What happens to Gamakas and proper speed
Bombay Jayashree’s album of Syama satri’s kritis released in
the last week of Ausust 2015 [ I would suggest you to listen to this after
listening to all the rest or preferably not to listen to listen to this- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xufEnPRi9DU]
and it popped up in someone’s old memories stuff of FB and that took me into a
nostalgic journey of very old memories nostalgia and nuances of rendering
certain ragas.
The beauty and unique aspect of Carnatic music is the subtle
nuances that Gamakas [1] can produce
which can literally touch certain nerve center in a very aesthetic and hyper
sensitive way the nectar of its
sweetness make us swarm around like the irresistible bees.
Besides, every raga and composition has its own unique stamp
through the pace at which it must be rendered.
Though Caranatic music is predominantly manodharma based but
at the same time this basic fabric of Gamakas and proper pace will ooze the
essence of musical quality which can get contaminated with unwanted frills,
excessive stress or pause and different speeds.
In this it is purely a matter of sensitive that the listening
mind not ears not culture but the mind develops over the years and which
cumulatively goes on to develop into taste or prejudice and sometimes both as
two sides of the same coin.
Most of Shyama Sastri’s compositions are meant to be
rendered and savored in vilambit kal or chowka kalam or for the exclusive Anglophones
‘ slow speed’ more so a raga like Punnagavarali and the composition kanaka
saila. One day some 25 years back I listened to the same song rendered by Maharapuram Santhnam at least 20 times on the same
day till it permeated into every cell of my body.
Listen here item number 8 in the link with his natural blend
of power of his guttural passage and the mellifluous melody from the tip of his
mouth and sound waves just touching the bottom of nasal passage too every now
and then this is a great voice culture technique otherwise nasal sounds will
dominate [more on this technique later on]
Devi brova samayamide by Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna
For example for Bhairavi wonderful swarajathi kamakshi a
master piece in bhairavi with swarkshra that is every stanza starts with a
swara in that order with swarasthanam and that jells with the lyrics in sound
like by MD.Ramanathan
or Prince Rama Varma
[1] For want a much better way to explain Gamakas I came up
with this
On Gamakas and voice culture
If a vocalist pays more attention to various
appropriate kamakas the more embellished the rendering becomes. To some it
comes naturally for some they have to work at it hard consciously.
Special addition on Gamakas a very comprehensive and crystal clear
demonstration of gamakas
One of the most precise and perfect demonstration of minutest
nuances of voice culture which go onto embellish a vocal rendering.
Voice Culture - Lecture demonstration - Dr. M
Balamuralikrishna
Another good demo of voice culture impregnated with certain
unique features of Indian classical music
No comments:
Post a Comment