In my opinion what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable vocal technique (aka "serious" vs "light" in CM, since in CM light is a pejorative descriptor) is totally arbitrary in any given system of music (perhaps culture-specific is a better term in the sense that no logic is necessary).SrinathK wrote: ↑18 Sep 2017, 23:07 BMK can sing that same Hindolam with beautiful feeling as well : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W2lpvhzjyY
Of all the recordings I have, this one is special because this was the one that introduced me to his music.
Speaking of the "serious Carnatic" -- I have observed that there are 5 effects that give the result of "lightness" in singing
These things seem to be tolerated depending on who it was. MDR used a lot of pianissimo in his singing (perhaps the powers that be looked down on it just like they did his low-pitch/slow singing). Veena Dhanam was praised for it but others were castigated for it. In other words this works like the world of fashion design. Something is beyond the pale until someone established does it, when it becomes "revolutionary". These days I hear a lot of these in the singing of the Ra-Ga duo that would have caused the Mylapore lot to frown in past years.SrinathK wrote: ↑18 Sep 2017, 23:07 1) The fade -- where you are expected to do a kampita or jharu and you end up fading it into softness instead of going all the way to the landing note
2) The pianissimo (mellinam) - It's fine when you do it on a whole phrase, but when you do it on one particular syllable or note, it sounds light
3) The slur - instead of heavier gamakas in dhattu phrases like md gm sg ns (hindolam), the phrases are slurred with a smooth (but one-dimensional) slide joining the notes. It's an instrumental effect best demonstrated on the violin.
SrinathK wrote: ↑18 Sep 2017, 23:07
4) The vibrato -- Using it in any manner beyond "salt in the food" can make it look filmy, and worse, overdone. The paradox here is that the vibrato is actually a very heavy effect when rendered through the voice. On a violin or a veena it works very well, because it's naturally light and not intrusive -- you can shape the tone with it, but with the voice it has to be delicately done. Do it on a note where it's not needed and it can sound "filmy", especially when surrounded by a plethora of plain notes.
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GNB, MSS (more in her films), Brinda & Mukta (they sang it exactly like a fast and and narrow kampita on the veena at select notes for that gamaka, which as a matter of fact, it is) are some examples who really handled that vibrato in a classic CM fashion. Now Somu, he really cooked his vibrato to extremes, sometimes crossing into opera territory. Seerkazhi Govindarajan also used it.
ARI had a wolf-note like vibrato that came if he tried forcing his voice, it was not a controlled vibrato.
If you ask me, CM violinists could use it just a tad more, it enhances the tone of the instrument.
This reminded me of this website that I keep going back to: https://www.wikihow.com/Sing-Vibrato. Vibrato is a naturally occurring phenomenon due to the construction of the vocal chords. I always wondered why vibrato is frowned upon in CM. It is used aplenty in film music and folk music but is somehow considered too "vulgar" for our refined tastes. I love how TMS has this tremendous vibrato in his upper register but it is more challenging to sing a natural vibrato in the lower registers. Somu was an absolute show-off when it came to these things and it was spectacular, but then he could also overdo it.
-T