Bollywood song with a Carnatic Touch

Some days backs I was surfing on youtube, and I found a very wonderful bollywood song from the Movie Bhool Bhulaiyaa (in English: The Maze). The name of the song is 'Mere Dholna Sun'.

You can find song and lyrics here.

What I liked the most from this song is that it took me back to the basics I learnt during my first Karnatak lesson, namely to remember the 'Swaras' (the musical sound of a single note) and the 'Raaga' (the mode). I must confess I wasnt able to decipher which type of Talam (rythmic cyles) was used for this song. And I couldnt also find it... any suggestion?

Carnatic music is practised in Maya Malava Gowla Raga and Chatusra Jaathi Triputa Tala (or the well-known Adi Talam= composed of 8 aksharas and/or one unit of talam). Many different combinations of swaras are practiced in a minimun of three different speeds (tempus) and at the same time the speed of the Talam is kept constant. 

-The first speed: one swara at the time, eg.:

Talam: Adi Talam - 8 aksharas/or unit of talam

1    2   3    4       5    6      7    8

sa  ri   ga  ma    pa  dha  ni  sa

sa  ni  da  pa     ma  ga    ri  sa

-The second speed: two swaras are sung for one unit of talam

Talam: Adi Talam - 8 aksharas/or unit of talam

1       2         3          4       5       6        7         8

sari  gama  padha  nisa  sani  dapa  maga  risa

sari  gama  padha  nisa  sani  dapa  maga  risa

-The third speed: four swaras are sung for one unit of talam

Talam: Adi Talam - 8 aksharas/or unit of talam                                                                                                                         

1 sarigama  

2 padhanisa 

3 sanidapa 

4 magarisa  

5 sarigama  

6 padhanisa  

7 sanidapa  

8 magarisa

1 sarigama  

2 padhanisa 

3 sanidapa  

4 magarisa  

5 sarigama  

6 padhanisa  

7 sanidapa  

8 magarisa

By increasing the speed it is meant to double the swaras from the previous speed. 

-The fourth speed: eight swaras sung for one unit of talam (please note that you can only master this speed once you mastered the first 3 speeds...)

Talam: Adi Talam - 8 aksharas/or unit of talam                                                                                                            

1 sarigamapadhanisa  

2 sanidapamagarisa  

3 sarigamapadhanisa  

4 sanidapamagarisa                 

5 sarigamapadhanisa  

6 sanidapamagarisa  

7 sarigamapadhanisa  

8 sanidapamagarisa

Now I want to come back to the song 'Mere Dholna sung'. I have extracted some combinations of swaras from the lyrics (minute 2:53) and would like to analyze the speed that is been sang and the varisaigal. 

Swaravali Varisaigal= one swara

Sa Ni Dha  = first tempo

Ni Dha Ma = first tempo

Ma Ga Sa Ni Dha Ni Sa Ga Ma = first tempo

Ma Ga Sa Ni Dha Ni Sa Ga = third tempo

Ma Ga Sa Ni Dha Ni Sa Ga = third tempo

Ma Ga Ma Ga = first tempo

Sa Ni Dha Ga Pa Dha Ni  = third tempo

Sa Ni Dha Ga Pa Dha Ni

Sa Ni Dha Ni

Dha ni Sa = first tempo

Dha ni Sa

Dha ni Sa

Dha ni Sa

Ma Dha Ni  = first tempo

Ma Dha Ni 

Ma Dha Ni 

Ma Dha Ni 

Dha ni Sa  = first tempo

Dha ni Sa

Dha ni Sa

Ma Dha Ni  = first tempo

Ma Dha Ni 

Ma Dha Ni 

Ma Dha Ni Sa = thrid tempo

Ma Dha Ni Sa

Ma Dha Ni Sa

Ma Dha Ni Sa

Sa Ni Dha Ma = thrid tempo

Sa Ni Dha Ma

Sa Ni Dha Ma

Sa Ni Dha Ma

Swavarali Varisaigal = 2 times same swara

Ma Ma ga ga Sa Sa Ni Ni = thrid tempo

Sa Sa Ni Ni Dha Dha Ni Ni

Sa Sa Ni Ni Dha Dha Ma Ma 

Sa Sa Ni Ni Dha Dha Ga Ga Re Re sa sa

Ni Ni Sa sa Sa

Ni Dha Sa sa sa

Ma Ga Sa sa sa 

(tempo=speed)

I hope that my guessing was right. In case you might find some mistake, please write a comment, I would be more than glad to know. "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new"....

