Indian music has a tight
bond between melody and rhythm. These two, similar to Western music, provide
the structure. The music is based upon ragas, which are tonal patterns in which
a piece of music is set. It is similar to a scale, and has a tonic to which the
music gravitates, however the interval patterns in ragas are different than
those in a western scale. The music also works in quarter tones, and from tonic
to tonic there are 22 intervals called “sruti”. These can be recombined into groups
of twelve semitones called “swara”, which is the basic movement of Indian
music. Below is a diagram outlining the division of Indian notes relative to other
scales, as well as the solfeggio they use to identify the scale degrees.
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| http://www.oocities.org/drbobsmithau/india/indmuz6.htm |
Indian music has about
130 ragas that are used, though some are more popular than others.
Kathakali strongly
relies on musical structure to propel the theatrics. The orchestration is quite
light, with the focus being kept on the singers harmonizing with one another.
Drums are used to help maintain the tempo and set the rhythm, with the chengila
(like cymbals) and the chenda (drum) being two of the most popular
percussion instruments. While some wind and string instruments provide some
background music, the vocals and the percussion are the main instruments of
Kathakali.
Kathakali is very intensely
focused on relaying the story through the dancing, acting, singing, and persona
as a whole. The story is often in what is left unsaid, which is why the
technique is so prized, and this ideal is described as "Where the hand
moves, the eyes follow. Where the eyes move, the mind follows. Where the mind
moves, the mood follows. Where the mood goes, there the Rasa [flavour]
arises," (Vijayakumar).
Kathakali follows basic
plot structure, and tells stories of religion, folktales, and history. There
are six basic character types, which are Pacha, Katti, Tadi (evil), Tadi
(pure), Katalan, Minnikku, and Narasymham, and these represent heroes, evils,
fantasy, females, and sidekicks, all to further the plot and tell the story.
Ultimately, Kathakali takes "story telling into the heart of the people
through total theatre," (Vijayakumar).
