About The Tabla | Ty Burhoe

The Tabla | Learning Tabla | Anatomy of the Tabla | History of the Tabla

The word tabla comes from the Arabic word for 'drum'. The North Indian tabla is a pair of drums, one tuned to a clear, bell like treble tone and the other to a flexible low bass tone. The dayan ('right' in Hindi) is the smaller, higher pitched of the two drums. It is tuned to the SA/tonic of the main melodic instrument (on occasion it is tuned to PA/5th). It is most often carved out of a single piece of wood.

The bayan ('left' in Hindi) is the larger bass drum and is usually tuned to low SA, GA or PA. However, it's pitch is controlled by the pressure of the heal of the hand and only occasionally is fully released. It is most often made of metal, namely nickel, copper, bronze or sometimes aluminum. The shell is hammered into shape and then often coated with a silver alloy. In previous times the bayan was made of clay or even wood. Both wood and clay sound very nice, however with all the traveling that most artists have to do, the metal holds up much better.

The different rhythmic sounds in tabla are described with vocal syllables called bols. The language of tabla is learned very much like any language. You start with the ABCs and through repetition learn the alphabet, words, sentences, stories, poetry and so on. There are anywhere from 15 to 30 bols in tabla (depending on who you ask and what school or gharana you are referring to). However, the process of learning tabla takes significantly longer than conventional languages. This is because as one learns the bols vocally, one also must learn the proper physical stroke that will produce that bol on the tabla. It is truly a labor of love since the beauty of even the basic sounds requires many, many hours of focus and practice. The degree of clarity and fullness that can be imbued into the sound production is vast and ultimately defines a player's voice. A perfect example of this is the difference in tone created by Ustad Zakir Hussain as opposed to that of his illustrious father and teacher, Ustad Alla Rakha. Even when they play exactly the same bols and compositions, they have surprisingly different and equally brilliant tone.

Ustad Zakir Hussain comments, "The language of the tabla was developed with two ideas in mind. The first being the basic representation of the sounds of the instrument, a literal imitation if you like. The other being the development of certain vocalizations, which sounded melodically pleasing or inspirational when spoken. Although the tabla does not actually produce those tones, they sound incredibly poetic when spoken. (For example, the inheriting of certain sounds from the Kathak dance tradition.)"

There are four main categories of composition in the traditional literature/practice of tabla solo performance. While some of these types of compositions will appear in the accompaniment tradition, many are so complex or extended that they are appropriate only in the tabla solo setting.

Peshkar (To Show/To Present) is played at the beginning of a solo or in the slower sections of accompaniment. It generally displays a simple but rich combination of bols that are then developed and improvised upon while keeping the integrity of the outlined set of ideas.

Kaida (Rule or Limit) is the strictest form of tabla composition. It presents a clear thematic structure of bols usually ending with a recognized combination of bols such as "Di Na Ge Na". But more specifically, a kaida requires that every variation played after the theme may only make use of the bols given in the theme. Also, every variation should be related to (rhyme with) the previous stanza. The practice of kaida is often recommended as a focus for students of tabla because of its ability to strengthen a player's hand and inventiveness of mind.

Gat (Composition) is a very beautiful style of composition wherein fixed poetic pieces are passed down from teacher to student and often carry in them stylistic preferences that reflect the particular gharana and teacher. There are many types of gats that highlight the virtuosity, intricate time play and story telling ability of the tabla (examples of the different categories of gat are: Tukra, Paran, Chakradar, Bedum, Formaishi, and so on). Another feature of gat is that in the solo tradition, they are often first recited vocally and then played on the tabla.

Rela (Gush or Flood) is usually played as the finale of a tabla solo or in the ending portions of accompaniment. Many rela compositions begin with an outlined structure of accents, which then are filled in with very fast, fluid like bols creating a smooth, rushing rhythm. The variations evolve and build from there. A common characteristic of rela is its likeness to fluid sounds in nature such as rushing wind, falling rain or flooding water and other familiar sound such as a moving train or a running horse.

