Tanavarnam

The video is a presentation of the Tana Varnam music form which accompanies a Bharatanatyam performance in the Pandanallur style by Leela Ramanathan. In the performance, vocals are provided by Pandanallur M. Gopalkrishna and Pandanallur S. Swaminathan with Vidwan M.R. Rangaswamy on the mridangam, T.S. Sankaran on the flute and Visalam on the tambura. Varnam is a genre of carnatic music which forms the main features of raga. There are two types of varnam: tana varnam and padha varnam. Varnam is considered central to a dance recital. A varnam consists of lyrics and swaram passages like pallavi, anupallavi, muktayi swaras, charanam and chittaswarams. The tana varnams consist of a pallavi, anupallavi and muktayi swaram followed by the charanam. The varnams are usually performed at the start and are a major piece of the dance recital.