Ragam Thanam Pallavi

Ragam Tanam Pallavi ^[1]is a form of singing in Carnatic music which allows the musicians to improvise to a great extent. It is one of the most complete aspects of Indian classical music, demonstrating the entire gamut of talents and the depth of knowledge of the musician. It incorporates raga alapana, tanam, niraval, and kalpanaswara. In more elaborate ragam tanam pallavis, a tani avartanam^[2] may follow.

Ragam

"Ragam" in the context of "Ragam Tanam Pallavi" refers to ragam alapana - the first component. In this form of pure melodic improvisation, the musician starts with a refrain to create the mood of raga and lays a foundation for composition to follow. Each Ragam tanam pallavi has at least one raga associated with it.

Tanam ^[3]

Tanam is one of the most important forms of improvisation, and is integral to ragam, tanam and pallavi.^[4] It is the second component of this composite form of improvisation. Originally developed for the veena, it consists of expanding the raga with syllables like ta, nam, tom, aa, nom, na, etc. Tanam is a rhythmic version of the raga alapana. Although tanam is often rendered without percussion support, the element of rhythm is more obvious in this type of improvisation. It is rendered in medium speed and just before commencing the third component of this composite form of improvisation; the pallavi.

Pallavi

The word Pallavi is derived from the three syllables Pa - Pada (words), La - Laya (rhythm) and Vi - Vinyasam (variations). Pallavi is the equivalent of a refrain in Western music. The Pallavi is usually a one-line composition set to a single cycle of tala. The tala could range from the simple to the complex and there may also be different gatis being employed.

Pallavi has 2 portions to it. The first half of Pallavi is an ascending piece of notes and the first half of the Pallavi should always end at the strike of the beginning of the second half of the Talam cycle, called the Ardhi. Between the first half of the Pallavi and the second half of the Pallavi there will be a brief pause called as the Vishranthi and then the second portion of the Pallavi starts. Executing niraval for a pallavi is unique, as, unlike in a kriti, the artist is not allowed to change the locations of each syllable in the sahityam, as this lessens the innate beauty of the pallavi. The basic style in Pallavi rendition is to sing the Pallavi in different speeds or Nadai. In most cases the Pallavi is set to Chatushtra Nadai meaning each beat carries 4 units. So the singer will then sing the Pallavi in 3 different speeds, once with each Beat carrying one unit, then 2 units and then 4 units per beat. Once this is completed then they would sing the Pallavi in a different Nadai called Tisra Nadai meaning each beat now carries 3 units. Once these aspects are covered, the singer explores in the Kalpanaswara phase and they would start exploring different Ragas during the Kalpanaswara.

Pallavi can be sung in 2 different aspects, one called as Pratiloma and then the Anulomam. In Carnatic music the Talam is always constant and only the Swaras or the Pallavi set for the Talam can undergo Nadai bhedam.

In theory if you sing Pallavi without changing any speed but increase the Talam cycle in a geometric progression, it would be the other kind.

The Pallavi challenges the musician's ability to improvise with complex and intricate patterns. The whole exercise is very demanding, both technically and musically, since all the artiste's musicianship is put to test.

Contemporary Ragam Thanam Pallavi

Today, most concerts by prominent carnatic vocalists include a ragam thanam pallavi (RTP). Sometimes it is simply restricted to an alapana of one ragam, followed by thanam, pallavi and finishing with kalpana swaras in the same ragam. However, it is much more common today artist to render their alapana, thanam and pallavi in ragam 1, start the kalpanaswaram in ragam 1 and then move on and sing only the kalpanaswaras and the pallavi in two to three other ragams (usually no more than 5 or 6 ragams in total). While the artist might spend 35-40 minutes on the ragam 1, he or she will only devote about 4-5 minutes to each subsequent ragam. RTP requires not only experience but formidable amount of planning. First and foremost is the sequence of the ragams-- while the audience may not expect a logical order, the critics surely will. Secondly, since this part of the concert is likely to last anywhere between 40 and 60 minutes, the performer must pick their ragams very carefully. Last but not least, the accompanying violinist should be able to render each of these ragams as well.

More often than not, the main ragam chosen for RTP will be a popular one- if not, the artist will invariably announce the name of the ragam after the raga alapana portion. Alternately, the artist may include the name of the ragam in the words used in the Pallavi. In other words, artists often use the RTP portion of the concert to introduce their audience to ragams that are rarely sung. A good example is a recent rendition by Ranjani-Gayathri where they used the Pallavi phrase "Ranjani Kanchadala Lochani Brovavamma Thalli Niranjani" -- their RTP was set to the ragam Ranjani. About 30 minutes into the RTP, when they started switching ragams, they switched to Sriranjani, Janaranjani, Sivaranjani, Manoranjani and Sumanesha Ranjani. Since the audience are likely to be unfamiliar with some of these ragams, they changed their Pallavi phrase at the end of each of these 4-5 minute renderings- for instance, they finished Janaranjini rendition with "Ranjani Kanchadala Lochani Brovavamma Thalli Janaranjani". A musically literate audience often appreciate this approach, since this gives them 4-5 minutes to guess the ragam before the artist gives them the answer.

A more delectable variation to the theme is to use two ragams to sing the RTP. In this case, the artist switches back and forth between two ragams throughout the RTP making it much more challenging than the conventional RTP - the importance of picking compatible ragams cannot be understated. Recent RTPs that come to mind are Amrithavarshini/ Anandabhairavi by Sangeetha Swaminathan, Mohanam/Ranjani by Ranjani-Gayathri, Bhairavi/Sindhu Bhairavi by T.N.Seshagopalan and Mohanam/Kalyanavasantham by Bombay Jayashri.

Finishing a Ragam Thanam Pallavi

As stated in the previous section a contemporary RTP is rarely ever restricted to just one ragam. Despite the fact that towards the end of the RTP, the artist has switched from the ragam (i.e. ragam 1) that he or she originally started the RTP in, it is quite common for the artist to go back to ragam 1 to finish. More experienced artists will sing the kalpanaswaras of all the ragams that they rendered one after the other at the end of the RTP.

References

1. Tanam singing - A dying art
2. Kassebaum (2000), 158
3. Tanam singing - A dying art
4. Palackal, J. J. (1998). "untitled". Yearbook for Traditional Music 30: 207–207. doi:10.2307/768616.

External links

• Sivakumar Carnatic Music Archive Ragam Talam Pallavi collection
• R. Vedavalli demonstrates Ragam, Thanam