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Thursday, July 20, 2023

Indian classical music emphasis on melody and huge bandwidth for individual improvisation

 

There is something very important in music that is the start ( it is called as eduppu in karnatic music). 

 

Also, when lyrics start, the starting note must be in such a way (in almost all types of Indian music be it classical Carnatic, Hindustani, Ghazals, Folk music, film songs etc) that there must be scope for elaboration ( niravals, kalpana swaras, intervals for mistakes of  instruments either making false starts or prolonging after the actual song stops etc. 

 

Therefore, usually, the starts are crystal clear and very few with great mastery try to attempt to compose with tough notes for example in Thodi one can hardly find any composition starting with Madhyamam ( GNB has composed one).

 

All of these are because all Indian music systems emphasizes more on Mano dharma, melody and huge bandwidth for individual improvisation whereas , in Western classical music the emphasis is on harmony. 

 

Western Jazz incorporates improvisation and Indian film songs incorporate harmony. 

 

Even while doing so, they explore into the new realm with excessive caution to ensure that the public acceptance is not lost. 

 

This preamble is because in all the songs that I have shared above I felt there must have been there ( if not a long preface of George Bernard Shaw or the postscript of explanation) in addition to the composition that we are used to listening to often. 

 

Voila a friend of mine fulfilled that suspense today by sharing these lot.

 

For example, even in Carnatic music, compositions like Seetha kalyanam have more than ten stanzas but people mostly render one or two. 

 

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