Gamaka, also known as kaavya vaachana, is a form of

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...

by singing that originated in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. One person reads a

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

of a poem with highest emphasis on meaning, applying suitable

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

or a ''dhaati'' (melodic line), usually matching the emotion of the poem; the song generally has no established rhythm. Another person then explains the meaning of the stanza with examples and anecdotes. Gamaka draws ragas from Kannada folk music, Yakshagana and

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

. The singing itself is called ''gamaka'' and the singer a ''gamaki''. The explanation of the rendering is called ''vyakyana''. The emphasis in kaavya vaachana is on literature (''Saahithya'') and not on music where singer splits, compounds words in poems to make them easier to understand. The poems are chosen mostly from old Kannada epics such as ''Karnataka Bharatha Kathamanjari'', ''Jaimini Bharatha'', ''Harischandra Kavya'', ''Siddarameshwara charite'', ''Ajita purana'', ''Devi-Bhagavata'', and ''Torave Ramayana'' and recently from that of ''Sri Ramayana Darshanam''.

Gamaka Academy

Karnataka ''Gamaka Kala Parishat'' (Academy of Gamaka Art, Karnataka) based in NR Colony, Bangalore is an organisation that is formed to support and encourage the Gamaka Art form. ''Gamaka Kala Prishat'' conducts certification exams in Gamaka, with its syllabus consisting of poems picked from the above-mentioned epics. They also hold annual meeting of all the gamakis across state to discuss the state and future of gamaka.

Gamaka Kala Vedike North America

Gamaka art is flourishing in the North Americas. An organization for promoting Gamaka in North America was established in the year 2020.

Misconceptions

There is a misconception that gamaka and

harikathe ''Harikatha'' (Kannada: ಹರಿಕಥೆ : ''Harikathe''; Telugu: హరికథ : ''Harikatha;'' Marathi: हरीपाठ '': Haripatha'', ), also known as ''Harikatha Kaalakshepam'' in Telugu and Tamil (), is a form of Hindu traditional ...

are the same, though they are related art forms. Harikatha is usually based on Telugu (and to a lesser extent other Dravidian languages) literature and the Vaisnava tradition, especially the tellings of the Bhagavata Purana. Gamaka is similar but is traditionally focused on Kannada literature (especially ''vachanas'') and the Saiva tradition, though it spans multiple religious traditions and languages. Both art forms originated as ways to transmit the teachings of Puranas, Upanishads and high intellectual traditions in popular form and languages understandable to common people without Sanskrit education. The antecedent of harikatha in particular can be seen in the Haridasa tradition, which promoted the Dvaita Vedanta tradition of Madhvacharya through popular devotional singing. Gamaka vachana is often confused with

gamak Gamaka (also spelled gamakam) refer to ornamentation that is used in the performance of North and South Indian classical music. Gamaka can be understood as embellishment done on a note or between two notes. Present-day Carnatic music uses at le ...

(or

am), the words used in

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

to refer to the styles of rendering a note (see

ornaments An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

(in music). Gamaka sometimes is mistaken for a form of music, but is instead a clear reading of complex poetry with complete emphasis on literature while its musicality is also important, but secondary. Its name is likely a reference to this, as it is a form of storytelling and exposition with the use of music (that is, gamaka).

Exponents

*Krishnagiri Krishna Rayaru *Kalale Sampathkumarachar *Bharatha Bindu Rao *Gamaki Raghavendra Rao *Basavapatna Subbaiah Subbaiah Koushik *Gangamma Keshavamurthy *

H R Keshava Murthy H. R. Keshava Murthy (22 February 1934 – 21 December 2022) was an Indian gamaka exponent and guru. He was honoured with Shantala Natya Sri Award by the Government of Karnataka in 1998 and Padma Shri in 2022 by the Government of India in the ...

*Basavappa Shastri *Seetharama Rao Hosabale
Narahari Sharma KerekoppaMattur Ramamurthy
*

M S Ananthapadmanabha Rao Gamaka Vidwan M S Ananthapadmanabha Rao (6 September 1903 – 29 November 1987) was an Indian Kannada-language poet, writer, and gamaki. He was the author of the magnum opus '' Karnata Bharatha Kathamanjari'' containing the last eight parvas o ...

* Gamaka Kala Rathna H.Seshagiri Rao

Styles

There are many styles in gamaka. While Bangalore, Mysore an
Matturu
styles heavily use Karnataka Sangeetha, styles of Sagara and Theerthahalli region use more folk/traditional central Karnataka style of singing with emphasis on literature. There is some influence of

Yakshagana Yakshagaana is a traditional theatre, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala that combines dance, music, dialogue, ...

style in singing.

References

External links

*https://soundcloud.com/rasadhwani-kalakendra/gamaka-vaachana-by-vidwanmatturu-ramamurthy *https://web.archive.org/web/20120321052911/http://www.swarasindhu.in/swarasindhu/showDetails.do?table=Artist&id=117 *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR0EC9vw0g4 *http://gamakakala.org *http://karnatakagamakakala.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Gamaka (Storytelling) Culture of Karnataka Kannada literature Carnatic music