carnatic rAgams are based on phrases where as Hindustani rAgams are based on swarams - Each swaram

has its own oscillation (gamakam) and elaborately played. Hindustani rAgams have more glides between swarams.

For example, please listen to DarbAri KAnadA and (Carnatic) KAnadA which have the same set of swarams. :)

Smt RR,

I did not say that Hindustani music does not have gamakams in its expression but they do not emphasize it. The promotion of Harmonium as one of the instruments in Hindustani music has caused almost a disappearance of complex Gamakas over time.




Rendion of Darbari Kanada by Vilayat Khan certainly has expressions of complex Gamakam. However if one were to compare Hindustani music by many artists compared to carnatic music, one will rarely find complex gamakas being employed.

I have talked to friends who are teachers of Hindustani music and many do not fully understand the complex gamakas found in Carnatic music which is like its life blood.

Out of 15 or so type of Gamakams employed in carnatic music , do you know how many find their expressions in Hindustani music?
 
Dear T K S Sir,

The basic gamakams are supposed to be 10 - Dikshitar writes,
''vINAgAna dashagamakakriyE''

in the song
mInAkSi mE mudaM dEhi

Please refer this for the basic 10 gamakams: Gamakas and their 10 types

I think all these are very much present in both systems of music. But opinions differ. :)

BTW, I came to know recently that Harmonium was banned in A I R for a few years!

But now, the keyboard with joy stick is able to bring out all the nuances in Carnatic music. :thumb:
 
Thank you very much, Prof. M S K Sir.

But, I beg to differ slightly from what Prince Rama Varma says. In Carnatic rAgams also, many gamakams are

from the upper note. Rishabham (glide from Ga) and Dhaivadham (glide from Sa') in SankarAbharaNam are

good examples. The major difference is that the glides are slow.....er in Hindustani and swifter in Carnatic. :)
 
Dear T K S Sir,

The basic gamakams are supposed to be 10 - Dikshitar writes,
''vINAgAna dashagamakakriyE''

in the song
mInAkSi mE mudaM dEhi

Please refer this for the basic 10 gamakams: Gamakas and their 10 types

I think all these are very much present in both systems of music. But opinions differ. :)

BTW, I came to know recently that Harmonium was banned in A I R for a few years!

But now, the keyboard with joy stick is able to bring out all the nuances in Carnatic music. :thumb:

Smt RR,

In the opening post I referred to this youtube segments. There they refer to this authoritative text Sangita Ratnakara which supposedly describe 15 Gamakas (and applicable to Hindustani music as well). The ladies in the video describe each of them and then in subsequent video teachings, demo using Veena.

In practice though the complex Gamakas have virtually disappeared in Hindustani with the intro of Harmonium as one of key instruments. The result is that the certain inherent beauty of Hindustani music has lost some of its powerful attributes. Not trying to pull down Hindustani classical music which has its own glory in many other areas.

Good that joystick based improvisations exist, otherwise carnatic music cannot be played.

The western instruments have logarithmic keyboards and I assume same is true for harmonium too.

Here is a little arithmetic and ask you if my understanding is right.

Carnatic music is based not on logarithmic scale but on a rational ratio scale. An octave is based on the ratio 1:2


Pa is located through the ratio 2:3 and similarly for all the twelve swara sthanas..

An octave is a factor of two and there are twelve intervals . In a harmonium, and pianos, a key will be n times the pitch of the key immediately to the left of it. Therefore n (frequency) multiplied 12 times for 12 keys give 2.

Then n has to be the twelfth root of two which is about 1.06. Using this logarithmic division procedure, Pa (the 8th swara sthana) comes to the ratio of of not 1.5 but 1.498. Though it is very close a good musician will know this difference.

I do not know if the Harmonium is tunable when used in Hindustani music and do people tune them?

In any case gamakam usage is low in Hindustani music even though instruments like Sitar can render it.

When a Hindustani alapana is in progress I have heard people say it is sometimes hard to guess the raga right away. In carnatic music even with 2 or 4 swaras with gamakas it is possible to guess the raga. Not sure if you agree with this characterization.
 
Dear T K S Sir,

Thank you for your well analyzed post! :thumb:

As I wrote earlier, Carnatic music is based mainly on phrases where as swarAs are given importance in Hindustani

music. This makes some of us impatient to listen to rAgA elaboration in Hindustani music. Each swaram will be taken

one after the other at slow pace and we can not guess which way other swarAs will develop. Sri. Balamuralikrishna

used to start a rAgam with only two notes and sing for a few minutes! And the audience keep guessing which rAgam

he is going to render! :D


The only thing that disturbs me is that many leading Carnatic singers don't give importance to alignment with sruthi.

And........ Some Hindustani music singers threaten me with their express-speed-singing, losing the melody totally!


I think the harmonium has fixed notes only.
 
Each rAgam has special phrases in Carnatic music and an artist can show the rAgam clearly

by singing the important phrases first! This can not happen in Hindustani music.
 
Dear T K S Sir,

Thank you for your well analyzed post! :thumb:

As I wrote earlier, Carnatic music is based mainly on phrases where as swarAs are given importance in Hindustani

music. This makes some of us impatient to listen to rAgA elaboration in Hindustani music. Each swaram will be taken

one after the other at slow pace and we can not guess which way other swarAs will develop. Sri. Balamuralikrishna

used to start a rAgam with only two notes and sing for a few minutes! And the audience keep guessing which rAgam

he is going to render! :D


The only thing that disturbs me is that many leading Carnatic singers don't give importance to alignment with sruthi.

And........ Some Hindustani music singers threaten me with their express-speed-singing, losing the melody totally!


I think the harmonium has fixed notes only.

Smt RR,

Thanks for your message!

Swaras are indeed given importance in Hindustani music and I can relate to your comments about Balamurali Krishna. During some moods he used to love to do some mischief (சேஷ்டை? , not sure the right word) to keep the audience guessing!
 
Dear T K S Sir,

Yeah, the correct word is
சேஷ்டை.

In one of his concerts in Vizag, he kept on staring at one corner of the ceiling, while singing one of the NavAvaraNa krithis

and the audience also started staring at that corner - probably expecting the divine dharshan of Goddess KamalAmbA! :D
 
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