technically there are no chords in carnatic music but u can play so called "fusion" by playing chords over carnatic scales the dvd by Prasanna (ragamorphism) talks about chords for carnatic scales
chords add so much to carnatic.. I havent seen the prasanna DVD.. i would love to.. and learn from his insights.. thru my own experimentation, i have realised that the harmonies that are intrinsic to a raaga, might actually have notes which are not part of that raaga.. and i think this is where the gamakkas of that raaga come into the picture. For example.. for the raaga bhoop, in hindustani (share the same notes as mohanam but u sing it differently) s r g p d s - say rooted in C progressions like C Dm7 Em7 C Dm7 Ddim7 E7 etc fit in nicely... here is an example.. a random jam i had with bollywood singer chandana dixit.. she has sung many remix and bhajan albums.. and also hits like husn hai suhaana from coolie #1 https://vorlon.cwru.edu/~jayen/J/lage re.mp3 I feel that carnatic needed harmonic support.. but tidnt know how to achive it.. the closest they could get was the shruti box and tampura... and the implicit subharmonic overtones of indian instruments... and now in this modern age they r finally getting what they needed.. thats my view... which the purists will not agree too but thats ok.. we need them too.
jay..your so wrong and pompous too about it! there is hardly any scope for harmony in carnatic music, unless it is an instrumental concert, that too with more than one instrument. im just getting annoyed with your im so smart kinda answers.
harini - there is certainly scope for harmony and many composers have successfully tried to retain the beauty of carnatic melody while adding harmony. Why do u say there is hardly any scope? and why does this anything to do with instrumental concert? The drone tambura itself adds harmony if you think about it. Maybe I have understood you wrongly. Jay pompous? Haha...I dont know if theres something going on between you two - looks so to me.
Kishmu, The tambura is there for shruti purposes. Ofcourse it does add "harmony", but that is not the tamburas primary objective. The essence of carnatic music is in the bhavam, not in harmony. Im not disputing harmonies alltogether, all i am saying is, its like bringing chicken to a vegetarian and telling him that chicken is good. Ofcourse harmony is good, but of very little use to carnatic music. In instrumental concerts, with mani iyer notes, or generally the lighter songs, some harmony may be acceptable. A full fledged concert like that is a deviation from the norm, which the fusion artists are doing. However, that is fusion and not carnatic. Experimenting is fun, as long as you dont tarnish what is currently there. Carnatic music has been preserved for a long time now. Basically, what is the focus of carnatic music is the question you have to ask. There is nothing going on between me and Jay. He is ten years older than me. give me a break
Harini - I understand for carnatic music harmony is not the prime focus. Sometimes harmony is distracting agreed. Lighter songs like cine-or maybe pop with carnatic "touch" can do wonders with harmony. At any rate I have a question. The form of carnatic as it exists today - pallavi, charanam form - did it derive anything from western music at that time? or did that structure evolve on its own? Shouldn't have made a personal comment. What exists between you two, including your age difference is your own personal matter. Sorry for poking my nose in.
From my understanding, the format has been pallavi, anu pallavi, and charanam. Some songs have multiple charanams, whereas some songs are samasti charanam(without charanam). Whether this was derived or influenced by western music, i cannot answer correctly. I would think that indian classical music, is way older than western music though...in the sense that we were civilized-mohenjodaro harrapa- while people in the western world were still swinging off trees. In all the puranas, there is mention of music. Why, the Sama Vedam itself is music to begin with. Influence ofcourse goes either ways again. So to answer your question, I dont know. Jay, i am sorry, i did not mean to pull your age into this. Kishmu, Jay and myself are good friends with similar personalities. Due to this, we end up squabbling over a lot of things, but are good friends all the same. And correction, he is nine years older than me...so not that much older Jay.
