KRITI |
| Undoubtedly, the most important musical form in South India is the kriti. Its origins lie in the activities of those religious storytellers, preachers, and singers who ply their trade all over the subcontinent. The word kīrtana \kIrtana\ [Sanskrit kīrt "to praise" "to glorify;" kīrtana "mentioning" "repeating"] summarizes their activities and often refers specifically to devotional song in both north and south India as sung by both soloists and groups. |
| In South-Indian
music kīrtanam \kIrtanam\ is an important genre. Kīrtanams
were originally for devotional group singing rituals and such gatherings
still occupy an important place in the weekly activities of Hindus. In
these ritual performances a kīrtanam consists of a refrain (pallavi)
— sung by the group — alternating with a number of stanzas (caranam)
— sung by a soloist. The pallavi and caranam are commonly
in contrasting registers with the former lower than the latter. |
| In
a kacceri, musicians refer to kīrtanam as kriti. Kritis are performance vehicles for one or two soloists and consist
of three parts. The first section is the pallavi \pallavi\
and is commonly in the purvānga. The first line of the pallavi also acts as a refain, recurring at the ends of the other two sections.
The anupallavi \anupallavi\ follows the pallavi,
is commonly in the uttarānga, and rhymes with the pallavi.
The anupallavi is usually longer than the pallavi. Finally,
the caranam \caraNam\ concludes the performance. The caranam commonly begins in the purvānga and moves into the uttaranga. Sometimes the end of the caranam has music identical to that of the end of the anupallavi. Individual lines of the pallavi, anupallavi, and caranam may be repeated and these repeats are often elaborated with memorized (and sometimes extensive) variations called sangati. |
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Selected Recordings |
| L.
Subramaniam, "Mamava . . . ." |
| Semmangudi
Srinivasa Aiyar, "Sri Daksinamurte, vidālitadāsa ārthe . . ." |
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