Differences between Hindustani and Karnatik (Carnatic) Music

The purpose of this thread is not so much an introduction to Indian classical music (which I have actually lectured on before).
I am presuming some basic knowledge of the music from the country of India, and I’m here to explain some of the differences from the North to the South.

First. Some definitions. Where the same concept exists in both styles with different names, I’ll put the Karnatik term in blue
and the Hindustani term in red.

Hindustani = North Indian classical music

Karnatik (aka Carnatic) = South Indian classical music

aalapana/aalap = rubato intro, with the purpose of introducing and outlining the raga, utilizing all the rules of the raga as well as characteristic phrases that identify the raga.

raga (sometimes raag) = a set of notes, usually between 5 and 7 but often more or less, and the order in which they are played, any characteristic phrases, ornaments, and in Hindustani music, the time of day, time of year, and “mood” of the raga.

gamaka = a general Karnatik term for an ornament applied to a note. In Hindustani music, there is no general word for ornaments as a whole, but there are specific terms like meend (slide), gamak (a specific term in the North – kind of a mordent), etc.

tala (sometimes taal) = The rhythmic base of any Indian classical song. It encompasses a specific number of beats per cycle, for example 5, 7, 8, 16, etc. In Hindustani music, there is a period within the cycle called the “khali“, meaning “empty”, where the rhythm will seem to freeze for a second.

Similarities (which is as close as I’ll get to an introduction in this primer).

• Both styles are raga-based as a general rule (although in both cases there are exceptions). What this means is that for an entire song, and sometimes an entire performance, a single raga is used exclusively.
• In addition, both styles are tala-based (again as a general rule). The specific meter and its subdivision is maintained for an entire piece. The tempo (nada or laya) may change (usually speeding up), but the meter will remain the same.
• Both utilize a fixed root, in the form of the tamboura (drone)
• The main part of a performance has a similar (though not identical) form: ragam or aalapana (aalap) – tanam (jor) – pallavi (improvisation)

Most of the major differences between the styles to me are performance-related. The non-performance related differences include the instruments used and how “flexible” the ragas and talas are (Hindustani music tends to be more forgiving).

Common Karnatik instruments:
Voice, violin, veena, flute, mridhangam, ghatam, kanjira, morsing

A Karnatik ensemble almost always consists of 4 musicians: a main instrument (or vocal), a backup/accompanying instrument/voice, a main percussion instrument (mridhangam), and a backup/accompanying percussion instrument.

Common Hindustani instruments:
Voice, sarangi, sitar, sarod, flute (bansuri), tabla

A Hindustani “ensemble” will usually only have a single melodic instrument and a tabla. There are no other common percussion instruments in the North. Hindustani music tends to be more individual/solo-oriented.

On to the performance. Here’s where I find the most defining differences between the styles. I’ll give you a full example of a performance in each style.

Karnatik

Some Karnatik musical examples

There is a huge shared repertoire of “standards” in Karnatik music. These standards come in a few different flavors. For example, kritis and keertanas are analagous to Chopin’s preludes and etudes, ie, technical exercises which are pretty enough to be performed. Varnas and tillanas are derived from dance forms. Then of course there are folk songs and bhajans (devotional songs). These standards are played for the first half of a concert, sort of to get the audience in the mood. The songs are played pretty much as “written”; just like European classical music there’s a lot of individual interpretation that goes into the songs, but unlike European classical music there is often a short section in the middle where the instruments/vocals can improvise a little and trade licks.

Karnatik tracks 1-4 in the rar are a few of my favorite choones. 1 is played by U Srinivas on electric mandolin. Take note (no pun intended) of the raga charukeshi, it’s one of the ragas that has an approximate equivalent in Hindustani music (actually, very close, since it’s a very recent import from the South to the North). 4 is played on a chitraveena, which is basically the lap steel version of the veena (unfretted, high action, played with a slide).

After the standards (and sometimes an intermission) comes the main part of the performance, the ragam-tanam-pallavi. These 3 terms refer to the 3 sections of the piece. Ragam is the aalapana, a rubato outline of the chosen raga. The percussionists take a break here, and the melodic instruments trade off rubato sections. If there are 2 melodic instruments, usually the lead instrument starts out, goes on for a few minutes, hands it off to the accompanying instrument for a while, then comes back in after the accompanying instrument is done, sort of to re-establish dominance.

The tanam section is also not in strict time/meter, but has a strong rhythm, usually by smacking the bass strings on the quarter notes or eighth notes, or in the case of non-stringed instruments, returning to a note and repeating it between rhythmic runs (sort of kind of Coltrane stylee, to put the cart before the horse).

