Tala
Introduction of tala¶
The word talam is said to be derived from the combination of the words Thandavam and Lasyam. Thandavam is the dance of Lord Siva and Lasyam is the dance of Goddess Parvathi.
The tala system of Carnatic music is unique in the world of music. The time measures used in South Indian music are innumerable and varied and they occupy an important position in Carnatic music. Talas organise rhythm in music. All aspects of percussion are bound by a constantly repeated metr cycle of beat called tala. The talas are not just recurrent time cycles, they rather have their individual structure and influence on music. Just as a raga extolls the bhavam of the song, so does the talam, which reveals the mood of the song.
Structure of tala¶
Each and every talam has a structure, that is governed by the rules pertaining to it.
For example, if we take the most common tala - Chatusra Jaathi Triputa Talam (Adi Talam), we can describe the process of the tala thus : 1 beat of the palm of the hand on the thigh,followed by counting three fingers, then beating the palm and turning it over, then beating the palm and turning it over If we count a number each for every beat, fingercount or turn of the palm - the number comes to eight. So the tala has eight units. The units are called Aksharams and the Adi talam has 8 aksharams.
The first part of the tala which consists of the beating of the palm and counting is called Laghu. Here the number of units is 4 (Chatusram) and the laghu is Chatusra laghu. The Jaathi of the laghu determines the jaathi of the tala so the tala is Chatusrajaathi Adi Tala.
The next process of beat and turning the palm is called Drtham. It is done twice, so the tala has 2 drthams. Thus Chatusra Jaathi Triputa Talam(Adi) has one Chatusra Laghu and two drthams. The symbol for laghu is 1 and the number written beneath it represents the jaathi and the symbol for drtham is 0 and hence, this thalam will be represented thus 1 4 0 0 Thus, from the above, we understand that a tala has laghu, drtham and these are called Angams (parts) of the tala. In some cases, there may be half of drtham, i.e., just the beat of the palm without turning it and is called Anudrtham.
Talam - Angams and Jaathis¶
There are seven basic thalas :
1. Dhruva talam
2. Matya Talam
3. Rupaka Talam
4. Jampa Talam
5. Triputa Talam
6. Ata Talam
7. Eka Talam
In a tala, the drtham has two units and anudrtham (if it is part of a talam) has 1 unit and this is a constant. But the units of the laghu vary according to the jaathi.
| Jaathi | Aksharams |
|---|---|
| 1. Thisra Jaathi 2. Chatusra Jaathi 3. Kanta Jaathi 4. Misra Jaathi 5. Sankeerna Jaathi |
3 4 5 7 9 |
So, depending upon the jaathi, the units of the laghu varies. And the jaathi of the talam is determined by the jaathi of the laghu. Also, depending upon the jaathi of the laghu, the aksharams of the tala vary. For instance, the Triputa talam has the following angams - one laghu and two drthams and symbolically 1 0 0. Now, if the Triputa is Thisra Triputa, the laghu will have three aksharams
| 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
and the thala will have three aksharams. If the talam is Kanda Triputa, the laghu will have 5 aksharams and the tala will have 9 aksharams
| 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Thus the 7 talams in combination with the 5 jaathis gives 35 talas in Carnatic music. Among these, the Chatusra Jaathi Triputa (Adi), Rupakam, Kanda Chapu, Misra Chapu are the most widely used talam. All the 7 talas in one of the jaathi is taught in the preliminary exercise of "Alankaram". These talas are called desi talas
Apart from the desi talas, there are other set of talas called "Marga Talas". These talas, in addition to the angams in the desi talas - laghu, drtham and anudrtham have other angams called Guru, Plutham, Kakapadam. The 108 talas and other groups of talas come under this group.
1 Guru - 1 beat and counting 7 fingers 1 Plutham - 1 beat, 1 krshyai and 1 sarpini 1 Kakapadam - 1 beat, 1 krshyai, 1 sarpini and 1 pathakam
1 krshyai - waving the hand towards left, it has 4 aksharams 1 sarpini - waving the hand towards right, it has 4 aksharams 1 pathakam - raising the hand vertically, has 4 aksharams
These talas are complicated and are found in very few compositions. In fact, the music of Tamils in ancient times had complicated rythm patterns like Chandha talam. Rythm was given importance. The Thiruppugazh is a classic example of the variety and complex nature of tala pattern in Carnatic music.