The Score Magazine November 2021 issue | Page 19

SOUVIK CHAKRABORTY

A Tribute to Innovation in Music : Remembering Tabla Gharanas of India

Tabla has been one of the greatest players of melody since time immemorial . With generations , our musical tastes have filtered themselves through various sociopolitical landscapes . It is really fascinating for one to track the various Gharanas that came into being after the percussion emerged in the Indian sub-continent . According to the lineage and the degree of innovation , the family of musicality varies with the various regions of our nation . It had been studied that the protégées of a Tabla maestro of Old Delhi had been commissioned as court musicians of various parts of India . It was their practices and love for the medium that percolated through generations after them and flavored the style and influences of the music of that region .
Interestingly , the proponents of the Gharanas were not only territorial but , also very possessive about their individualism and styles . The core intricacies remained a secret until ; they have been extensively researched later . At its peak , any trade secret leakage would mean outcasting of the musician / disciple by the Guru and of the Gharana .
If one needs to understand the varied world of the Gharanas . The understanding of the bandh and khulaa baaz are paramount . The khulaa baaz meant that the sound would be a sustained one and much more resonant than the muffled bass of the bandh sound . The techniques used while playing the drums are the most important differentiator .
One of the oldest Gharana is the Delhi Gharana . Believed to have been originated from the time of Akbar . The style became famous for its much rich yet softer tones . It got its popularity due to the stylized rendition of the two fingers of the player . The index and the next finger create a very defined sound for giving clarity and its edge .
The Eastern Gharana of the Lucknow region was born out of a historic collaboration between the Kathak dancers and the tabla players of the region . This combination resulted in a new style that put more importance on the virtue of accompaniment . The full hand thaap and the right-hand hits along with the important relas were the new tools of expression for the artists . Much of the techniques were used to simulate the art and intricacies associated with the dance form of Kathak .
Disciples under one Gharana usually attain the mastery to play around the compositions to create a fresh variation to the original . After being a disciple at Lucknow since the age of five , Pandit Ram Sahai moved to Lucknow for further experimentations and eventually came up with a fresh rendition , now famous as the Benaras Gharana . This newer form was independent enough to be played solo . However , the flexibility was interesting to note when accompanied by dance and other music . The Benaras theka and other newer forms were developed under rigorous practices and innovations . As a stark contrast to the Northern style of Delhi , the eastern style of Benaras meant that the full hand would be used by the player rather than selective use of the fingers .
The present-day peshkari and laykari of the tabla maestros come through ages of filtration of an art form that originally had its immediate roots in the Pakhawaj Gharana . It was Ustad Alla Rakha Khan of the Punjab Gharana who envisioned a newer treatment to the existing formats . And , then emerged the irregular meters and fresh relas in the mainstream music . Much later , such innovations would become the style of celebrated players like Ustad Zakir Hussain .
It is ironic that in the age of information overload , the ignorance of such heritage is alarming . It ’ s time that we delve deeper into the annals of history and find out the significance of such a great lineage of pure music !
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