The vocal genre known as varnam is usually performed at the beginning of a recital and consists of very basic, simple lyrics which are used to explore the entire range of a raga. Performers and instrumental accompanists often perform the alapana together as well as individually and in turn, with the vocalist's phrases often being shadowed by that of a violin, flute or harmonium. Depending on the performer’s ability, this section can last anything from 15 to 45 minutes. Among these, alapana, also known as ragam, is a pulse-free opening section in which a raga is slowly explored and revealed, before launching into the composed song which is based on the same raga.
Other genres requiring considerable improvisation and collectively known as kalpana sangeetham ('music of the imagination') are equally predominant.
A kriti is generally based on one raga but where there are several ragas in the same composition, it is known as a ragamalika or ‘garland of ragas.’ Kritis are made up of a pallavi (similar to a refrain in Western music), drawn from one or two of the opening lines, followed by an anupallavai (an optional second verse) and finally the charanam (the longest verse which concludes the song recital and, in its final lines, contains the poet-composer’s musical hallmark or signature.) The lyrics, in various languages, including Tamil, usually have devotional themes and are often also part of the classical dance repertoire.Ī genre known as kriti (an extended song composition in 3 parts) is the focal point of Carnatic music. Even where the recital is purely instrumental, the music is nearly always drawn from the vocal repertoire, largely featuring the songs of the 18th century ' Holy Trinity' of composers Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshithar and Shyama Shastri. Although improvisation plays an important role, compositional vocal music remains the dominant form. Like North Indian music, Carnatic or South Indian music is also underwritten by raga (melodic structure) and tala (rhythmic cycle).
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