History And Characteristics Of Odissi Music In English

History And Characteristics Of Odissi Music

Introduction –

• Odissi music is a style of classical music in India, which originated from the eastern state of Odisha. Traditional ritual music for the service of Lord Jagannath, Odissi music has a history of over two thousand years, authentic music-shastras or texts, unique ragas and talas and a distinctive style of singing.
• Various aspects of Odissi music include Odissi Prabandha, Chaupadi, Chhanda, Champu, Chautisa, Janana, Malashri, Bhajan, Sarimana, Jhula, Kuduka, Koili, Poi, Boli, and many more.
• The presentation dynamics are broadly classified into four: raganga, bhabhanga, natyanga and dhrubpadanga.
• Some great composer-poets of the Odissi tradition include the 12th century poets Jayadeva, Balarama Dasa, Atibadi Jagannath Dasa, Dinakrishna Dasa, Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, Banamali Dasa, Kabisurajya Baldeba Rath, Abhimanyu Samant Singhara and Kabikalhansa Gopalkrishna Pattnaik.
• Odissi music crystallized as an independent genre during the time of the early medieval Odia poet Jayadeva, who composed lyrics to be sung, set to ragas and talas unique to the local tradition.
• However, Odissi songs were written before the development of Odia language. The rich heritage of Odissi music dates back to the 2nd century BCE, when King Kharavela, the ruler of Odisha (Kalinga), patronized the music and dance.
• Traditional arts of Odisha like Mehri, Gotipua, Prahlad Natak, Radha Prema Leela, Pala, Daskathiya, Bharata Leela, Khanjani Bhajan etc. are all based on Odissi music. Odissi is one of the classical dances of India from the state of Odisha; It is performed with Odissi music.

History

Ritual Music of Jagannath Temple

• Odissi music is closely and inextricably linked with the Jagannath Temple at Puri. The deity of Jagannath is central to the culture of Odisha, and Odissi music was originally music offered as seva or service to Jagannath.
• Every night during the Badasinghara or the final ritual of the deity, Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda is sung, based on traditional Odissi ragas and taals.
• This tradition has been going on continuously since the time of Jayadeva, who himself used to sing in the temple. After the poet’s time, the singing of Gitagovinda according to authentic Odissi ragas and talas was established as an essential service in the temple, performed by maharishis or devadasis.

Prehistoric Music

• Ancient Odisha had a rich culture of music, which is confirmed by several archaeological excavations across Odisha. At Shankarjung in Angul district, early spade work revealed a cultural level of the Chalcolithic period (400 BCE).
• Polished stone celts and hand made pottery have been excavated from here. Some celts are narrow but larger in size.
• Thus they are described as Bar-Celts. On the basis of bar-celts discovered at Sankarjung, it can be argued that they were the first musical instruments in India.

Features

• The Odissi Sangeeta includes the four classical classifications mentioned in the above texts namely Dhruvapada, Chitrapada, Chitrakala and Panchali.
• Dhruvapad is the first line or lines that are sung repeatedly. Chitrapada means arrangement of words in rhetorical style.
• All these were chhandas (verses) which contain the essence of Odissi music. The verses were composed by combining bhava (subject), kala (time) and swara (tune).
• The Chautisa represents the originality of the Odissi genre. All the thirty four letters of the Oriya alphabet from ‘Ka’ to ‘Kasa’ are used chronologically at the beginning of each line.
• A special feature of Odissi music is the padi, which consists of words sung in Drut Taal (fast tempo).
• Odissi music can be sung in different talas: Navtala (nine beats), Dashatala (ten beats) or Agartala (eleven beats). Odissi ragas are different from the ragas of Hindustani and Carnatic classical music.
• Odissi music is sung through Raganga, Bhabanga and Natyanga, Dhrubapadanga followed by Champu, Chhanda, Chautisa, Pallabi, Bhajan, Janana and Gita Govinda.
• Odissi music has codified grammar, which is presented with specific ragas. It also has a distinctive singing style. It is lyrical in its movement with wave-like ornamentation (gatio endolita). The tempo of singing in Odissi is neither too fast nor too slow (na druta na bilambita), and it maintains a proportional tempo (sama sangeet) which is very soothing.

Relationship With Other Classical Music

• The Kalinga kingdom at one time extended up to the river Kaveri and included major parts of Karnataka. Gajapati Purushottama Deva of Odisha conquered Kanchi and married the princess.
• Some ragas specific to Odisha are “Desakhya”, “Dhanashree”, “Belabali”, “Kamodi”, “Baradi” etc. Additionally, some Odissi ragas bear the same name as Hindustani or Carnatic ragas, but have different note combinations.
• Also, there are many ragas which have similar swara combinations in Hindustani, Carnatic and Odissi styles, but are called by different names. However, despite the superficial similarity in scale, each stream has its own distinct singing style and tonal development.