When Colors Change : Ragamalikas in Carnatic Music Part II
Everything turns a bit more interesting if you have some imagination. This would apply perfectly to Indian Classical Music, where imagination is key to enjoyment. In case of some singers, you enjoy their imagination and innovation. In case of some other singers, you have to just imagine that you are enjoying their singing !! Any which way you look at it,imagination cannot be divorced from Indian Classical Music. As was promised in the last post on the subject of Ragamalikas, we will discuss about Ragamalikas in 'kalpana sangeetham'. According to Carnatic music purists, the piece-de-resistance of Carnatic music is the Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi. As can be expected in a fast moving world, this has now been christened RTP. We find that Ragamalikas exists in all three arms of RTP, namely, Ragam, Thanam and Pallavi. Now, singing Ragamalikas while elaborating a ragam would be frowned upon, and rightly so. But if you are going to take up a ragamalika pallavi such an exercise in raga alap...