ksharanam wrote:
vasanthakokilam said "I think it is a fairly significant point that I see get missed in the popular narrative of CM rhythm."
Oh, absolutely. I find it's one of those things that people don't talk about, probably out of a misplaced sense of respect; it's kind of like the emperor having no clothes. Happily, I have discussed this with a few other Carnatic music aficionados and found agreement, enough to convince myself I wasn't missing something
In that case, let us strip the few clothes Thyagaraja is wearing.
One might as well stop singing Thyagaraja's (and disciples' and Papanasam Sivan's)
krithis at the end of the
anupallavi. After all, the
charanam's
varna mettu is pretty much those of the
pallavi and
anupallavi joined together. You can take any number of
krithis such as
Nannu Palimpa,
Sarasa Sama Dana, etc., and you will find that is the case.
ksharanam wrote:
vasanthakokilam said "I have my own ideas on what 'internal layam' is. Before I apply that to relate to what you are saying can you describe/explain (or even if possible define) what you mean by that?"
Part of me wants to quote US Supreme Court judge Potter Stewart — "I know it when I see it"
But I'll try.
I feel its got something to do with the natural emphasis points in the talam: the start of the laghu and the start of the dhrtam in Adi, for instance. How well they align with emphasis points in the lyrics and in the music seems to matter. Many of Dikshitar's songs, especially the ones in 2 x Rupakam (or 2 x Tisra Ekam) have rambling charanams where the talam may as well be non-existent. e.g. in Saundararajam Asraye, there's no correlation between the lyric, the tune and the talam. The talam might as well be a single laghu of 120 beats (or however many total beats the charanam has). A typical Thyagaraja song in Rupakam, say Kalaharanamela Ra, has specific emphasis points every new avaratanam of the Talam.
The other feature of Thyagaraja songs (and those of his disciples) is the variety of gait within a song. The lyric often starts after the talam; often, there are pauses in the lyric; sometimes the lyric goes fast and sometimes slowly, within the same line; all these add spice to the layam. A Dikshitar song, in contrast, almost always start at samam. The pace is even throughout the vilambakala section, and again even within the madhyamakala section. Just for kicks, I tried to sing E Tavunara Dikshitar style; starting at samam, at an even pace. It fit the Adi Talam perfectly (!), but ended up sounding boring; it had lost all layam.
I'd love to know what your ideas are too!
This is just nonsense. The very first composition of Muthuswami Deekshithar,
Sri Nathadi Guruguho Jayathi Jayathi has all three speeds in the very first line.
If you take the
krithi Gana Nayakam Bhajeham Bhaje, it starts one and a half beats after the
samam, a favorite starting point of Thyagaraja's as can be seen in several of his krithis.
In
Meenakshi Me Mudham Dehi, the
anupallavi starts one-half beat after the
samam so that
Madurapuri Nilaye ends at the start of the
dhrutham
and
Mani Valaye ends at the start of the
laghu.
In one of the
Abhayamba vibhathi krithis, the
madhyama kala sahithyam does not start on the
samam but one beat later.
Thus, Deekshithar has demonstrated that he knew how to use rhythmic variations. That he chose not to do it in every one of his krithis is merely his choice.
The other thing is about
nadai (gait) variation within a
krithi. This is actually child's play if you know how to play with the lyrics. There was this song I heard just yesterday in a concert and the words were "Sarvabhouma Rama". If you allocate one
mathrai to "Sarvabhouma" and one
mathrai to "Rama", you will get a variation in gait. All one has to say is "Lambodhara Sodara" followed by "Guruguha" and allocate just one
mathrai to each of those and on top of that stretch "Lambodhara Sodara", you can get not just
sankeerna nadai, you can get a
nadai of 11 beats or 13 beats or 17 beats. Deekshithar was able to choose his words carefully and fit it into the
tala cycle so well that this kind of jugglery was not needed.
It is just that each composer chose a certain style for the majority of his compositions.
If you find Deekshithar's compositions boring, you should be condemned to listen for the rest of your life to
laya-rich Oothukkadu compositions. The Snake Dance Song repeated endlessly would be the ideal punishment for you.