Recently Banaras witnessed a deluge of leading tabla players of the world who had gathered there to perform at the Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh. Banaras is considered the hub of tabla with several major players associated with the city’s gharana, as well as having a most seasoned listening audience.
It is apparent that tabla now definitely holds centre stage in a concert – the days of the tabla accompanists’ name and musical pedigree barely being announced are over. A tabla great like Ustad Zakir Hussain commands a higher fee than many main artists today!
“Taal Yogi” Pandit Suresh Talwalkar is of the opinion that while laya or rhythm was always integral to any recital, now its presentation is being more refined by performers. He points to his own innovation in bringing in vocal accompaniment in his percussion ensemble to make it richer. Also he feels, without doubt, the musicality of the tabla player matters. He said he has never paltered with technique, to please or entice people. “Mujhe ye bahut mushkil lagta hai”. “When you play for yourself, with musical integrity it will without doubt convey ‘asar’ (emotion) to your audience.” His book on tabla, “Avartan” in Marathi is now going to be translated into Hindi and English as well.
Pandit Shubhankar Bannerji and Pandit Tanmoy Bose both separately attribute the start of the change in the visibility of the tabla as an accompanying instrument to Pandit Ravi Shankar. As early as the 1950s, he introduced the solo playing of his accompanist during a concert, and had record sleeves with both him and Ustad Allah Rakha hugging each other, showing the equal stature of both performers. This had not happened before.
Pandit Tanmoy Bose is reminded of the three-hour long solo performances of his guru Pandit Shankar Ghosh in the 1980s which were always packed. As a hand drum, the tabla is the most sophisticated in the world, and its versatility has been tapped to the fullest of late, he said. Pandit Shubhankar Bannerji points out that tabla has always been a craze. He had heard hundreds of live recordings of greats of yesteryear like Ustad Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, Ustad Maseet Khan, Ustad Inam Ali Khan, Ustad Wajid Hussain Khan, Ustad Habibbudin Khan and many others from the collection of Zurich-based Yurk Voordrik. It was just never so prominent in a North Indian recital but Carnatic musicians always gave layakaari more importance in their concerts.
Pandit Bhawani Shankar, the great pakhawaj player, of the famous Kudao Singh tradition from Rajasthan, makes his pakhawaj solos more alive by creating vocal compositions like the Ravana stuti, Durga stuti, and Shiv puran to which he plays the corresponding “bols” on his pakhawaj. This of course is an old tradition, but his revival of it makes for appealing hearing.
Definitely the towering personalities of the earlier generation of tabla players like Ustad Allah Rakha Khan, Pandit Samta Prasad, Pandit Kishan Maharaj helped put tabla in the forefront This process was continued in the next generation – legendary Pandit Kumar Bose agrees that in his generation flamboyant players like Ustad Zakir Hussain, himself and others helped to put the tabla on the centre stage in a concert.
Ustad Akram Khan also names Pandit Birju Maharaj in creating an understanding of laya at a primeval level amongst his audiences world wide.
The shorter attention span of younger listeners predisposes them to enjoy shorter pieces, which tabla provides. Anubrata Chatterji winner of this year’s Sangeet Natak Akademi Yuva Puraskar, agrees. “We don’t try to play long tukras during accompaniment.”
“Today the tabla player, more intelligently, chooses from his repertoire to present the most crisply executed yet short pieces in his accompaniment,” says Pandit Ram Kumar Mishra. Also, certain main artists are more disposed to laya in their presentations, he says, citing the example of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, which makes it more conducive for great interactive laya jousts between the tabla and the main artist.
Pandit Sanju Sahai, today the leader of the prolific Banaras gharana, puts it differently, “Rhythm is a part of every body, music may not be.” He resides in the UK, and says nowadays a listener asks who the accompanist tabla player is before deciding on attending a concert. For him, the format of tabla playing has not changed – “I do not change my music. It does not belong to me, it’s my forefathers, and I am only keeping it going.”
Pandit Kumar Bose gives another perspective. He says, “tabla kheenchta hai” (It pulls you).
Yes, tabla is getting more and more prominent and it is easy to succumb to its potent lure but it’s important not to forget Pandit Kumar Bose’s words of caution to the new generation of tabla players: “Khub saadhna karein, purity of music ko na bhulein (practise hard and don’t forget the purity of music).”
