Date: 17.12.2024 – Tuesday – 8.20 – 9.05 a.m.

Speaker : Sangita Kala Acharya Dr Ritha Rajan

Title : Encapsulating a Raga: Varnamettu

Abstract :

In early times music rather existed as tunes. The word Varna mettu means tune.Very popularly used once upon a time in Tamil Nadu. Tune was called varna mettu, mettu or raga mettu.While the term varna mettu was the most popular, denoting the tune of a song, the term mettu was also was used for setting tune to a song ( mettamaithu).The first half of the 20 th century was the period of varna mettu,wherein the same varnamettu or tune of a song was adopted in some of the later songs. The study of the Varnamettu is very interesting and also significant for the reason that it covers not just Carnatic Music, but also Hindusthani Music, Indian Dance Music, Indian Drama Music, Indian Ritual Music ,Indian Film Music,Indian Folk Music and Western Classical Music.The folk music of other countries may also offer some scope for this study.In olden days, songs were identified by their tune or varnamettu and not by the raga in which they were set in. The ragas in which these varnamettus were set, like anandabhairavi, nadanamakriya and Punnagavarali were our earliest ragas which were naturally evolved through oral tradition. The varnamettu or tune encapsulates the essential features of the raga as in a capsule.The most important factors of the raga are characteristically and succinctly given in a short space.Interestingly,within that short space it shows how the raga should take its course, with an introduction followed by the presentation of the main features and finally a natural way of winding up the raga.

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