My first 'Karnatac' Lesson

Have you ever wonder how many things one can learn while seconds, minutes, days, months... years, etc., keep on passing? One can never learn enough! That's what I believe.  According to a Buddhist Proverb: When the student is ready, the master appears... and so was I for my first Karnatac Music Lesson (also called Carnatic music).

For some of you who are not aware of the term Carnatic Music and/or Karnatac Music is the classical music of South India. In India you can find two types of music: the classical Carnatic music and the Hindustani music which was developed in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.

Carnatic music is exclusively devotional due to the fact that most of the songs are addressed to the Hindu Deitis. Performing a dance with Karnatic music - in other words performing a bharatnatyam piece of dance its offered as a religious service.

The basics of Karnatac music:

One of the two main components is 'raaga'. A 'raaga' is essentially the 'music' (a raaga can be defined as patterns basically used in the Indian classical music). The second main component is the Talam which is more or less a rythmic cycle. Carnatic music also makes use of a Sruti which is a sort of background music from which the note from all other different tones are derived. The solfege in Carnatic music is "sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni" and each member of the solfege is called 'swara'.

A particular characteristic in Carnatic music is the Talam which the singers keep on performing by beating with their hand their lap. Those beats are the rythmic cycles formed with three basic movements: lowering the palm of the nad into the thigh, lowering a specified number of fingers in a sequence starting from the little finger, and turning the hand over. This basic hand and finger movements are group into three units:

-The laghu where the palm is lowered and then the fingers.

-The dhrtam where the palm is lowered in first place and then turned over.

-The anudhrtam where only the palm is lowered. 

These three units are being used while performing the Talam - rythmic cycle. Seven types of can be found:

-Dhruva talam (formed of laghu,dhrtam, laghu and laghu)

-Matya talam (formed of laghu, dhrtam and laghu)

-Rupaka talam (formed of dhrtam and laghu)

-Jhampa talam (formed of laghu, anudhrtam and dhrtam)

-Triputa talam (formed of laghu, dhrtam and dhrtam)

-Ata Talam (formed of laghu, laghu, dhrtam dhrtam)

-Eka talam (only formed of a laghu)

Once I was aware of the basics and components of Karnatac music, I proceed by reading the swaras. I read each swara around 10 times to get familiar to the way how it is pronunce and chant. From first glance I thought it would be easy, it started become more and more difficult once I was asked to chant them... and yeah! I needed to chant them exactly the way the 'lecturer' was doing.  The first times we chant them on a slow tempo... with the time the tempo started increasing... there were times I was left out of breathe...

But, the fun wasnt yet started, it only started namely when I was asked to perform the Talam (this was the Adi-Talam: one of the most common Talams used in Karnatac music) while chanting. Wow! that was really complicated. I got either lost in the chanting or in the beating... Finally, I manage to sort of chant and beat at the same time... (what a though job I would say... and mostly when I felt all the time out of breathe ... ;-))

We proceed by chanting new excercises and examples.... the difficult arose even more when the exercise of Jaintai Varisaigal came into picture. This exercise consisted of repeating each 'swara' two times; eg.:

sasa-riri-gaga-mama-papa-dada-nini... Personally I found this exercise a bunch of fun... while practicing I ended up forming words like pipi, baba, mami, nani, nina, etc... ;-) try it out :-)

So that's it for now... I will have to keep on practicing... and yeah I will have to practice the chanting... for how long???? Who knows... We'll see! 

-----------------------------

This is an example of a Sruti (this was the one we used for practicing):

The Talam (rythmic cycle-most commonly used: Adi-Talam-composed of 8 beats):