tanam in nutshell

[cmrasika]

Could anyone summarise the general dos and donts of a typical tanam and the conspicuous binding rules of tanam. I am a bulleting a few points so that it can be added upon.

1) It consists of improvising a particular raga with repetition of syllables like aa, nam, tham, taa, na, thom, tha, nom etc. (Please add on other syllables which I have missed... In fact most people use ga also I have heard it frequently)

2) Either the tempo is maintained constant or it is started slow and then gradually increased by some artists.

3) Sometimes it is rendered in adi talam with mirudangam accompaniment for rhythmic effect.

4) The method of rendering, the words used, the stress on syllables, is all very important. (Could anyone summarise on the words which are usually stressed upon and the usual permutations/combinations of words)

5) There are various tanams like Chakra Tanam, Vakra Tanam, Aja Tanam, Gaja Tanam, Markata Tanam, Vadhya Tanam etc. (But fact is many of these tanam types are not in vogue in today's concerts)

6) taanam singing requires a lot of physical stamina, sound knowledge of the fundamentals of classical music, good practice and experience of the raga under elaboration.

7) The tanam is rendered in madhyama kala and takes a typical finale in the form of
a- nam- ta
a-- nam- ta
nam- tom- ta nom ta! and comes to a halt.


Please add on to my points. I know I have missed lot of subtle and finer points. It would be helpful if someone throws light on the finer nuances and enlighten me. Thank you.
cmrasika..

[cmrasika]

In between the tanam which is done for the jeeva swaras of the ragam some briga is done right? Does that also have some kaala pramanam? From your reply I get a picture that tanam is thoroughly mathematical... But how come while hearing it, it is just aesthetically melting into the ears? Is each and everything in it mathematical or in between we can just sing our manodharma in terms of tanam syllables without mathematical grouping just like we do for our raga alapana?

I Hope to get more awareness on this...

Also someone pls tell me some commonly used permutations of tanam syllables such as
1) tom ta nam ta
2) nam tom ta taga nom ta nam tom tha nam tha
2) anom tom ta

Please add on to the syllable-permutation.. Hoping to get more positive replies from other members as well..

[keerthi]

Tanam isn't so much mathematical, as it is rhythmical. It has rhythm patterns but isn't boundaried by any periodicty - i.e, tAla. Tanam traditionally includes only ta/Da and na sounds and minor variations like thom and nom. inclusion of an occasional birka within the rhythm patterns isn't disallowed. One impressive feature of tAnam is the build-up of speed. it isn't sung in one speed, then double and quadruple; rather there is a gradient of speeds which lead to a suitable crescendo, which quickly tapers down into a brief sedate speed before setting into the pallavi.

[cmrasika]

Keerthi
thanks for adding that wonderful and useful information to the thread.. Just to reinforce one opinion that I have been having in mind about tanam------Is it mandatory that only some predefined permutations of the tanam syllables (viz ta, da, nom, tom anom etc) should be used? or is that we can use any aesthetic permutations of the existing tanam syllables to produce interesting patterns (with ofcourse adherence to the basic binding rules of tanam) ?
Hope my query is clear....

[bilahari]

Vidya Raja, isn't the word "thanam" an abbreviation of "Anantham" (meaning happiness)? As such, I would think that thaga/dagu syllables should be avoided and only syllables of the word "anantham" should be sung. At least that's my understanding.

[keerthi]

cmrasika, Like most matters in music, it is precedents and conventions that dictate the patterns to be sung - there is no hard and fast rule written down. artistes have used the extant syllables to good effect - TNS has sung phrases like 'ananta-Ananda-nAda-tAna' or the like.. This can't be treated as a transgression. The idea of using nonsensical sounds, mostly long vowels in RAgam and tAnam singing is so that the words and their meaning don't distract the listener from the purely melodic/melodic and rhythmic aspects of AlApana and tAna respectively.

Bilahari; names like tAnam/nom-tom and tillana/tarAna are merely onomatopoeic, and any interpretation of these names is later interpolation. There are similar claims that the phrases sung in AlApa - tadharina and tadharirananta are actually tat-hari-ananta etc, but these are unsubstantiated claims.

[cmrasika]

Hi Keerthi and others
i appreciate your detailed efforts and interest in answering this thread. And just to bring to the notice of others as well, many tanams that I hear, invariably the artist uses the tanam permutation "taaga nom tanom ta" and a part of this sounds strikingly close to "da ha nam" which gives me an uneasy feel. But in the overall larger picture these things aren't that conspicuous and hence the majesty of the tanam is retained. This is my view.

I guess not many are strictly following what Shri Neyveli Santhanagopalan sir said. It would have been better if they'd paid heed to it because its really a very valid point. But that's the way the tanam routine of many artists goes..

Doesn't tarnish the melody of tanam though...

[svkashyap]

Should tAna singing be restricted to RTP?

[Nick H]

My understanding is that tanam+kriti is a tradition veena thing.

No, I see no need to restrict it, otherwise, to RTP, although that is where we are most likely to continue hearing it.

[gowri narayanan]

Navaratri festival at the Navaratri mandapam,Vidya.
kudira malika is different.here concerts take place from jan 6th,thanks to Varmaji

[svkashyap]

I wanted to know why taanam is generally not taken up like Alapana before a kriti in a concert.

[bilahari]

I agree that there doesn't seem to be any absolute prohibition on singing thanam before krithis: http://sangeethamshare.org/ksj/Semmangu ... -UKS-THV-/

In this famous SSI concert, SSI takes up thanam in Nattai before starting Mahaganapathim. I think it's not sung that often in concerts in place of an alapanai because it is semi-rhythmic and thus limits raga exploration more than a completely free-form alapanai. I'd love to see thanam being sung at least once in every concert though! I love it.

