Carnatic Concerts

The public performance in carnatic is called Katcheri (or cutcheri). Unlike the Hindustani concert it is kriti-centric and relays less on improvisations.

The carnatic concert usually has several pieces, may be up to ten. So, the artist has to think about the krithis that will be performed and also the sequence in which they will be performed. A mixture of compositions in various raaga-s and taala-s and various composers is desirable. Also sequencing them in such a way that closely related raaga-s are next to each other is a good thing. So, more planning goes into a carnatic concert than a typical Hindustani concert.

The instrumental concerts follow the same pattern as the vocal concerts, playing well knows krithis. Even though there are slight variation depending on the tradition the artist comes from, carnatic concerts do not show so much divergence as Hindustani gharana-s do.

Usually the concert opens with a Varna (or Varnam). A varna being set to a faster tempo helps to start the concert on a sound footing and uplift the mood of the audience.

Varna is followed by several Krithi-s. Some of the renditions will be short without elaborate aalapana. One or two raaga-s will be taken up for long aalapana, interspersed with a short krithi. During aalapana, only the melody accompanist will accompany the main artist, repeating the various phrases that the main artist plays. Usually serious raaga-s like Shankarabharanam or Todi are taken up for aalapana. After aalapana, krithi is rendered. Pallavi and anupallavi are rendered first and pallavi is repeated, before singing the rest of the krithi. Select lines of the krithi will be rendered in various ways highlighting the various possibilities of the raaga. This is called Niraval. Towards the end of the krithi, kalpana swara-s or Swaraprastana-s are performed, where individual solfa syllables ('Sa', 'Re', 'Ga' etc) that form the scale of the raaga are rendered confirming to the structure of the raaga. The tempo for rendering the kalpana swaras can be very fast and is mostly improvised.

The longest and technically most challenging piece of the concert will be Raagam-Taanam-Pallavi (RTP), though in shorter concerts, it is usually skipped. It starts with a very elaborate aalapana forming the Raaga part. The melody accompanist who accompanies the main artist in this part, may get to improvise in solo too. Taanam follows aalapana. Here a rhythmic pulse is introduced and aalapana improvisation continues. The rhythm is still loose, does not involve the percussion instrument or a taala. Pallavi follows taanam. Pallavi itself is just a line long and is repeated in various complex ways. It is either rendered at various speeds within a cycle of taala or at various tempos of the taala.

Either with the RTP or in another krithi, a session of kalpana swaras in a duelling session with the melody accompanist is usually performed. The main artist will sing or perform a phrase(s) accompanied by one of the percussion instruments, mostly the mridangam. The melody accompanist (usually violin) will play the same phrase(s) accompanied by a different percussion instrument (like Ghata). Towards the end, the main artist leaves it to the percussion instruments to play a Tani Aavarathana. In this phase the percussion accompanists explore the depths of the taala and play complicated rhythms. If there are more than one accompanist, it can be an exciting performance. The main percussion artists (usually mridangam) will start the rhythm patterns with other accompanists expected to follow his patterns, not just in the pattern itself but also in volume and pitch. The tempo slowly increases reaching a crescendo when the main artist performs the pallavi again, concluding the Raagam-Taanam-Pallavi or the krithi.

The compositions performed after pallavi are usually lighter. There would be some DasaPada-s, some other light compositions or a Thillana. Some artists also take audience suggestions at this time.

The concert concludes with a Mangalam, which is a short piece, symbolically seeking God's pardon for any errors committed during the concert and also invoking piece and blessings for everyone.

This structure was first introduced by Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar and has been mostly followed by everyone. The sequence starts with a varnam followed by krithi-s in serious raaga-s. That is followed by Krithi-s in Shudha Madhyama raaga-s and then prathi madhyama raagas. Then comes Raagam-Thaanam-Pallavi, followed by light Pada-s, bhajan-s and a Thillana. Mangalam in raaga Madhyamavathi ends the concert.

1	Varnam	In Aadi or Aata taala
2	Krithi-s of Trinity	Serious Raaga-s like Naata, Gowla, Arabhi, Varali, Sri
3	Others' Krithi-s	Shudha Madhyama and Prati Madhyamam Raaga-s
4	Raagam-Taanam-Pallavi	Bhairavi, Hindolam, Latangi, Kalyani etc
5	Light Compositions	Devaranaama, Thillana, Raagamaalika, Jaavali etc
6	Mangala	Madhyamavati