Created by Kyle Thomas Ramos
Explore the rhythmic language of Karnatak music — from ancient tāḷa cycles and spoken syllables to the living tradition of the concert stage.
The Tamil word solkaṭṭu means "words bound together." It is the spoken rhythmic syllable language of South Indian (Karnatak) classical music — a system in which percussive syllables like ta ki ṭa and ta ka di mi are chanted in synchrony with cyclic hand gestures called tāḷa. More than a mnemonic device, solkaṭṭu is a complete rhythmic language rooted in over two millennia of tradition.
Used by drummers learning the mrdangam, by dancers of bharata nāṭyam, and by melodic musicians composing and analyzing passages, solkaṭṭu pervades every metered domain of Karnatak music. When performed as a concert art in its own right, it is called konakkol — one of the most virtuosic forms of vocal percussion in the world.
An interactive guide to the rhythmic world of South Indian music.
"Solkaṭṭu binds spoken material together within the metric context called tāḷa, which is counted by recurrent patterns of hand gestures. The relationship between the phrases and the tāḷa is either accurate or not: if so, there is a feeling of confidence."
— David P. Nelson, Solkaṭṭu Manual (2008)