India's First Music Museum

India's First Music Museum

The country's first music museum will be set up with assistance from the Central government in Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil nadu, the birth place of Saint Tyagaraja, one of the Trinities of Carnatic music.

Carnatic Music:

• It is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu as well as Sri Lanka.
• The basic elements are sruti (the relative musical pitch), swara (the musical sound of a single note), raga (the mode of melodic formula) and tala (the rhythmic cycle).
• It is usually permormed by a small ensemble of musicians, consisting principal performer (usually a vocalist), a melodic accompaniment (usually a violin), a rhythm accompaniment (usually an mridangam), and a tambura, which acts as a drone throughout the performance.
• Other typical instruments used in performance may include the ghatam, kanjira, morsing, venu flute, veena, and chitraveena.
• The main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in goyaki(singing) style.

Trinities of Carnatic Music

Saint Tyagaraja:

• Saint Tyagaraja was a renowned composer of Carnatic music.
• He has composed thousands of devotional composition, mostly in Telugu in the praise of Lord Rama, many of which remain popular today.
• He saw the reigns og four kings of Maratha dynasty-Tulaja II (1763-1787), Amarasimha (1787-1798), Serfoji II (1798-1832) and Sivaji II (1832-1855), but he served none of them.

Saint Muthuswami Dikshitar was a South Indian poet and composer.

• His compositions are noted for their elaborate and poetic descriptions of Hindu gods and temples and for capturing the essence of the raga forms through the vainik (veena) style that emphasizes gamakas.
• His compositions are predominantly in Sanskrit and he also composed some of his Kritis in Manipravalam (a mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil).