The music of India is one of the oldest unbroken musical traditions in the world.  It is said that the origins of this system go back to the Vedas (ancient scripts of the Hindus).  Many different legends have grown up concerning the origins and development of Indian classical music.  Such legends go a long way in showing the importance that music has in defining Indian culture.

However the advent of modern historical and cultural research has also given us a good perspective on the field.  This has shown that Indian music has developed within a very complex interaction between different peoples of different races and cultures.  It appears that the ethnic diversity of present day India has been there from the earliest of times.

The basis for Indian music is "sangeet".  Sangeet is a combination of three artforms: vocal music, instrumental music and dance.  Although these three artforms were originally derived from the single field of stagecraft.  Today these three forms have differentiated into complex and highly refined individual artforms.

The present system of Indian music is based upon two important pillars: rag and tal.  Rag is the melodic form while tal is the rhythmic.

Rag may be roughly equated with the Western term mode or scale.  There is a system of seven notes which are arranged in a means not unlike Western scales.  However when we look closely we see that it is quite different what we are familiar with.

The tal (rhythmic forms) are also very complex.  Many common rhythmic patterns exist.  They revolve around repeating patterns of beats.

The interpretation of the rag and the tal is not the same all over India.  Today there are two major traditions of classical music.  There is the north Indian and the south Indian tradition.  The North Indian tradition is known as Hindustani sangeet and the south Indian is called Carnatic sangeet.  Both systems are fundamentally similar but differ in nomenclature and performance practice.

All of this makes up the complex and exciting field of Indian classical music.  Its understanding easily consumes an entire lifetime.

The basic scale of Hindustani music is similar to the western 12-note scale. The main difference is that the Hindustani scale is not tempered. Thus, the intervals between consecutive notes are not equal. Indeed, they can be varied slightly to suit the particular raga that is being performed. The same note, in different ragas, may have slightly differing positions. The notes themselves have names as in Western music, and here they are:

These seven notes are like the white keys on a piano keyboard. There are intervals between them: to be precise, there are five intermediate notes. The one between Sa and Re is called "Komal Re" (like Re flat), between Re and Ga is "Komal Ga" (like Mi flat), between Pa and Dha is "Komal Dha" (like La flat), and between Dha and Ni is "Komal Ni" (like Si flat). That accounts for four notes. The fifth lies between Ma and Pa but it is called "Tivra Ma", like Fa sharp.

The final result is shown here:

The four notes marked "Komal" and the one marked "Tivra" correspond to the black notes on a piano keyboard.

What, then, is a Raga? It is most simply described as a subset of these notes, usually from five to eight notes, together with a set of rules to combine them effectively and create a particular mood. Each Raga has a name. It also has a character, which can be devotional, erotic, bold and valorous, or tragic, to name some examples. And a Raga usually comes with a time of day when it is best performed, usually specified as a 3 hour interval (6 AM to 9 AM, 9 AM to noon, etc.). Some Ragas are related to seasons, for example the Malhar ragas are performed mainly in the monsoon season, and then they can be sung at any time.

Given a Raga, there exist several compositions, more or less like songs (with words), which obey the rules of that Raga and effectively convey its mood. It is common for the words to assist in conveying the mood. For example, monsoon-related Ragas will have compositions that describe the gathering clouds, the falling raindrops, the lightning and thunder, and the accompanying erotic mood (if you've never been to India you may wonder about this one, but it is so). A vocal musician will sing the notes of the raga in various combinations, then recite the composition and perform variations on it, often switching to a faster composition after some time. The whole thing can last an hour, or even two, and it is never monotonous because different types of variations are introduced at different stages. The success of the performance depends on how effectively the musician builds up the desired mood. Some Ragas are considered "light" in that they have less richness of structure, and are performed for shorter durations like 10-15 minutes.

That's more or less all I have to say about it here, but in practice this music is too fantastic for words, and needs to be experienced. For me personally, this music has gone a long way towards opening up the sublime aspects of the world we live in. 

What is Carnatic Music? : It is the classical music of Southern India. The basic form is a monophonic song with improvised variations. There are 72 basic scales on the octave, and a rich variety of melodic motion. Both melodic and rhythmic structures are varied and compelling. This is one of the world's oldest & richest musical traditions.The basic compositions of Carnatic music are:

sruti (key or pitch),

raga (melody),

laya (rhythm),

and sahitya (compositions).

The basic concepts:

The adage "sruti mata laya pita'' refers to sruti as the mother and laya as the father of Carnatic music; they are integral to the music.

There is no absolute rule for selecting the base sruti in a concert. It is selected by the main artiste, and remains constant for the whole duration of the concert. The selection of the base sruti depends on the range of the artiste's voice ( in a vocal concert ) or on the range of the instrument (in an instrumental concert). The accompanying artistes tune to this base sruti, in order to perform in unisonal harmony. The tampura (or, drone instrument) is also tuned to the base sruti and creates a meditative mood through its resonating and reverberating drone.

