I have been going through a phase in my Carnatic Music journey where I have been struggling to understand the concept of a swara w.r.t a ragam.In a ragam like Kalyani, I would practise running through the swaras in different sets of sequences, without gamakas to begin with.While this practise has definitely made me more aware of swarasthanas, the resulting melody does not really have the essence of Kalyani without the gamakas.The next logical step was to learn gamakas.But I struggled to understand the very definition of gamakas.In terms of physical structure, a gamaka is essentially a set of swaras, so I tried singing the set of swaras that constitutes the gamaka, the result was a stiff sounding set of notes which did sound like the set of notes sung together alright, but hardly a melody.I feel I sang better kalyani when I had no knowledge of its “chemical composition” and just sang the tunes characteristic of kalyani.I enjoyed it better too.In the process of breaking down the raga, I feel like I lost the very essence of its melody itself.
I just came across some very insightful writing which entirely negates the concept of a swara’s existence in a raga without the gamaka.In other words, a swara in a raga does not exist without its gamaka.Furthermore, it states that not just every swara, every swarasthana in different octaves has its own gamaka.This would mean that the madhya sthayi Ga and Tara Sthayi Ga of a raga can have their own gamakas and can have different melodies altogether.Though I cannot think of any examples right now, this definitely does ring a bell.I have come across kalpana swaram singing where the swaras in different octaves sound completely different melodically and are not just multiplicates of each other.
This would mean that in the process of understanding/learning a raga, in addition to identifying and practising the swarasthanas, one must also learn and practice gamakas, not just as a micro-set of swaras, but as separate atomic units, not unlike swaras themselves.
Referenced from “A Southern Music:The Karnatik Story” by T M Krishna
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