Jhaptal solo, live, Part 1

Dear readers!

So….remember the big 'Year of Jhaptal' plans? Heh. Yeaaaaah (sheepishly scuffs his feet).

BUT WAIT! 

Here comes an entire tabla solo in Jhaptal!

On Aug 21/12 I performed a 1 hour solo at a très cool spot called Musideum in Toronto. The entire thing is on video, and here's part numero uno:




That is Rattan Bhamrah on Esraj, and he's SO awesome to play with, I really can't say enough. You might remember him this video, or maybe this one, or this audio clip.

We start with a lovely Alap from Rattan, and then move into an improvised tabla introduction that probably (…ok, definitely) breaks all sorts of rules. The material is drawn from a Peshkar I heard (but didn't formally learn) while I was studying with Pt Suresh Talwalkar in Pune, a Palta Theka I learned from Pt Swapan Chaudhuri and some Khanda Nadai material (quintuplets*) I learned from mrdangist Karaikudi Mani in Chennai. Any rule breaking is 100% my doing. So….it's a bit of a mixture, but I wanted something really slow and mellow to start the solo. It's maybe easier to extend the playreallyfastattheend part of the solo, so it was a personal challenge to extend the slooooow unfolding of things.

I decided to play the first couple of sections on a low tabla as I think it suits the material, plus those low drums sound so earthy and nighttime-y. Higher tabla comes into play later. The baya is clay, which doesn't sustain quite as well as metal, but it won the 'which baya?' shootout the day of the show.  Plus it's made of clay! More old-school earthy factor! All three drums are made in Kolkata by Mukta Das via Kala Kendar in Toronto.

I tried to cover as many types of repertoire as I could in the solo. Here's what's coming: a proper Peshkar->Kaida, a few Kaidas, Kaida-Relas, Relas, a Gat, some Parans, an Amad and a few Chakradars. I covered as many gharanas as possible as well: Lucknow, Farukhabad, Delhi, Punjab and Ajrada (though this last one is possibly not accurate). I'm not sure i know any Benares gharana material actually….hmm. Unless I do and don't know it? Possibly.

There's material from almost all of my teachers: Pt. Suresh Talwalkar, Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri, Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, Subhajyoti Guha, Sri Karaikudi Mani and my first tabla teacher, Ritesh Das. Disclaimer: Some of it isn't native Jhaptal, but adaptations of Tintal material, and I'll talk about how that works when it comes up.

I did a little talk at the beginning of the show (not sure I'll include it in the videos, as I rambled a bit, and even said 'blah blah blah' at one point 0.o!!) in case there were tabla newbies in the audience, and it was an interesting challenge to try to talk about this incredibly complex and obscure artform in a concise way. I came with a simple way of describing a solo that I think works:

A tabla solo is a series of percussion vignettes that all take place in a rhythmic cycle with a fixed number of beats, accompanied by a looping melody that marks the time. The solo unfolds gradually, moving through different types of repertoire, from slow to fast, long to short, improvised to composed, simmering to explosive.

Sounds a little less intimidating than "ONE HOUR DRUM SOLO!! Three THOUSAND Six HUNDRED seconds of reallyreallyfast drumming!! w00t!" Which, let's face it, is not for everyone.

Then I went on and on and on forever trying to explain the cyclical nature of time in Indian music, the concept of tihais, the role of the lehara, types of repertoire, gharanas, bhari/khali, tabla language, drumheads made of goats and iron and rice…  oh my. Yeah… not going to include the pre-show talk.

The goal, of course, being to introduce a wider audience to what I think is one of the richest percussion languages and traditions on our lovely planet earth.

I'll be piling the videos on as fast as I can edit them so keep an eye out. You can always sign up with the Feedburner email thingy (on right side over yonder->), which will let you know when a new post arrives, or do the Facebook 'like' thingamajig.

percussively yours,
E

*In this episode of Get Your Tabla Geek On:

Quintuplets (5 subdivisions of the beat). Time to transmogrify!!….if you play a phrase of 4 quintuplets** it will take 4 beats. If you then play the same phrase straight, i.e. 4 subdivisions of the beat (aka Chatusra), then it will fit into 5 beats. And vice-versa of course….take any Chatusra Jhaptal material, play it in Khanda Nadai, and you'll be in Tintal!

