Alankāra
| Indian classical music |
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| Concepts |
Alankara (
The ancient and medieval music scholars of India state that there are unlimited creative possibilities available to a musician, but each scholar illustrated the concept with a set of alankara. Datilla discussed 13 alankaras, Bharata Muni presented 33, Sarngadeva described 63 alankaras, while mid medieval scholars presented numerous more.[1] The Indian music tradition classifies alankara as rational or irrational, wherein irrational alankara being those that cannot be reduced to a fixed scale degree pattern. The Indian theory of gamaka covers the group of irrational alankara.[1] The concept of alankara applies to both vocal and musical instrument performance.[1]
Types
A song without any alankara,
would be like a night without a moon,
a river devoid of water,
a vine without any flower,
and a woman without any ornament.
—Natya Shastra 29.75
Bharata Muni (200 BCE-200 CE)[1]
Here are some common types of alankara used in classical music are
- meend, a technique of singing notes in a fluid manner with one note merging into the next - there are many different kinds of meend
- kan-swar, grace notes - the use of grace-notes depends on the raga being performed
- andolan, a gentle swing on specific notes, used selectively
- gamaka, a heavy to-and-fro oscillation involving two or three distinct notes
- khatka/gitkari, a rapid rendition of a cluster of notes distinctly yet lightly
- murki, an even lighter and more subtle rendition of a cluster of notes
Other definitions
Alankara also refers to:
- a pattern on a svara group within a given octave, in ancient Indian music.[3]
- a type of exercise based on the 7 main talas and their variations.[3]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-226-73034-9.
- ISBN 978-0-8240-4946-1.
- ^ a b Prof. P Sambamoorthy (2005), South Indian Music - Vol I, Chennai, India: The Indian Music Publishing House, p. 51}