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Modern classical concert music is an instance in point. The limbs and parts which go to make up the present day concert are the growth of such basic elements and components that were born even as early as a thousand years ago. To give a few instances, the raga, the soul of our music is a lyrical and historical corollary of and development from jatis, dating from 7th or 8th century A.D. Swara prastara seems to have existed even as early or even earlier than the 13th century A.D. Both the Sangita Ratnakara of Saranga Deva and the later Raga Vibodha mention swara varisais or alankaras about sixty in number, which are quite aesthetic and interesting, judged, even by modern standards.
"Kootatanam" as opposed to "Suddhasadanam" is swara prastara in a vakra order. Tanam singing of the modern type in which raga phrases are sung to madhyama kala with specified letters or aksharas, seem to be only 300 to 400 years old. Again pallavi singing has been hinted at and vaguely described in the words roopaka alapati in the Sangita Ratnakara.
Between the post Ratnakara period, about which time, the Indian Music system seems to have bifurcated itself into the Southern and Northern systems and the 18th century, the 72 melakarthas with their enormous possibilities for the creation of innumerable janaka ragas had been propounded and exploited. The theory of the music of the South had been promulgated in all its elborateness and detail Purandara Dasa had laid secure foundations of our music with his alankaras, geetams and suladis, not to speak of thousands of padas. Venkatamakhin and others had composed Lakshana geetams for many ragas. The ground had been thoroughly prepared for the flowering men of genius like the South Indian Trinity who appeared in the firmament of music and flooded our continent with the light of their celestial compositions. The kriti in its embryo form in the "Geeta Govinda" reached adolescence with the Takapakkam composers followed by Bhadrachala Ramadas and other and reached its full maturity in the compositions of Thyagaraja, Syama Sastri and Dikshitar. Periods of private and royal patronage of music have always been rich in period, concerts were mostly held in the chambers of royalty and zamindars, where only a chosen few were privileged to listen to classical Music. The concert, which lasted about two hours or more, was mainly elaborate raga singing followed by a pallavi. Musical history has it that even contests in such concerts were held in royal courts. Nagaswaram, the most effective instrument for the propagation of classical music among the masses, on occasions of royal festivities as also religious and temple utsavas, was the medium through which, large sections of the public got gradually acquainted with many ragas and talas.
Thus, it will be seen that all the material for the structure of the modern concert, barring kritis, were ready in the Tyagaraja-period-varnmas of Audiappier and others, kritis of the Trinity and other composers in their wake and the ragam-tanam-pallavi. The early forms of music like tayams and prabandhams were swept away by the advent of the kritis. But their spirit continued to live in the varieties of the kritis produced by the Trinity. Dikshitar's kritis are prabhandas in spirit, those of Thyagaraja and Syama Sastry, of kavya kalpana sangitam, till then confined to ragas and pallavi, could now be had through the interpretation of various types of compositions.
From an analysis of the history of our music from very early times up to the 18th century, it will be evident that there had been a progressive, though slow, evolution of music in all its forms which gave nourishment and growth to individual talent, through scientific methods and codification of musical practice and knowledge. Ample opportunities were afforded in private houses of royalty and zamindars for exhibition of such individual artistic talents. The adaptation of the modern violin , an importation from the West and exploitation of its possibilities as a solo and accompanying medium in a concert came in handy and timely when the concert emerged from the private chambers in to the public wing. With the increasing patronage of music by the public and private audiences, musicians were tempted to pursue it as a career. The performer as such had to enlarge his stock and repertoire. Unalloyed interpretative music was found inadequate to meet the increasing demands from the public. The performer had to include recitative portions also in the concert before and after the ragam, tanam and pallavi. The post-Thyagaraja period saw an exuberance of compositions like tillanas and javalis, which supplied the needs of the performing musicians in this respect. The large volume of compositions of the Trinity came in a very strategic and psychological moment. These compositions afforded unprecedented scope for the the display of the individual talent in the very handling of such piece as well as raga prologue to the pieces and in the niraval and swara improvisations which could be introduced during or after the recitation of the piece. There were also such wide range of variety as could suite the varying musical temperaments and equipments of many talented and gifted musicians, as also various grades of the fast growing public taste for music.
The concert should be divided into three segments, (1) the pre-pallavi segmentm (2) the ragam-tanam-pallavi, and (3) the post-pallavi and comparatively light segment. The one that precedes the pallavi is a mixture of recitative and interpretative elements. From the opening varnam, through alternating fast and slow phased kritis, small raga prologues to the former and elaborate expositions for the latte, the classical atmosphere gets gradually heightened. It culminates in the second segment, the ragam-tanam-pallavii, which is the high watermark of South Indian classical Music. It is the peak of the concert. From the ragam, tanama, pallavi, to the end of the performance, there is a gradual watering down of classical and light music, so at the end, even non-classical folk and Hindustani melodies fit with naturalness into the pattern of the concert. Even in the pre-pallavi portion, in the rendering of each piece, the succession of the ragam, kriti, niraval and swara has a significance. From the raga to kriti, from kriti to niraval and from niraval to swara improvisations, it is a graded, increasing emergence and emphasis of the aspect of laya.
The unique appeal and greatness of our art are owing to its capacity fro growth and adaptation, through a long period of time and more so because, men of great genius, through their knowledge and intelligence could have the greatest freedom for the play of both these factors within the framework of tradition. Our system, the most aesthetic, intricate and exalted in the world, is the noblest heritage of man. Our concert tradition has come to stay. It will be good to remind ourselves that All is great to the extent that it is informed of the spirit, by the nobility of its content, harmony of its parts and elegance in its presentation. We should not all this great heritage to disintegrate into mere and empty aesthetic formalism and uninspired technique and showmanship, which inordinate and indiscriminate commercialisation of any art is likely to bring in its wake.
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