The nottuswaram (''nōṭṭusvarams'', from "

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versi ...

" + "

swara Swara () or svara is an Indian classical music term that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel, a note, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and the successive steps of the octave, or ''saptanka''. More comprehensively ...

s") are a set of 39 compositions in

Carnatic music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...

Muthuswami Dikshitar Muthuswami Dikshitar (Mudduswamy Dikshitar) (, 24 March 1776 – 21 October 1835), mononymously Dikshitar, was a South Indian poet, singer, veena player, and a prolific composer of Indian classical music. He was the youngest member of what is re ...

(18th c.), who is celebrated as one among the

Trinity of Carnatic music The Trinity of Carnatic Music, also known as the Three Jewels of Carnatic Music, refers to the outstanding trio of composers, composer-musicians of Carnatic music in the 18th centuryTyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri. Prolific in co ...

. A few other nottusvarams were added later by his disciples which adhere to the original idea and intent. Nottusvarams are notable as an interaction between the East and the West during the East India company rule in Madras

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, being based on Western sources, mostly simple melodies inspired by Scottish and Irish tunes. They are all composed with

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

lyrics in the Western

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

scale, whose pitch intervals correspond to that of the Shankarabharana

raga A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...

scale in Carnatic music, or the Bilaval

that ''That'' is an English language word used for several grammar, grammatical purposes. These include use as an adjective, conjunction (grammar), conjunction, pronoun, adverb and intensifier; it has distance from the speaker, as opposed to words li ...

of Hindustani music. Technically, the compositions are not in Shankarabharana proper, being based on simple melodies and devoid of the ornamentation (''gamaka'') that is characteristic of Carnatic music. On the other hand, the lyrics (''sahitya'') of these compositions are entirely Indian and consistent with the rest of the ''stotra''-literature, or other songs addressed to similar deities. Sometimes the name "nottuswaram" is used to refer to other compositions based on Western notes, not necessarily by Muthuswami Dikshitar.

Violin

According to one popular account, the violin was introduced into Carnatic music by Baluswami Dikshitar (1786–1858), the younger brother of Muthuswami Dikshitar. He encountered the instrument being played by British bands in colonial Madras

, and decided to learn it. The music was mostly Irish and Scottish fiddling, rather than

Western classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. After three years of lessons, he adapted the violin to Carnatic music. It is believed that Muthuswami Dikshitar composed these lyrics to aid his brother master the plain notes on the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

Publication history

They were first documented in print by C. P. Brown in 1833. In 1893, Manali Chinnaswamy Mudaliar published them with European notation, and in 1905, they were compiled by Subbarama Dikshitar as 'Prathamaabhyaasa pustakamu' in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

. In recent years, Kanniks Kannikeswaran has researched these compositions further, found the sources of a few compositions, and given several lectures.

Examples

The European songs used as basis include "Limerick", "Castilian Maid", "Lord MacDonald's Reel", "Voulez-vous Danser?", and "God Save the King".

Notes

References

* * * {{citation , year=2006 , title = Singing the classical, voicing the modern: the postcolonial politics of music in South India , author1=Amanda J. Weidman , publisher=Duke University Press , isbn=978-0-8223-3620-4 , page=32 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fMg7aKE8RNgC&pg=PA32

External links

Muthuswamy Dikshitar - nottu svara sahityas
The (Sanskrit) lyrics of all compositions

recordings of the Sanskrit lyrics with Western music
British Raj and Indian Classical Music
other examples of interaction Carnatic compositions