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Listening to Tabla in Performance | ||
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Corvin Russell, James Kippen | ||
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In tabla solo:
Compositions, compositions, compositions. Without compositions there
is no tabla solo, period. Those who play "tabla solo" as an endless "improvisation" of random bols and high speed terekite, dhenegene
etc. get the axe without mercy. This shortcoming consumes several well-known tabla players, I'm afraid to say. I would rather listen to a first year tabla student plodding out a full rendition of "dhate tedha tete..." than endure totally ungrammatical and insubstantial bols even from a tabla player whose technique seemed (at first glance, anyway) to be fast and polished.
I really mean that. Abuse of layakari is also a killer, with very few exceptions. Alla Rakha used rhythm in such a sublime and beautiful way, he's on a different level. Otherwise people often try to mask empty bols by constantly changing the chhand and the gun. This is extremely boring to me. Most people can learn to play e.g. jhaptal theka over tintal theka with a little practice. Such devices have their place, when used sparingly and in good taste. (When is it in good taste? This is a matter of judgment I guess. it would be too case specific to explain here. But for instance, if after two minutes of the solo I heard someone playing jhaptal theka against tintal theka, I would be very skeptical. If after many long pieces of a serious nature have been played I here such a device, it doesn't concern me, especially where it leads to an extended development in that chhand such as one might find in Banaras playing. this is just to use a very specific example.) So in your average tabla solo I expect to hear a lot of good compositions -- uthan, peshkar, kaida, rela, kaida-rela, chalan,
etc. Because of my Lucknow training I concentrate very heavily on the bol.
Is it beautiful? Is it interesting? Is it difficult? Is it unusual? I like to hear a wide variety of bols, though in the highly structured Banaras solos this loses out a bit in return for other very satisfying elements. How many times can I listen to the kayda dha-terekitetaka terekitedha-tere kitetakaterekite dhinagena dhatidhage dhinagena dhatidhage tinakena? In any composition, the development of the theme should be sustained, whatever style the development is in. Some compositions allow for (and some almost require) the introduction of new bols during the development, if done in a graceful and proper manner. However, random peppering of terkitetaka and other high-speed bols that indicate the tabliya is either bored or lost or both do nothing to improve my experience of the performance. Are there startling or expecially difficult variations? Does the tabliya challenge himself/herself and the listener? Is there a sustained mood in the development, does it tell a story? Is the tihai appropriate to the composition? Is it interesting? Where layakari is used, does it fit the composition, is it done gracefully or for its own sake? Does the performer play gats? If so, 50 bonus points! If they're good gats, 150 bonus points!. If there are no gats, disappointment on my part. Tukras -- again, I look for interesting, beautiful or unusual bols, variety of tukra etc. Is the structure interesting? I love parans. Chakkardars etc. as for tukra. Finally, if the tabla player is a virtuoso on top of it all and lends just the right expression to the bols, has very good sound production, plays very clearly when playing fast (everyone should play clearly at any speed), then you have a superb tabla solo. Note that i would rather dispense with virtuosity than dispense with everything else, though of course only those with all of it can be considered truly "great".
