In our current series related to tabla accompaniment to Hindustani music and dance performances, we have been discussing the role of the tabla player while accompanying instrumental recitals. While focusing on the entry of the tabla in the vilambit gat or slow composition, we had listened to different approaches in negotiating the 16-matra Teentaal and the 10-matra Jhaptaal.
Today, we will listen to some tracks featuring vilambit gats set to the seven-matra Rupak. Interestingly, while the total number of matras or time-units in Rupak is seven, instrumentalists often prefer to have the sthayi or the first line of the gat spreading over two avartans or cycles of seven.
Thus, while instrumentalists have the liberty to improvise over one or more cycles of seven matras, the tabla players are expected to improvise while maintaining a cycle of 14 matras (two cycles of Rupak). Perhaps, a seven-matra cycle is considered too short to establish the sthayi of the gat, and this has probably led to a practice of using a canvas of 14 matras or two cycles of Rupak for the composition.
In the first track, listeners will observe celebrated sitar maestro Nikhil Bannerjee playing a sthayi in the raag Bhimpalasi that spreads over two cycles of seven matras. Tabla exponent Kanai Dutta begins his accompaniment by establishing the rhythmic canvas, then immediately launches into a short improvisation at eight times the original tempo of the gat (11.04”) and finally brings his improvisation to a close with a short tihai. The second composition is set to a fast-paced Teentaal.
The inimitable and respected sarod player Zarin Sharma plays two compositions in the raag Jansanmohini on the second track. The first gat is set to Rupak and the second to Teentaal. Well-known tabla player Vibhav Nageshkar begins his accompaniment at approximately 12” and quickly launches into a virtuosic improvisatory passage.
One of India’s leading tabla players, Aneesh Pradhan is a widely recognised performer, teacher, composer and scholar of Hindustani music. Visit his website here.
This article is based on Pradhan’s book Tabla: A Performer’s Perspective.
