Thalams in Pada Varnams

ardhanariswar · Post by **ardhanariswar** » 16 Dec 2008, 04:32

I'm having difficulty deciphering how jathis are integrated into varnams. Any help/comments would be much appreciated.

In particular, I'm looking at some youtube clips of the famous Anandabhairavi Rajagopala Varnam (or is it a swarajathi?) "Sakhiye Intha Velayil jalam sayade yendan" by one of the TQ bros.

please have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAwcjwUPg80

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qRNUH8HpU8

Why isn't the singer starting the adi cycle at 'Sakhiye' ?

Also the jathi segment in the first clip starts kinda oddly, with the mridangam fudging around a bit.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 Dec 2008, 06:12

Why isn't the singer starting the adi cycle at 'Sakhiye' ?

Not sure what you are asking, but the eduppu for the song is 1.5 in 2 kalai, the way the singer is keeping the thalam. Are you questioning the 1.5 eduppu and asking why it should not be
samam eduppu?

ardhanariswar · Post by **ardhanariswar** » 16 Dec 2008, 08:19

vasanthakokilam wrote:
Why isn't the singer starting the adi cycle at 'Sakhiye' ?
Not sure what you are asking, but the eduppu for the song is 1.5 in 2 kalai, the way the singer is keeping the thalam. Are you questioning the 1.5 eduppu and asking why it should not be
samam eduppu?

Maybe? So are you saying that the song starts on the 6th beat of the adi cycle?

This concept is really new to me (as well as talas). Can you please explain this using english terms? Much appriciated!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 Dec 2008, 09:49

ardhanariswar, the song can start either before, at or after the 1st beat of the thala. In this case, the song is composed to start after the 1st beat.

Watch the thala keeping kriya of the singer, you can see that in 2-Kalai ( 2 taps per beat ), he starts the song between the 2 and 3rd beat of adi thala.

'Ye' of sakhiye falls right on the 3rd beat. So, rhythmically, "ye" is a beat/stress point. That necessarily means that 'sakhi' has to start prior to third beat. And the duration of 'sakhi' is half a beat ( in 2 kalai )
and hence "sakhi" starts mid point between 2nd and 3rd beat.

ardhanariswar · Post by **ardhanariswar** » 16 Dec 2008, 10:46

Thanks guys! I see that now.

The jathi segment in this clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAwcjwUPg80) still confuses me though. I guess the way it starts off, I sense some delay. The entire jathi doesn't come to thalam so I guess the started it off a half beat later so it finishes before the 'mahitalam pugazhrum..'. Am I right?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 Dec 2008, 11:39

Right, the jathi segment starts half a beat after samam and the song starts at 1.5 beats from samam, so jathis go for 17 beats ( 2 avarthanams + 1 ).

As a side bar note, in general, in BN, the jathis seem to abruptly enter into the picture sort of interrupting the singer, and the singer trails off. It does add a bit drama and makes one pay attention that something is changing. And the hand off back to the singer is usually smooth which is also nice.