Carnatic or South Indian Classical Music:

The classical music of Southern India, also known as Carnatic music, is a highly refined, structured and developed system and is one of the world’s oldest and richest musical traditions. It is one of the most complete systems of music in the world, placing equal emphasis on melody, rhythm and lyrics.  Besides, there is an even balance between compositions and improvisations.  The music is developed using highly evolved melodic scales called raga-s.   The passage from one note to another is smooth, wave-like and lilting, and is ornamented by micro tones and grace notes (referred to as gamaka-s).  The themes of the lyrics range from religion to romance.  The rhythmic structure of the music, known as tala, is complex, refined and highly developed. The improvisation of the melodic and rhythmic structures is a key feature of the music. The music is enriched by several thousands of compositions, some of the eminent composers being Tyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar, Shyama Sastry and Swati Tirunal.