Andolan in Indian Classical Music

Andolan is a slow oscillation on a distinct pitch. This ornament is particularly hard to imitate on a keyboard instrument, also because it mostly incorporates microtonal scale degrees. Recognising this, many harmonium players abstain from trying to find a substitute for it and revert to a completely different musical phrase as replacement, which stems from a transcription of an interpretation of raga Bhairav.

A constitutive element of Bhairav is the andolan on vadi and samvadi, dha and re, respectively. Many harmonium accompanists actually replace the andolan with the dissonance of the simultaneously held pitches Sa, Ma and Pa. There are many example, where there are two primary `reasons` for the insertion of a dissonance: as samvadi in Bhairav, Re is a scale degree which receives particular emphasis, and at the same time, it demands an andolan. An alternative technique that is sometimes being utilised in such a case is the quick turn around the pitch that carries the andolan, the lack of several ornaments is compensated for this way.

This article is a stub. You can enrich by adding more information to it. Send your Write Up to content@indianetzone.com