What’s the difference between Hindustani and Carnatic music?

At first, this question seems easy to answer: just watch performers from either strand of Indian music and you’ll know Which is Which, merely going by the instruments in use, or how they dress and watching the body language involved: harmonium or sarangi vs. violin for melodic accompaniment for most vocal recitals, and tabla drums … Read more

A musical tribute to Prof. S. A. Srinivasan by Karaikudi Voyage – Sreevidhya Chandramouli (vocal & vina)

Dr. Srinivasa Ayya Srinivasan, a dear friend of ours, and an Indologist at University of Hamburg, Germany, passed away on May 2nd, 2019. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Pia Srinivasan, who was a student of late Rajeswari Padmanabhan. We pay homage to his great soul with a few of his favorite compositions … Read more

A brief introduction to Carnatic music

Whatever one’s personal background and aspirations may be, Carnatic music remains a quest for undiluted aesthetic experience (rasa).1 Three basic concepts are essential for daily practice as well as proper appreciation: rāga (tuneful rendition with minute intervals and rich in embellishments), tāla (rhythmic order marked by mathematical precision), and bhāva (expression of thoughts and emotions). To … Read more

A music for all: How Carnatic music unites and keeps spreading

by Ludwig Pesch Carnatic music – the classical music of South India – unites people from a variety of social backgrounds. Over two hundred fifty million people now inhabit a region that comprises five modern states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana) drawn up on the basis of their respective linguistic majorities. They take pride … Read more

Flow | The right tempo or “kalapramanam”

If there is a single feature of Carnatic music to account for its mesmerizing effect on listeners it may well be a feature known as kalapramanam: practicing rhythm (laya)1 and performing in the the “right tempo”2 (kālapramānam) which, once chosen, remains even (until the piece is concluded). Adopting it as part of regular practice enables … Read more

Bhava enables the transmission of experience of thoughts and emotions – Narayana Vishwanath

We are aware that the ultimate aim of every composer and musician is to achieve the coalescence, the essential factors of classical music namely bhava, raga and tala. We know bhava literally means, expression, the expression of existence. In a composition, bhava encompasses the aspects rasa, raga1 and laya and for a musical composition to … Read more

Tala Anubhava: 25 rhythm exercises

A tala trainer for self-study by Kalaimamani TR Sundaresan (voice & lessons) & Ludwig Pesch (talam cymbals & concept) Tips for self-study For some of the basic lessons your tutor provides pauses to be filled by participants while the accompaniment of cymbals and claps continues. This is followed by yet another repetition by the tutor.  … Read more