Dhatreke Dhigena Dhigena Dhagena

Third post, so, in my best Dennis Hopper voice...Tisrafy, Man!

Tintal (16 beats), tisra nadai



Tabla never ceases to humble me. This composition is deceptive: the strokes aren't particularly hard, but the groupings are tricky...lots of 5s and 7s going on, along with Gopuccha Yati (rhythmic reductions) and other goodness.

Tonally, it's a treat...lots of sur strokes, which I love, combined with growling baya. Well, my baya growls, though it should probably purr. Ah, practice, how I need thee.

There's a bit of a trompe-l'oreille* off the top...working on the 7+5 conundrum got me into a kind of chalan thing, and I thought I'd include it.

Speaking of which...I guess this is a kaida, though it has a bit of a chalan vibe going on too...

I learned this in a workshop with Swapan Chaudhuri in Toronto in 2007. After the workshop was over, he played a tabla solo that completely blew everyone's minds. I was fortunate enough to occupy the sound-guy chair...ever so stressful, but he and Ramesh (Misra-sarangi) sounded fantastic.

I have to say that the mandolin lehara** took almost as long to get together as the tabla part did. I'm never really satisfied with my recordings either (he says, several mixes later) I'd love to record in a large reverberant space, but my apartment is small and dry, so canned 'verb will have to do.

* Trompe L'oreille, from the french expression Trompe L'oeil (fool the eye)   L'oreille means ear...

** The lehara is a direct transcription from the iLehra iPhone/iPod application. Darbari Kanada, in case anyone's interested.

If you are a tabla player, and have an iPhone/iPod touch, this is app is
Totally. Amazing. Best $15 you'll ever spend. Go...GO NOW!:
iLehra

There's also an iTanpura (cool, also used on these recordings) and (cringe) and iTablaPro app, which will apparently "blow your mind with his virtuoso tabla playing"...riiight. Of course, I'm as guilty on the lehera front, so I'll shush now. Seriously though, the iTablaPro app will be very useful for instrumental/vocal/dance practice. Great apps all around, and kudos to the developer.

PS I have a big contemporary piece to learn for a concert on Feb 7th (rehearsals approach), so I'm not sure if I can get another solo together in a week...we'll see.

DhagenaDha terekite

A kaida-rela in tintal (16 beats). I learned this in a workshop with Swapan Chaudhuri years ago. It's fairly short, but the sur strokes are a nice touch, and very Swapanji.



A kaida-rela, by the way, is a composition that has a kaida-like structure, but has strokes that resemble a rela (fast & flowing). Interestingly, the usual khali-bhari clues, ThunNaKeNa and DhinNaGeNa are not present here, but takeTa- and tageDha- serve the same purpose. I'm assuming it's Lucknow gharana*.

The sruthi is D, and the lehara is a fairly common one in raga Chandrakauns (courtesy iLehra app).

*Gharana: lit. 'house' or school, akin to style