Khushi Sharma
Gamaka indicates the ornamentation that is used in the performance of North and South Indian classical music. Gamaka can be understood as embellishment done on a note or between two notes. Present-day Carnatic music uses at least fifteen different kinds of ornamentation.
It can also refer to a form of storytelling by singing, originated in Karnataka, India. It involves one person reading a poem stanza with emphasis on meaning, and then another person explaining the meaning with examples. The singing is called gamaka, and the singer is called a gamaki.
The term gamaka itself means “ornamented note” in Sanskrit.Various commentators on Indian music have mentioned different numbers of gamakas. For example, Sarangadeva describes fifteen gamakas, Narada in Sangeeta Makaranda describes nineteen gamakas, and Haripala in Sangeet Sudhakar describes seven gamakas.
Carnatic music or Karnataka Sangita is one of the three main subgenres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient Hindu texts and traditions particularly the Samaveda. Notation for gamakas is generally not found in the Indian music system. There can be considerable difficulty in conveying the complex and fluid melodic movement of gamakas in a notation system that uses fixed pitch signs. In Carnatic music in particular, the notation of gamakas is often unnecessary, as performers use notation as a memory aid for compositions they already learned by hearing and imitating.