EVERY GENRE PROJECT - June 7 - Konnakol
Genre of the Day - Konnakol
Album of the Day - This Moment by Shakti (2023)
June 7, 2024
The plight of finding a suitable beatboxer is one that may not be as real as I may think, but at least in my imagination it’s probably a routine problem for the brave souls hosting acapella auditions. How many times do they have to settle on someone who can kind-of beatbox, the rhythm of the songs permanently below par? It’s undoubtedly a problem that'd be easily solvable if more aspiring beatboxers came from the practice of today’s genre. In fact, we all stand to learn a little more about rhythm thanks to konnakol.
The art of meaningless vocal utterances that help drive, imitate, or compliment the underlying rhythm of a song is a long-storied one, though today’s genre is a distinctively unique manifestation. It’s a well-honed tradition in jazz as scatting, integral to any acapella group, and an important facet of Carnatic (South Indian) music. Thanks to a straight line of musical traditions dating back thousands of years, the Indian subcontinent has long possessed such rich yet meticulously well-detailed systems and practices of musical logic.
I often nod towards wanting to understand music theory better in the course of undertaking this project, but sitting myself down and reading a music theory book is yet to come (but imminent!) Sometimes, though, the research process entails a crash course in music theory. Today is all about rhythm, and Carnatic musicians’ painstaking training process of understanding it. Similar to 4/4, 3/4, or any more out-there rhythmic meter in Western music, Carnatic music dubs its rhythmic meters as gatis, with each equal subdivision called matras. It’s in understanding the particular feels of each gati that konnakol factors in. Konnakol comes to musicians’ aid by providing each gati with specific syllabic phrases for practicing and internalizing the rhythms, but it’s as musically compelling as it is simply a musicality-building tool.
The syllables aren’t fixed—konnakol is more of a palette of syllables to work with. Musicians use their own creativity to apply syllables that make sense with the hits on the rhythm. It’s a completely different system of understanding rhythm than western notation. So, if you want to understand konnakol in action better, or have your brain as broken as mine always is by trying to fathom a Fibonacci sequence, look no further than this video. It’s a genuine feat to not only be capable of constructing rhythms with syllables so well, but to closely approximate the velocity and timbres of drums like tabla and mridangam feels worlds beyond in talent.
As an omniscient force in music classification, RYM will throw anything in as a genre. Should konnakol really be classified as a genre? It’s more of a style of learning rhythm housed within traditional classical Carnatic music. Having said that, I don’t really care. Not every ‘genre’ is a full course meal; some are more like flavors that enhance a wider musical tradition. It might not constitute a full genre (four releases listed on RYM would tell you as much), but getting to experience konnakol elevated to the musical spotlight as appreciated by Indian jazz fusion outfit Shakti is wonderful nonetheless. The interchanges of the gorgeous violin and konnakol recitations over and kanjira, mridangam, and ghatam drums on “Bending the Rules” conjure pure euphoria. Fusing jazz instrumentation and melodies with konnakol in place of scatting builds a bold new sonic world. Far from being a utilitarian rhythm technique, the konnakol here is engrossing such as at the beginning of “Sono Mama” with its gripping intensification and theatricality. The synergy between the seemingly disparate elements is impressive, and showcases konnakol’s unparalleled ability to build little musical worlds with the power of rhythm and voice.