Konnakol

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Konnakol (கொன்னக்கோல்) is the art of vocally performing percussive syllables in South Indian Carnatic music. Carnatic music is one of two main subgenres of Indian classical music. The rhythmic language of konnakol is one of the most intricate systems in the world and is the spoken component of solkattu, which refers to a combination of spoken konnakol syllables while simultaneously "counting" the tala (meter) with the hand. 

konnakol (the sound of) – Paul Scribbles
Image source

In the Tamil language, the word "konnakol" means to stammer. Konnakol, however, is hardly akin to that which is involuntary - instead, mastering this art form takes many years, but can result in such a rapid articulation of rhythmic subdivisions, that it might sound like stammering. In fact, konnakol has helped many people with speech disorders. 

Watch these brilliant performers and notice how they count the 'tala' with their hands whilst reciting konnakol:

DHM YouTube

B C Manjunath & Varijashree Venugopal:
DHM YouTube


This blog is intended to be educational and to share knowledge about music. Daily Hit of Music does not claim to own anything contained in this post and declares its sources openly. 
The following sources were used for this blog post: Wikipedia, B C Manjunath at Konnakol 101 hosted by Berklee India Exchange
Image sources can be found in the image captions. 
Recordings can be found on YouTube by clicking the 'DHM YouTube Playlist' links.

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