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Catching on to chittaswaras

Photos: R. Ravindran

TRACING THE TREND Mandolin U. Srinivas.

Nearly a decade ago, young mandolin maestro U. Srinivas had set a record of sorts for receiving nearly 100 requests from the packed audience during the Ramotsava, for the ever popular “Raghuvamsa Sudha” in Kadanakutuhala raga. Just when his fans were eagerly waiting for their piece, Srinivas commenced the kriti with its chittaswara and was surprised to see the cheerful audience clapping and singing along. Soon the mandolin sped in greater tempo, with the swaras gliding across to a Western harmonic effect! “This is one of Patnam Subramanya Iyer’s masterpieces that remains a delight with instrumentalists. Let alone the kriti, the chittaswara weaved in by the composer is magnetic as you observe in concert halls,” says Srinivas.

Not just Carnatic musicians, artists in fusion concerts too adorn their bits with chic chittaswaras to win over younger audiences. Several well-known sabhas and institutions in the city have held lecture-demonstrations and workshops on these decorative aspects of Carnatic music, throwing light on the importance of its inclusion. What are the features that make chittaswaras so attractive and sought after in a genre that is primarily soaked in devotional lyrics?

Bhagya Prakash K.

R.K. Padmanabha.

Chittaswaras are a chain of swaras that embellish a varna or a kriti and to a large extent help showcase the raga’s grammar and build-up. Says the doyen of Carnatic music, R.K. Srikantan: “Chittaswara enables a learner mark the contours of a raga for easy comprehension. It is a ready-mix of melodic swara grouping placed mid-way in a kriti and the singer is expected to follow the composer’s creativity. Taken up in two speeds generally, the unwritten rule is that nobody changes its melodic content, nor does it lend itself to changes in structure and substance. Some chittaswaras we hear were afterthoughts — additions by the composer’s shisya parampara.”

Srikantan goes on to explain how the chittaswara in the atta tala Bhairavi varna blends inextricably with the nucleus of the raga sangatis in the pallavi. “Breaking the lyrical structure to get a different melodic mood is what chittaswaras actually do and there are masterpieces from vaggeyakaras who have weaved in the ‘different’ temperament, to bring out the essence of the raga.

This decorative add-on was designed to put in a respectful glamour quotient too,” he says.

The popular Carnatic music-based film “Shankarabharanam” included Vasudevachar’s “Brochevarevarura” in Kamas with its chittaswara.

The instant attention that the kriti received made even laymen take to the swaras after its big screen break. For an already-popular kriti, the celluloid connection was what made it a bigger hit.

“The melody in chittaswara involves following the said raga scale, where the lifeline swaras are highlighted with an arithmetic sagacity that makes it merge with the mridanga for gaining a concert pace,” adds Vidwan Srikantan.

V. Ganesan

R.K. Srikantan.

Says senior vocalist R.K. Padmanabha: “The Mysore royals were perhaps responsible in popularising such decorative features initially in varnas, followed by kritis. From 1875 onwards several vaggeyakaras such as Veene Seshanna, Patnam Subramanya Iyer, Veena Kuppaiyer, Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar, Mysore Vasudevachar and Muthiah Bhagavatar have brought in these aural treats to underline the jeeva swaras.” Veena Kuppaiyer’s “Intaparakela” in Begada has an accent on the gandhara in its chittaswara, just as Mysore Vasudevachar’s “Narayana Namostute” in Poornachandrika portrays the rishabha in its grandeur, he adds.

From the sober sahitya oriented-mood, chittaswaras help artistes change gear to bring in an informal structure relief, says Padmanabha. “Just as a varna is incomplete without chittaswaras, there are composed masterpieces as Shyama Shastri’s ‘Marivere Gati’ in Ananda Bhairavi where the chittaswara understands the pace of the sahitya to bring an effect of harmony.

And did you know that the chittaswara in Subbaraya Shastri’s ‘Janani Ninnuvina’ in Ritigowla has sahitya? Moving kritis as Vasudevachar’s “Bhajare Manasa” in Abheri sounds fine even without chittaswaras, he says.Mandolin Srinivas loves the challenges that chittaswaras can throw at the artist.

“I try them in all tempos and the straight swaras in Malavi, Chenchukambodhi and Bangala in Tyagaraja kritis lend themselves to some unwritten melodic confrontations in concerts,” he says enthusiastically.

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