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Talam Page
Introduction of Carnatic Talams
After exploring the ragams of South Indian music, known as Carnatic
music, we enter the realm of rhythm, known as the talam. If one has studied North
Indian (Hindustani) music, one would be familiar with the notion of the tala. Besides the fact that tala
is based on a rhythmic cycle, the similarities between a North Indian and South
Indian tala ends there. The complexity of the South
Indian tala is so great, that only bona fide training
in Carnatic music is the only way to understand it.
Yet, this is a humble attempt to present a simplified version of a complex art.
From a Hindustani
musician’s perspective, the function of tala is to
essentially provide a fixed repetition of a particular cycle an artist chooses.
For instance, tintal in Hindustani music will always
be “dha dhin dhin dha dha
dhin dhin dha dha tin tin
ta ta dhin
dhin dha.” This is called
the theka.
Of course, performers on a tala instrument like tabla or khol will put their
variations and varieties of the theka which yields prakārs. For
most instances and purposes, the tala performer will
stick to the count of number of beats per cycle. In Carnatic
music, this is not the case. Very rarely will anyone play a straight cycle
throughout a Carnatic performance. The rhythm in Carnatic music is underlying. The lead performer will keep
track of rhythm, while the mridangam, ghatam, or whichever tala
instrument improvises according to how the vocalist renders the song.
Therefore, picking up and counting out rhythms in Carnatic
music can be a challenge.
UPDATED: April 2, 2009