Ornament (music) - Indian Classical Music

Indian Classical Music

Indian classical music is based on ragas, a modal system similar to Jazz with scales of 5 to 7 main notes (beside the microtones) in the ascending and descending form. Its origin is dated back to the Vedas. Indian classical music has evolved and split into two main parts: North Indian classical (Hindustani) and South Indian classical (Carnatic).

In Indian music generally and especially in classical music staccato or isolated notes are almost unheard. With the exception of some very few instruments, the Indian notes (swaras) are not of static nature. Each swara is linked with its preceding or succeeding note. Such an extra note (or grace note) known as Kan-Swaras set up the basis of all kind of alankars (Sanskrit: decoration with ornaments, ornaments of sound (shabd-alankar) or ornaments of words).

These ornaments of ragas, Alankar is essential for the beauty of raga melodies. The term Alankar can be found in ancient texts. One of the earliest treatises is the Natyashastra written by the sage Bharata (between 200 BC and 200 AD), later on Alankaras are described in the Sangeet Ratnakar of Sharangdev (13th century) and Sangeet Parijat of Pandit Ahobal (17th century).

The classification of alankars is relating to the structure of ragas and the aesthetic aspect (latter classification = Shabdalankar). All techniques refer to the sound production utilized by the human voice, imitated by any kind of Indian instrument (e.g. Sitar, Sarod, Shehnai, Sarangi, Santoor, etc.).

The variations of a raga performance within a defined frame of compositorial rules and reglements using the different types of Alankara-s can be termed as whole simply as alankar.

Different types of alankars exist, e.g. Meend, Kan, Sparsh, Krintan, Andolan, Gamak, Kampit (or Kampan), Khatka (or Gitkari), Zamzama, Murki and combination of alankars in Indian classical performances.