Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing ways in which tabla players choose to begin their accompaniment to the vilambit gats or the slow instrumental compositions set to different taals.
Conventionally, the vilambit gat is followed by a drut gat or fast instrumental composition that may be set to taals like Teentaal, Ektaal or Ada Chautaal. Given the speed of the rhythmic cycle and the fact that the tabla player has already presented many rhythmic ideas during the vilambit gat, it is very likely that the improvisation on the tabla during the drut gat may be contained.
However, there is no rule to this effect, and in fact, some instrumentalists even create a space during the drut gat to invite the tabla player to present a short solo. In the latter case, the instrumentalist often marks out the basic cycle by playing a sparse set of notes from the chosen raag.
An element related to tabla accompaniment that is often heard in instrumental performances is called the savaal-javaab or the question-answer section. This is a misnomer, as the “questions” that are posed by the instrumentalist are not “answered” by the tabla player, but are imitated. The instrumentalist chooses a series of melodic-rhythmic phrases that shorten over every few aavartans of the theka. The tabla player reproduces each of these phrases, and the entire section culminates with a tihai.
The raag elaboration by an instrumentalist almost always ends with a gradual acceleration in a predominantly rhythmic section called jhala. At this point, the tabla player is equally challenged to display virtuosity in maintaining a steady theka at any speed chosen by the instrumentalist.
We end today’s instalment with a presentation of two drut compositions in a raag described as Piloo Banjara. This raag is listed as one of the creations of the world-renowned sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. He is accompanied on the tabla by the well-known Banaras gharana exponent Kumar Bose.
The first gat is set to Ektaal, but 2.12” into the track this changes to a gat set to Teentaal. Listeners will note the savaal-javaab section from 2.52” to 3.52”. The performance ends with the jhala played at a greatly accelerated pace.
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.
