Why Veena and Nadaswaram are
two most important reference manuals for Carnatic music?
A small
observation about classical Carnatic music from an ordinary rasika.
Is this
carnatic music a pure science or a pure art?
It is both
because it encompasses both and much more because it is a creativity emanating
from the soul weaving a very pleasant and aesthetic pattern of combination of
structure of sounds and not a mere compressed and packed a bunch of notes.
We can
scientifically analyze it, we can even dissect and analyze many of its parts.
We can
artistically and aesthetically enjoy and express it in multiple ways.
Perfection
in aspect or part of it is obviously relative based on the fallacies of and
short comings of human perception. [a]
But that
does not mean there is no clear cut and concrete attribute to it. In fact it
has many, all that many other forms of music have and much more.
Of these
let us see three unique aspects which distinguish it from other forms of music.
The
available literature on, about and appreciating music in general are too vast
and comprehensive and hence, even venturing to come out with any definition is
either bound to be redundant and/or subjecting oneself to a great risk of
facing a bombardment of counter opinions and criticisms. However, to embark on
any topic without definition would be giving room to ambiguity and an
indication of vagueness.
Thus defined music is in simple terms an effective
manipulation and structuring of appealing [sometimes aesthetically] combination
of sounds to enjoy oneself as well as
captivate, engage and engulf everyone around and invigorate the whole
environment in enjoyment, entertainment, enlightenment etc leading to even a
trancelike mode.
Different types of music appeal to these different
gradations through various methods.
Carnatic classical music has three very distinct aspects
which distinguishes it from the rest they are:-
1. Multiple raga systems, [I
say multiple raga systems because some other music systems also have ragas but
not this many in number]. The effects of these are the contributing factors for
other two aspects as they enhance and produce multiple shades of sounds with
very subtle nuances. As an analogy what comes to my mind is the enviable canine
sense of smell or the olfactory repertoire of dogs [ most dogs have more than
hundred million scent receptors and so they can distinctly differentiate a few
million odors/smells at anytime anywhere.]
2. Niravals and Kalpana swaras
[giving great space and scope for individual imagination and creativity of the
performing artist who is at liberty to elaborate adhering to certain parameters
like adhering to grammar, punctuation , syntax etc while writing.[Jazz does a bit
of this] last but not the least is.
3. Gamakas, a
very unique aspect and difficult to define verbally, as dogs smells different
scents with unique imprints, these have to be discerned through the human
auditory sensors. If at we venture to define a Gamaka it can be defined thus
with all the inevitable redundancies:-‘the very subtle nuances of combinations
of minute modulations involving certain specific amounts of all the following
aspects: emphasis or stress, pause or gap, frequency of specific vibration all
together oscillating, embellishing and most importantly minutely modulated and emanating
from a particular swara making its pleasant journey or jaunt outside and
permeating back into the same swara without meandering into the other swaras
around, either the ones before or after it. These gamakas are like the jivathma
which emanates from paramathma and goes back to the paramathma. They proceed
from a particular note in a particular scale and after its pleasant pilgrimage
in sound waves permeate back into the same note. It is these gamakas with their
minute nuances, or to use a more modern
scientific terminology with their nano presence, go on to polish and present a perfect and precise shade of a
raga, I would like to repeat that all these work of a gamaka is the
manifestation of the vibration of love by
sound waves with a particular note
within a scale.
Veena manifests best with crystal clear
clarity these gamakas , as one great veena vidwan used to say in Tamil [nunukamana alavana asaivukalum, alaigalum ,
azhuthamum]
So veena becomes a very important
reference manual for those who want to know the correct amount of gamaka as
Nadaswaram is an important reference manual for fathoming the full extent of
resonance and reverberation. In fact the vocalists who embed nadaswara phrases
[piddippugal] in their singing know the value of its impact.
In fact I have been
using physical analogies not only because all of us can relate to it with ease
the impact of such advanced music system, all those who have been immersed in
it knew always was emanating more from within than transported from outside,
but also because recent research by a relative of mine done with the protein Rhodopsin with the help of a veena player Mrs. Nirupa
Vinayagam (1gzmgama.mp3) manifested certain specific raga [as a matter of
serendipity I got an email informing about this on 21st morning when
we at Tapas Academy are awarding in the evening a Veenai artist Veenai R.
Parthasarathy].
For the research material you may
contact
Dr.Krithika Gokulnath
Woman Scientist,
CAS in Crystallography and Biophysics,
University of Madras,
Guindy(Maraimalai) campus,
Chennai- 600025
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