[Nick H]

Me too!

But then I would not object to RTP being a 'standard' item in every concert

[svkashyap]

Bilahari,

Thanks for the SSI concert link. This type of rendition seems very rare.

Nick,

Even in a "standard" RTP, typically T < 33%. why is it not given same importance as other manodharma components?

[Nick H]

Good question!

Dr John Marr, in London, always comments favourably when Tanam is given a proper duration rather than hurried over.

[bilahari]

Good question indeed... I have almost never heard thanam exceed 10 min even in a 50-60 min pallavi.

[Nick H]

This is an aspect about which performing members might elighten us: how much time they give for tanam and what influences them in that decision?

Please!

[gobilalitha]

There is always a problem with youtube . DISTORTION, Stoppages in the middle, no song or video can be heard or seen continuously. any solution please ? gobilalitha

[gobilalitha]

Sorry for posting it in this subject. It should have appeared as a new subject gobilalitha

[svkashyap]

Since there are no response to this question from anyone, let me make wild guesses.

1. Its difficult to sing taanam elaborately compared to raaga alapana.
2. Only few raagas are suited for taanam.
3. It is not pleasing to listen.
4. It has to be sung only once in a concert. (Unwritten rule followed in almost all concerts!)

[srikant1987]

I totally disagree with 3!

I think that people often end up singing very long alapanais, and receive equally long alapanais in return ... the not-strictly-rhythmic side to the ragam gets practically exhausted.

I think alapanais can be reduced in size when a tanam is going to be sung in a raga.

And contrary to what bilahari says, I feel a (semi-)rhythmic elaboration can offer more variety: variety can be brought in through the melody or through the rhythm. The gowlai rgmrs, for example, can occur in many ways in a rhythm-ed exploration, but repeating it offering different lengths to each note doesn't add much interesting content to an alapanai.

[bilahari]

Srikant, ?? Where did I say thanam is limited in scope compared to alapanais?
I think thanam has a lot of scope, but that scope isn't/hasn't been exploited sufficiently by artistes who prefer to make it an extension of alapanai with a little generic thanam thrown in here and there. Few artistes intelligently construct thanam (NSG, Sanjay, TMK of contemporaries; SSI of yesteryear artistes...).

[braindrain]

I'm not sure if this can help in any way..

Last year during the International Music Conference, at Indiranagar Sangeethasabha Bangalore, Dr.T.S.Satyavathi spoke on Tanam and Pallavi. I had noted few points.

---------------------
Dr T S Satyavathi started her session with explaning the word tAnam ( tanyatE iti tAna:) . ‘Tan’ meaning to sprite, to grow.
The word tAnam is derived from, ‘t’ - representing Shiva, ‘a’ - representing Brahm , ‘n’ - representing Vishnu and ‘m’ - anuswara, culmination of three energy. Tanam is masculin and has to be sung from the naval. Deep breath has to be taken , and is like practicing yOga. Tanam is not another form of alapana , and it has a lilting effect to the artist and listener.
Types of tAnam
a) Sudha tAnam - here the notes of the raga arranged themselves into 4s, 5s, or 6s ( m,g,m,p "¦m,g,m,p,d etc)
b) koota tanam - all other variety of tanam . Here we skip notes, add notes, stretch notes. ‘m’- kara is used prominently in koota tanam,
To my delight, she gave examples with Sriragam. She says the swaras in the ‘pancharatna krithis’ of Thyagaraja, are composed in tanakrama. She explained this by singing the tanam in sriragam and then singing the p,p,m,g,r p,p,m,g,r phrase from ‘endarO mahAnubhavulu’. She gave many such examples from stotrams of Sri Shankaracharya ( mudhakara..?) from the common prayer slokams ( vina venkatEsham ) and "sumukham sukrutham"

[brs]

can anyone post a link for tanam sung with mridangam accompaniment?

[eppramod]

can anyone post a link for tanam sung with mridangam accompaniment?

http://sangeethamshare.org/kl/10-SKR-MS ... apriya.mp3
(you may not be able to download directly)

In this SKR concert during Shanmukhapriya RTP thanam part, you can hear TVG sir
playing Mrudangam during initial Tanam singing/Violin response.
I don't think he is playing that for the entire Thanam portion.
Hope this is useful.

Pramod

[Chandrashekar]

Vidya Raja, isn't the word "thanam" an abbreviation of "Anantham" (meaning happiness)?

I think the Anantham here refers to "the infinite". (An-ant = without end = infinite) Flowing like the endless (infinite) ocean. Isn't that what the taanam sounds/feels like?
But, as keerthi says, that could be a later interpolation too. I don't know.

Maybe you are thinking of Aanandam, which is quite different.

[Chandrashekar]

Regarding taanam with mridangam accompaniment, this tradition is followed at the annual Navaratri concerts in Trivandrum (which are also broadcast on radio), and someone from those parts could perhaps provide some information on it.

[CRama]

Regarding singing of tanam preceding a song, MSS has sung tanams preceding the main song in many concerts - preceding Dasharathe, Sree Chandrasekharam, Sree Krishnam bhaja manasa etc. However, in these concerts, there were no RTPs.

[Ganapathi Murthy]

Sri Kartikeya Gana Sabha, Hyderabad has started "Sangeetha Vidya Deepika" - a online music education program.
As part of the program, we have posted video clipping on the subject "Learn to play Taanam on Veena - Some easy exercises" presented by "Veena Praveena" Sri Duddu Seetharamaiah, Principal, Sri Bhaktha Ramadas College of Music & Dance, Secunderabad.
Till now we have posted two parts of the program. Please watch the videos. We hope that you will find them interesting. The links are given below
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQH9AFQXueQ
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8vRCdRAWpY
Please visit www.srikartikeyaganasabha.org for more details of the Sabha's activities