I am a vocalist and composer of Carnatic music, the classical music tradition of South India. There are two systems of Indian classical music, the Northern (known as Hindustani), and the Southern (known as Carnatic). The two systems have common origins and musical ideas, but also very distinct styles that differentiate them as two separate systems.
In the Indian (predominantly Hindu) tradition, the ultimate purpose of any art is spiritual experience, the feeling of oneness with the One spirit that unites us all, beyond the illusion of matter that divides us into the many. Indian art theory calls this experience as “rasa” (literal meaning: essence). A successful artistic expression, whether music, dance, poetry, painting, sculpture or literature, carries both the performer and the spectator from outer physical expression through the world of emotion to the ultimate quietude that is the domain of the divine spirit, beyond space and time. This ultimate meditative experience is synonymous with Yoga, the union of the individual with the universal.
At one level, Indian classical art tries to achieve this goal in an explicit way, through religious and spiritual themes. Thus most expressions of classical art are also religious, drawing extensively (and in many cases exclusively) from the rich and vast Hindu religious literature, stories about gods and goddesses, emphasizing the many facets of prayer to the divine. Thus at one level, the musician’s purpose is to feel and express his/her connection to the divine and help the audience feel that connection as well, through soulful singing of the lyrics that have explicit religious content, similar to gospel singing. However, there are also several other levels at which Indian classical music tries to create the spiritual experience.
The dominant musical form in Indian classical music is the raga (pronounced raa-ga), which in its elemental form is just a scale, a defined set of ascending and descending notes. There are an infinite number of ragas, based on various possible scales and shades of musical notes. In a musical performance, the raga is performed through several vehicles – elaboration through abstract syllables, songs, solfeggio singing etc. All these vehicles demand tremendous improvisation, and it is in this improvisational performance that we find a very unique conception of spiritual music in India. Each raga, which is a sound form, is treated as a divine form in Indian music, and the musician is like a priest, invoking the presence of the divine through the raga, with the audience also participating in this worship. In singing the various phrases of the raga, the musician is, as it were, chanting the glories of the divine, very similar to a Hindu worship ritual, but with no lyrics, just abstract syllables. The glories of the divine are infinite, and the raga is also infinite; the improvisations are only limited by the ability and imagination of the musician. My teacher always says, “Each raga is like an ocean; thousands and thousands of musicians over the centuries have not exhausted even one raga. Each musician goes to the ocean and collects the amount of water that is determined by the size of the pot he carries.” Therefore, we have an interesting expression to say that we learned something. We don’t say that we learnt a raga or a song. Rather, we say that the raga or the song “came to us”. Thus the musical forms are treated as sacred, and any accomplishment by the musician is only the blessing of the musical form. The word “raga” literally means attachment; thus the extent of spiritual experience is determined by how well the musician and the audience bind themselves to the divine form of the raga. A similar description can be given for the very complex rhythmic patterns employed in Indian classical music, known as tala (pronounced taa-la). It is common to see audiences of Indian classical music closely following the rhythmic improvisations and going into raptures.
Thus an Indian classical music peformance is spiritual at many levels, whether as a religious poetry,
gospel singing, or the invoking of the devine through the melodic forms of raga, or the rhythmic forms of tala.
