Pañcarāgam |
| Generally, little distinction
is made in south India between the instrumental and vocal repertoires.
Thus, a kriti or rāgam-tānam-pallavi might
be performed vocally or instrumentally. However, pañcarāgam (sometimes pañcaratna) almost always refers to an instrumental
performance (particularly on the vīṇā) of five particular ragas in a standard sequence: Nāṭa, Gauḷa, Ārabhi, Varāḷi, and Śrī. These five rāgas are among
some of the oldest in the active Karṇātak repertoire and are deemed ghana ("weighty" or "serious") both because of their venerability
and because of the mindset with which the performer/listener must approach
them. |
| The pañcarāgam — as almost all rāgamāla performances in Karnātak saṅgīt — are performed in free time with alternations between pure ālāp-like
phrases and tānam. Much of the performance is in tānam style. |
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| Rāga Nāṭa |
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| Rāga Gauḷa |
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| Rāga Ārabhi |
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| Rāga Varāli |
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| Rāga Śrī |
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| Terminology |
| rāgamāla [also rāgamālikā Sanskrit
"garland of rāgas"]. A composition or improvisation
in which the composer or performer modulates from one rāga to another. |
| pañcarāgam [Sanskrit, "five rāgas;" also ghana-rāga-pañcakam, Telegu, "group of five serious rāgas"]. An improvisation on the rāgas and themes from the pañcaratna. |
| pañcaratna [Sanskrit, "five jewels"]. Popular name for a set of five kritis composed by Tyāgarāja. |
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| Selected Performances: |
| Pañcarāgam: K.
S. Narayanaswami (vīṇā) |
| Tānam, rāga Vasanta, Jayanthi Kumaresh (vīṇā) |
| “Pañcaratna Kritis”: U. Srinivas (mandolin), K. V. Prasad (mṛdaṅgam), V. Nagarajan (kañjīrā), T. V. Vasan (ghatam). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKYQuGTd0XU [1:02:00] |
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