Krsna Kirtana Songs est. 2001                                                                                                                                                      www.kksongs.org


Home à Music Center à South Indian Music à Carnatic 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