Ritha Rajan talking about varnamettu at The Music Academy’s academic sessions
| Photo Credit: K. Pichumani
The first lec-dem of Day 2, titled ‘Encapsulating a Raga: Varnamettu’, was presented by Sangita Kala Acharya Ritha Rajan. She began by explaining that varnamettu refers to a tune that captures the essential features of a raga. The earliest recorded usage of the term mettu dates back to 1834, where it meant a song’s tune, as noted by J.P. Rottler. In Hindustani music, the equivalent of varnamettu is called bandish or dhun. Ritha Rajan referenced earlier studies and articles on this topic by scholars such as N. Ramanathan, K. Rukmini, and T.M. Krishna.
She illustrated how traditional folk tunes naturally evolved into art music, citing examples like ‘Villnai otta’ and ‘Valli Kannavan’, with recorded clips of renditions by V.V. Sadagopan and D.K. Pattammal…