tAnam with percussion support

[Meera]

Folks,

Mostly We hear tAnam as an extension of rAgam without percussion support.In navarAtri mantapam concerts they say tAnam is sung with percussion.What I don't know is whether tAnam is sung to the same tALam as the pallavi there?

Why is it customary that tAnam be sung w/o percussion?

[squims]

In such cases where the mridangam accompanies the taanam, I've seen three cases:

1. It is sung as usual (that is not in any beat cycle), and the mridangam tries to accompany the singing as appropriate.
2. It is sung in just a 4 or 8 beat cycle.
3. It is sung in a specific taalam (might or might not be in the same taalam as the pallavi). This seems to happen most rarely.

[vasanthakokilam]

This is not an answer to Meera's question directly, but sort of an extension to squims' observation.

More than thalam ( defined as a periodic cycle with internal structure like laghu, dhrutham etc. ),
I think what is more appropriate for thanam is a free form cycle like what Squims says in 1 but with Nadai/gathi variations. I do not know how common it is but I remember hearing that.

The correspoding part to that is not the main pallavi line but in the niraval and kalapana swaram sections of the RTP. Such Nadai variations are more within the confines of the chosen thalam there. So it will be nice a contrast: free form manner in the thanam and the 'constrained by thalam' manner during kalpanaswaram and niraval.

[Rsachi]

In the Sunday Brunch thread, I have posted a link to a lec-dem by S Balachander on Tanam.
He answers this specific question in the last part of the lec-dem in his own inimitable way.
Please listen! (SB was a child prodigy who played Khanjira, tabla and mridangam in concerts and as an AIR artiste before he took up the Veena).

[thanjavooran]

This pattern is known as Thiruvananthapuram style. This is a regular featue in Nadaswaram. Madurai Srirangam Iyengar used to sing one known as Chakra thanam with percussion support.
learned forum members may further elaborate.
Thanjavooran
03 03 2013

[vasanthakokilam]

>This is a regular featue in Nadaswaram.

Absolutely. Great point.

Not just during thanam but during alapanai also.
Here is an example (Sheik Chinnamoulana): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejgn8kP8MPw

(thavil and jalra provide metronomic support while the nadaswaram plays the alapana in a free form manner but in concordance with with the metronomic laya structure. That is the beauty of it.

This works because alapana also has a layam. It is at one end of the spectrum, quite removed from the other end which is the thala. This also incidentally sheds some light on the difference between laya and thala. Thala is laya but not all laya is thala. Non-Nadhaswaram alapana also has the laya but the practice of mridangam artists playing during alapana is not commonly there.

If you pay attention to how artists structure their alapana, there is a layam to it. They do not change the speed of alapana willy nilly.

The laya gets more and more structured as one goes from Alapana to thanam and culminates in the fully structured thala and many variations within the thala structure. Thanam is in the middle which is amenable to continuous accompaniment by a percussion artist. Alapana is at the other end, the most free form but even there the thavil artists and jalra can provide a metronomic support ( as in the above link ) or at many times thavil artist typically fills in the gap between alapana stretches with some thavil playing.

It is also interesting that in Nadaswaram, the thavil starts first. There is definitely a charm to it.

[squims]

In the Sunday Brunch thread, I have posted a link to a lec-dem by S Balachander on Tanam.
He answers this specific question in the last part of the lec-dem in his own inimitable way.

I've listened to it. Vedavalli maami is of a similar opinion as well. While I agree with them mostly, I think that occasionally the playing of the mridangam (if played aesthetically) with the taanam definitely adds a certain charm to it. I've seen concerts where it has been used to great effect. I remember a TMK concert where Srimushnam Raja Rao played for his taanam. TMK's taanam was sung with the usual gravitas, and the mridangam playing complemented it very well.

[varsha]

This pattern is known as Thiruvananthapuram style. This is a regular featue in Nadaswaram. Madurai Srirangam Iyengar used to sing one known as Chakra thanam with percussion support.

http://www.mediafire.com/?puiy423kci5ni84

track took some four hours of mastering to bring the thanam section into proper focus.He does talk about the Chakram aspect ,Ghanam Seenayya , Anda Kalam ... among others
Thank you Thanjavooran, Squims and Meera, for stimulating me to do this today .
A photo from a different concert .

[TheListener]

varsha,

This link is no longer valid. Can you please upload it once more, if that's not a problem.