Carnatic music is the classical music of Southern India. The basic form is a monophonic song with improvised variations. There are 72 basic scales on the octave, and a rich variety of melodic motion. Both melodic and rhythmic structures are varied and compelling. This is one of the world's oldest & richest musical traditions.
The recording lists are based on a fairly large amount of personal experience, both of recorded music and live concerts. In this case, they are authoritative, in the sense that they do what they set out to do. Alternative sources have not really been available, although others will certainly have their own opinions to add.
Although much effort has been put into the composition lists, they cannot be considered authoritative. Information on the subject can be difficult to obtain, or contradictory. There are controversies on some subjects, and difficulties of classification. Corrections are certainly appreciated, and the individual files should give some indication of to what degree the information can be trusted.
I do not intend any sort of comprehensive link index. These are just some sites I find personally useful. There are many more Carnatic music sites now than there were in 1994 when this page appeared. I simply do not have the spare time to make a more thorough link listing, and must concentrate instead on the content available at this site.
I will do my best to keep these documents up to date.
To World Music page.
Todd M. McComb mccomb@medieval.org