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The basic parts of the tabla are similar for each of the two drums. The heads (puri/pudi) of the drum are made of a thin goatskin. The black dot (shyahi/gob) on the tabla head, (in the center of the dayan and just off center on the bayan), is actually a paste made from rice flower, iron fillings and resin, blended in certain proportions which is applied in layers to the skin and hardens to create a resonant weight which allows for the fine tuning of the drum. There are very few craftsmen in India who have mastered this aspect of tabla making, but when this paste is properly made and applied, it becomes the key to the unusually clear sound and tonal quality of the tabla. The sur is the area of the head that actually vibrates, generating the tones of the tabla and is made up of not only the shyahi, but of the inner ring of exposed leather. This area is known as the maidan and is beautifully translated as 'open meadow', referring to the soft, open tone drawn from techniques using that area. An outer ring of goatskin (kinar) is woven onto the main skin, which forms a protective layer where the skin meets the rim of the drum. (The kinar is also used as a playing surface, creating tones, which correlate to specific bols). A woven ring (pagri), made of thick water buffalo raw hide, holds the layers together an also serves as the tension ring for the head. The straps (chot) which hold the head onto the shell of the drum are also made from this thick buffalo hide and are held in place at the bottom of the drum shell by another tension ring made from several hoops of the buffalo hide straps.

There are 8 wooden pegs (gattha) inserted under the straps to add variable tension and create the gross tuning mechanism for the drum. The rings (adharas) on which the tabla sits create a stable base and allow the tabla to be tilted at the angles that best suit the techniques of the players. A hammer (hathauri) is used to move the pegs up and down for the gross tuning but is also used to tap the pagri ring for fine-tuning which is truly an art form in and of itself. When the tabla is made by a master craftsman and the puri/shyahi is just right, the instrument literally sings with a sweetness and a deep warmth. It is this haunting and expressive voice that has attracted generation after generation of talented and often deeply spiritual musicians.

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The grandfather of the tabla is a drum called pakhawaj. This is a two-sided barrel drum with both a smaller treble end and larger bass end (a hand made dough mixture gob is applied every time it is played).

The two-headed barrel drum design, known as mridang, can be traced back as much as 2000 years. In more recent history (fifteen hundreds or so), the pakhawaj appeared and its quality of sound and its playing style have evolved in tandem with the vocal music. The rich, full tones of the pakhawaj have long been a hallmark of its majestic place as both an accompanying and as a solo instrument. The jump from pakhawaj to tabla was probably not the oft-quoted accident of someone breaking a pakhawaj in two. The normal understanding is that there was an instrument called nagara/naqara, which comes from the family of war drums, like kettledrums. This was thought to be the model for having a pair of drums. There was a smaller instrument known as dukkar (about two times the size of the tabla) that may have been the next step down from the nagara. From there it needed to downsize even further because in the presence of the king, one could not sit, therefore the musicians had to stand and play. Hence, the need for smaller, lighter instruments. Thus the dukkar was miniaturized and tabla appeared. There are paintings perhaps 300 years old where you see tabla players with a platform, which is tied to them, upon which the tabla sits. Percussion instruments similar to tabla can be seen in Indian temple sculptures dating back thousands of years, however it is generally agreed that the present form of tabla became popular in the royal courts of Delhi during the late 17th and 18th centuries.

Ustad Zakir Hussain comments, "In terms of time lines in India, the tabla is a fairly young instrument having been invented within the last 400 years."

The individual usually credited with the most significant developments of tabla technique and repertoire at this time was Siddhar Khan Dharhi. His grandsons and their various disciples carried the art of tabla playing to other major centers of North Indian cultural life, a dispersion which naturally led to the evolution of a number of distinct regional performance styles. At the present time these schools of tabla playing or gharanas (derived from the Hindi word ghar or 'house') commonly include those of Delhi, Lucknow, Benares, Farukhabad and Ajrara. A sixth style, the 'Punjab gharana', developed independently in what is present-day Pakistan. (Ustad Alla Rakha & Ustad Zakir Hussain). Each gharana has imbibed the essence, culture and character of its founding city/area into its tradition.

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