The raga is a form of melody and is the central concept in Indian classical music. The notes of a raga are transposed relative to the base sruti that is chosen for the concert. The semantics that describe a raga are highly intricate; even the slightest hint of a wrong note, or even a quarter note, may invoke the theme of a different raga altogether. In the composition "swara raga sudharasa", the composer, Tyagaraja writes, "To discern the homes of the seven notes in the midst of the chaotic uproar is liberation".

Rhythm, or laya, is an important facet of Carnatic music. The generic concept of laya may be expressed in terms of tala (the organization of beats according to predefined rules) and speed. Apart from the raga, the composer of a song also specifies its tala and its speed.

A composition in Carnatic music is a piece of measured music set in a particular raga and tala. Most compositions are generally made up of three distinctly identifiable sections: pallavi, anupallavi and charanam.A section called chittaswaram, which normally follows the anupallavi, can augment certain compositions.The chittaswaram section is a defined organisation of solfa syllables pre-set for a number of tala cycles and may be performed in multiple speeds. Each section of a composition leads the performer into structured sequences of progressively complex melodic and rhythmic variations, while providing ample scope for improvisation. The pallavi is repeated at the end of each of the other sections and is generally ornamented by a completion theme (or teermanam), performed by the percussionist. Each of the sections can begin at any point in the tala cycle (on or off the beat). A section can be sung any number of times with pre-set or sometimes, extempore variations of lines of prose.

Carnatic music is based centrally on a prodigious number of compositions,most of which may be attributed to Tyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri, three prolific 18th century composers, collectively known as the 'Trinity' of Carnatic music.

In the Vedic period of Indian civilization, music was broadly divided into marga sangeetham ( classical music ) and desi sangeetham ( folk music ). It is believed that marga sangeetham was practiced by the deva-s ( Gods ) and sages ( like sage Narada and Thumburu ) as music that led one along the path (marga) of mukti (spiritual salvation).

It is no wonder then, that most compositions express intense religious sentiment. The music either evokes spiritualism through the musical content, or directly suggests it through its lyrics.

Compositions:

Some of the major types of compositions are: varnam, kriti, keertana, and tillana.

A varnam is a composition that is performed at the commencement of a concert. It is an elaborate melody, replete with emotion. The lyrics of a varnam are comparatively simple and may relate to devotion or to divine love. A varnam could even be in praise of a patron. It requires great skill, technical capacity and creative faculty of a high order to compose varnam-s. Hence, there are very few composers of varnam-s. The constituent anga-s (parts) of a varnam are, in order, pallavi, anupallavi, mukthayiswaram, charanam and charanaswaram.

A composition that relies mainly on its musicality is a kriti and one that relies mainly on its poetic content is a keertana. A keertana is verbose and directly invokes the spiritual emotion using its prose.

A kriti is a highly refined form of composition. The elastic nature of this form, coupled with the fewness of rules,provide extended avenues for the composer's creative genius to be displayed. Kriti-s stand as examples of absolute music.They contain apt themes for developing improvisa -tional routines. A pallavi, anupallavi and charanam are the minimum and essential anga-s of a kriti. A kriti pays a great deal of importance to raga bhava ( the emotion evoked by the raga ) and the raga lakshana ( the characteristic grammar of the raga ). It normally consists of very few words. Although the lyrics in a kriti may be free from doxological constructs, many composers shun secular, ethical, social, esoteric or didactic themes and resort to sacred and religious themes. Hence the immortalisation of great composers of the past as Saints. Examples are Saint Thyagaraja and Saint Purandara Dasa.

A tillana is a short and crisp form of music that is rendered at the close of a Carnatic music performance. It is used in dance and incorporates rhythmic syllables directly as text. In most tillana-s, the first two lines of the charanam contain lyrical text.

There are also other forms of compositions, like padam-s and javali-s. These types of compo -sitions often include romantic or Byronic themes.

Other forms of compositions include: bhajan, devaranama, tirupugazh, tevaram, swarajati, viruttam and slokam.

The medium:

The principal vector of almost all Carnatic music compositions is vocal expression, ( or geeta), because of the ability of the voice to transmit music as well as prose. Vocal music often brings out the gamut of characteristics of a composition. Moreover, prosodic concepts such as rhymes, use of identical words or syllables, stamps and footprints such as raga names, names of deities and places (sthala), and composer's signature (mudra or ankita), can only be brought about and conveyed through vocal music. Hence a majority of solo Carnatic music artistes are singers.

Competent Carnatic music singers do not merely project their voices. Singing Carnatic music is said to be an experience that involves the artiste's entire being.This philosophy is embodied in one of the principle lines of Tyagaraja's kriti "sobillu saptaswara''. The composer writes:

nabhi hrith khanta rasana na sadhu layandhu

Tyagaraja says: "It is not merely the voice, but the entire being, the heart, the vocal chords, the tongue and the nose that shine in all the seven notes of the octave. Let us worship the confluence of all of these through music..."

It is possibly because of the special place accorded to vocal music that most instruments used in Carnatic music attempt to mimic the voice.