In accompaniment: I believe Nishat Khan said that virtuosity has its place in a performance -- about 3-5 minutes worth of place . The same is true of tabla accompaniment I believe. I've already talked about some of my views on tabla accompaniment. In general, again, clean, beautiful theka. Bols or compositions appropriate for the mood and development of the rag by the main artist. I particularly enjoy slow bols played very well during accompaniment. These often have the greatest effect here, where some high-speed rela might too definitively attract attention away from the rest of the performance. Of course, in madhyalay or drut tempo the story's different, and there's somewhat less scope for the tabla player to choose how he/she will play. In slow tempo I think the fast bols should be used during improvisation strictly in an ornamental fashion (in the case of pure improvisation), unless they're part of a composition in which they figure integrally. There's no denying however, that at the midway point of a performance of a rag it's sometimes nice to take a breather and watch the tabla player fly loose. I'm sure almost everyone enjoys this. I would hope we all approached music intuitively -- after all what's the point if it doesn't touch us in this profound way? This is true for tabla as well. In this vein, questions I would ask to see if tabla is good are -- does it touch you very deeply, rather than merely impress you? Does it linger in your mind long after the show, or disappear as quickly as it came? Does it grab your heart or (as is too often the case in tabla) your eyes and ears? One can very well approach the tabla this way, and one should. Tabla, it is said, can express all nine rasas. Does it do this for you? Eventually, if one asks "why" something touches us, we may have to treat of technical considerations. But they are certainly not the avenue of approach to the music. And let us remember that this avenue is very long. And it's a bit like a road into the mountains. When we first start out, the foothills are very impressive indeed. But we have no idea, no conception what the highest mountains are like. When we reach them we can look back and see the foothills for what they are. They are beautiful too, but not what we thought they were. This is only to say that one appreciates different things the more one learns. It's also like learning a foreign language. At the beginning, one doesn't know one's way around. If at this point someone shows as a poem in this language, though it were doggerel we might still like it because we hadn't found our way through the language. What appeals to us is the sound and not the meaning. We can't really see the shape, the inner beauty of the poem (or inner ugliness, for that matter). And if we were to keep reading such mediocre work, perhaps our opinions would be confirmed. But I guarantee you that even the first contact with true greatness obliterates our esteem for the mediocre. Learning about music is like learning a language as well. And what I would say about tabla is not that one needs to be able to recite xyz different kinds of compositions or know this gharana from that necessarily, but that one should really listen to good tabla to develop an ear for it. You will see that the beauty here totally obliterates the playing of all the mediocrities. A picture of a rose may have its own beauty, but to feel and see and smell the rose itself, you will know the tremendous difference. these experiences I have had in vocal and instrumental even though i have no training there. Unfortunately, there is very little in the way of good tabla solo commercially available. I recommend Ahmedjan Thirakwa/Amir Hussain,
Swapan Chaudhuri, Concord has also put out a solo of Afaq Hussain's which I am quite sure is excellent, though i haven't heard it. It is also probably the only good live solo on the market. Some of the solos in the accompanying cassette to Jim Gottlieb's "Traditions of North Indian Tabla Drumming", something like that, are very good. Listen to the Kishan Maharaj in particular. Try to get live tapes of the old masters (Habibuddin, Thirakwa, Kanthe Maharaj, Amir Hussain, Wajid Hussain etc.). Other live solos I recommend trying to get are Afaq Hussain, Swapan Chaudhuri, Kishan Maharaj, Keramatullah. One example of the "technically good but doesn't grab me" category is Anindo's 2 cd set. As I said earlier, technically excellent, some very good material,but no soul, no life of its own, doesn;t touch the heart profoundly. So technique does not necessairly imply soulfulness or "character" as J. Kippen has put it. Corvin Russell
What makes a good tabla player in solo and accompaniment. 1. Compositions of all types 2. Creative improvisation where appropriate 3. An overall sense of structure and proportion 4. Clarity of strokes, and a variety of bols 5. Virtuosity 6. CHARACTER -- something that tends only to develop with time, something particular to the individual that helps communicate this great music to the listener.
Recommended Listening Laya Vinyas,
A forthcoming CD by Shri Swapan Chaudhuri
Kishan Maharaj (solo), and duet with Kumar Bose.
Ramesh Mishra on Sarangi, Taals: Nasruk, Ektal, Pravh & Laggi, Dhamar, Teentaal, Pancham Savari Two CD set Audiorec ACCD1016/1017 Memorable Tabla Duet- Teentaal, All of the above should be readily available from the Mail Order sources. Zakir Hussain has his own label Moment Records, that also features a tabla CD. Although not in CD format, and not easily available, the following should be mentioned: Ahmedjan Thirakwa: Teen Taal, Ek Taal Amir Hussain Khan: Teen Taal, Roopak Taal, Jhaptaal Swapan Chaudhuri's solo cassette on the Calcutta Concord label. Afaq Hussain's cassette from the same label . Jim Kippen
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