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By Rajalakshmi Iyer
Tambura is the drone instrument which keeps looping in the notes Paa-SaSa-sa.
Music is based on the concept of Sapta swaras, 7 notes. Shadjam (Sa) is our starting note. Hence it is called as the Adharam (base) or Tonic note. The position of rest of the six notes are relative to the frequency of the chosen Shadjam. Once the base note is fixed, position the other six notes in the octave can be determined. The Adhara Shadjam (Tonic or base note) is hidden in the melody of the tambura. This rich melody is constant reminder of the Adhara Shadjam and helps the musicians to achieve control over their pitch.
Shruti, the indispensable baseline pitch seems perfect and divine when it comes from a traditional tambura. When a perfectly tuned tambura is strummed, one can also hear Gandharam (Ga) emanating in the background along with the SaPa melody. Until a few years back, a shruti box was used in place of a tambura for practicing, which played the same notes in a frequency close to the tambura melody. However, we now have tambura mobile apps that are very convenient to carry and use. They have become a way of life for all musicians.
The tambura to musicians is like the compass to navigators. It is always recommended to sing with this celestial melody to maintain and control pitch for a musician!
By Rajalakshmi Iyer
Nottuswara Sahityams are Muttuswamy Deekshitar compositions which are inspired by the then British Brass Bands that played in India. These western tunes are extremely catchy and Deekshitar wanted these tunes to be available to common folks. So, he wrote beautiful lyrics in Sanskrit for singing them.
Carnatic music is Raga based and ‘Jeeva’ or the life of any raga, are the characteristic oscillations and glides which give the Raga its color and mood. Nottuswarams are based on western scales and hence have to be sung as pure notes devoid of any oscillations on any of the notes (swarams). Even if most tunes are based on Shankarabharam, the characteristic Shankarabharam ornamentations should not be used to using these Sahityams.
Thus, one can enjoy the actual beauty of these simple western tunes, only if they are sung as pure notes, without any characteristic Carnatic ornamentations.
By Rajalakshmi Iyer
Shakti Sahita Ganapatim (Nottuswaram)Nottuswaram (Nottuswara Sahityam) is a unique genre of music, composed by Sri Muttuswamy Dikshitar, celebrated as one of the ‘Trinities of Carnatic music’. These simplistic compositions are also called “Western Notes”, as the inspiration for these songs were the European and Irish tunes from the colonial era. The word “Nottu” in the word “Nottuswaram”, as the name suggests is a Tamil/Telugu parallel of the word NOTE, and is simply SWARAM, basic constituent of Carnatic music itself. The beauty of Nottuswarams lie in the fact that, the songs are mostly sung using simply the SaptaSWARAMs or the 7 notes; Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, without adding too many Gamakas ( Carnatic music ornamentations). Thus the beauty of Nottuswarams lie in their simplicity. This is a reason why, Nottuswarams are a great way to initiate Carnatic music to kids and beginners.
History goes back to say that, these Nottuswara Sahithyas were written by Sri Muttuswamy Dikshitar during his stay in Manali around the 18th century. Western tunes played by the British army band in Fort St. George inspired him to compose lyrics (sahithyas) for the tunes he heard, thus opening Indians’ hearts to these simple yet mesmerizing western tunes disguised under the wraps of beautiful Sanskrit lyrics. Hidden in these lyrics are the literary and poetic grandeur of Sanskrit, the mother of Indian languages which praise of the greatness and divinity of various Indian Gods and Goddess. Lyrical beauty is consistent with the rest of our stotra-literature, and other heavy weight classical compositions.
Nottuswarams are all composed in Shankarabharanam Ragam whose pitch interval corresponds to Western C Major scale and Raag Bilaval in Hindustani music. Technically, these compositions are not based entirely on the beauty of the Ragam. These are simple melodies based on the swarasthanas (swara = note and sthana = position), a concept where 7 notes are further divided into 12 of Shankarabharanam, devoid of the gamakas (ornamentations) that give raga its swaroopam (characteristic form) in Carnatic music.
Shri Muttuswamy Dikshitar has composed about 40 nottuswarams. All these songs are in the form of simple verses. They do not have segments (Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam) as found in the Kriti format. Muttuswamy Dikshitar travelled to many temples in India and dedicated his songs to deities of these holy places. These songs are in praise of Ganesha, Shiva, Vishnu(Rama/Krishna), Saraswati, Devi, Anjaneya and Kartikeya.
All the songs are set to Tisra Eka Talam (three units) or Chaturasra Eka Talam (four units) which corresponds to 3/4 and 4/4 timings of the Western Music. They are sung in Tisra gati (3 notes in 1 unit) or Chaturasra gati (4 notes in 1 unit).
Like any artist who signs his work of art, nottuswarams bear Muttuswamy Dikshitar’s mudra (signature) “Guruguha”.
According to another popular belief on Nottuswarams, it is believed that Baluswamy Dikshitar (Muttuswamy Diksitar’s younger brother) was instrumental in introducing violin, originally a western instrument to the carnatic music world. Muttuswamy Dikshitar is said to have composed nottuswarams to aid the rendering of plain notes on this instrument, which Baluswamy Dikshitar eventually mastered.
Today, both Nottuswarams and Violin are integral in Carnatic music.
Go ahead and enjoy the beauty of these Nottuswarams on our video series. We’ll talk more about these as we go.
Learn on the go.
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