Then we get to the pallavi, the main composed section of the ragam-tanam-pallavi. This is usually a short theme that is played a couple of times as a “here’s the theme, ya got it?” exposition, then the instruments start to go off on improvisations around the theme. The theme is always reprised from time to time. It starts in a slow meter, and after a while the tempo is doubled, then doubled again, and so on until you get pretty damn fast. In track 6, the first doubling comes at about 7:30, and actually I can’t seem to hear any more. Maybe I should’ve chosen a different example. Though TN Krishnan (probably my favorite violin player) is known for his mellow stylee…

After the melodic instruments have gotten their rocks off, it’s the percussionists’ turn. This is called the thaniavartanam. Thani means “alone”, and avartanam means avartanam. Ok? And just like the melodic instruments, the 2 percussionists take turns soloing.

At the very end of a concert, the musicians usually play a couple more light standards to bring the audience back up after the heavy, hour-long ragam-tanam-pallavi.

Hindustani

Some Hindustani musical examples

In a Hindustani classical concert, the emphasis is shifted from standards and songs to improvisation on the classic 3 part form. There is still a repertoire of short songs that people know, like bhajans and folk melodies, but mostly these songs are not considered “classical” and are reserved for folk concerts, or so-called “light classical” concerts, where all manner of popular melodies are played. There are also musicians who specialize in thumri (Hindustani selection 3), dadra, khyal, and other “less” classical forms.

So back to the classical concert. They may choose to play a couple of khyals or maybe a quick bhajan, or they may perform an abbreviated version of the 3-part form, which is commonly referred to as playing a “gat”. A gat is a short theme, akin to the pallavi in Karnatik music, but a very short theme that only serves as a vehicle for improvisation. Sort of like a jazz head. Listen to the first Hindustani selection. I know I said that there’s usually only one melodic instrument, but on this selection there are 2 sitars. When 2 instruments play together and trade licks (kind of like in Karnatik music) it’s called a jugalbandhi. One reason I chose this selection is because it’s in charukeshi, like the first Karnatik selection…

Playing a gat is very similar to playing a full raga, so I’ll skip right to that. Just like a Karnatik ragam-thanam-pallavi, the Hindustani raga form is called aalap-jor-gat. The aalap is the same as the ragam, the jor is the rhythmic outline of the raga, like the thanam, and the gat is the melody that is played. Gat playing differs from pallavi playing, however. As noted, gats are generally very short, maybe 2 or 4 cycles of the meter. Then the instrumentalist launches right into a solo. Since there are generally only 2 instruments in a Hindustani performance (the soloist and the tabla), solos are traded between the melody instrument and the tabla. After each cycle of instrumental solo/tabla solo, the tempo is pushed up a bit. So it’s more of a gradual accelerando as opposed to the Karnatik style of doubling the tempo. Just like Western classical music has names for each broad range of speed (andante, allegro, etc), there are 3 major tempi in Hindustani music (slow to fast) vilambit, madhya, and drut. Hindustani musicians tend to get to a real breakneck drut by the end. The piece, and usually each instrumental and tabla solo within the form, is ended with a tihai, which is a short rhythmic pattern that when repeated 3 times, ends on the downbeat. The simplest one to explain via the interwebz would be:

Percussion technique

In Karnatik music, the mridhangam and any supporting percussion instruments serve a very jazzy role. Since almost all of the songs that are played are either common standards, or a pallavi that’s a composed head, the melodic rhythm is known to the whole band. The percussion play around the melody, complementing it, playing against it, playing fills, etc, just like a jazz drummer. This leads to the interesting paradox that even though the songs are generally pretty strict melodically, they’re really loose rhythmically. Also, pretty similar to jazz, the ends of phrases and sections need to be punctuated, and this is generally done by using one of a huge repertoire of fills and licks. I really like listening to the mridhangam starting a lick and the supporting percussion jumping right on it, like “hey, yeah, I know that fill!”

In Hindustani music, the tabla functions more like a rock drummer. For each tala, there’s a specific pattern, called a theka. While the lead instrument is playing, the tabla is expected to stick pretty close to the theka, perhaps so as not to confuse the soloist. The tabla player elaborates apon the theka as opposed to elaborating based around the melody. Then during the tabla solos, they play specific tabla “compositions” that they’ve worked so hard to learn. When listening to Hindustani music with a tabla player, you’ll hear him comment on how well the tabla player on the recording executed the composition. Typical drummers … “yeah, I could’ve played that better…”

Summary

Although superficially similar, Hindustani and Karnatik music are definitely distinct styles, with a different repertoire and performance style. Even scales that are similar will have different rules and playing methods attached to them, thereby making them different ragas.

Although each style has similarities and differences with Western classical, jazz, and rock, for some reason Hindustani music has influenced Western artists more so than Karnatik, at least in my observation. The notable exception being John McLaughlin, who actually studied veena for a little while but apparently decided he’d rather be a muthafucker on only one instrument

I shall add more conclusions as I read your comments, figure out that I’ve misspoken above after you call me out on it, and perhaps even retreat to India with my tail between my legs.

In the meantime, enjoy!!

– Satish