So…one beat per line….eeeeeverybody recite along and clap on the first word in each line!

Khanda Nadai (5 subdivisions/beat)

Taka Takita

Taka Takita

Taka Takita

Taka Takita

4 beats.

Chatusra Nadai (4 subdivisions/beat)

Taka Taki

ta Taka Ta

kita Taka

Takita Ta

ka Takita

5 beats.

(Use DhatiDhagena instead of TakaTakita, or even Dhin-Dhagena DhatiDhagena GhenaDhagena DhatiDhagena if you want a more north-y flavour).

This works for pretty much anything: phrases of 3, 5, 7, 9 and so on. So, transmogrify away! 

PS I filmed with 4 cameras…I had a 5th that didn't record, and you can see me tinkering fruitlessly with it in the video. It was going to be a really cool shot looking up the Esraj from below. [sadface]  BUT…my video projections seemed to work, though someone, bless their nerdy nerdy mind, did notice that the kaleidoscope plugin I used in FCE gave the images 8 sides instead of 10! The horror!! Ten sides would have been ideal of course, but I couldn't figure it out. More about the video projections in a later post.

PPS Making sure quintuplets was the right word, I checked a couple places, and I love that they're referred to as 'irrational rhythm' in western music. Lol. No wonder tabla players are so temperamental!! In other news, Irrational Rhythm is a great album name. Just sayin'.

PPPS I am available for concerts, lecture demonstrations and workshops as well as classes, both online and in person. Drop me a line.

Tabla Solo concert, Aug 21st, Toronto & update

Concert announcement and update on recordings:

I loves me some retro technical illustrations...

I will be performing a tabla solo on Tuesday, August 21st at Musideum in Toronto, accompanied by the awesome Rattan Bhamrah on esraj. Here's the facebook event, and here is a preview for my last solo concert:

The tabla is by far the most hypnotic, and expressive percussion instrument you will ever witness live. The term "tabla" actually refers to a set of two drums, one tuned higher, called the 'daina' that is actually tuned to a note that is related in some way to the raga being performed, and a lower pitched drum called the 'dagga'. The complex patterns and phrases played routinely on the tabla are mind-boggling! Try counting along if you dare... Hanley will be joined by Rattan Bhamrah, who will play the esraj, an Indian stringed instrument that is played with a bow. Bhamrah will likely be present largely to play a "lehera" for Hanley: this is a repeated phrase associated with a raga that is essentially 'looped', in order to serve as a stable 'marker' to be juxtaposed with the pyrotechnics delivered by the tabla player.

Jhaptal will be on the menu, including material from Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri and Sri Subhajyoti Guha...peshkar, kaida, rela, paran, thukra and chakradar.

Hopefully, I will get video of the entire concert, so stay tuned!

Recording update:

I have four tracks in progress, and will post as soon as I can get time to record the accompanists and finish the mixes. A tintal peshkar/kaida/rela, tintal kaida-rela and  jhaptal kaida from Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, and a solo in Chartal Ki Sawari (11 beats) incl. kaida, gat, paran and thukra from Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.

What I've been up to:

It's been an interesting year so far: I played a tabla solo in January; premiered a Tabla Concerto composed by Dinuk Wijeratne with Symphony Nova Scotia in February (the CBC recorded the concert, and I'll post a link once the on-demand recording is up), review: 'Ed Hanley is a remarkable player, both in his musical thoughtfulness and his technical virtuosity.'; played a bunch of gigs with my band Autorickshaw, incl. trio, quartet and sextet concerts, plus our 70s Bollywood show; played a few gigs with banjo player Jayme Stone; recorded with vocalist Lenka Lichtenberg; toured with devotional ensemble Aradhna; did a couple weeks of school workshops with grade 6-8 students at 2 different schools; a Brazilan-Indian collaboration gig called Bombay Brazil (video); a couple gigs with choirs, including one at Toronto's Massey Hall (always dreamed of playing Massey Hall! w00t!); and finally, completed work on Persian percussionist Naghmeh Farahmand's solo album, which I produced, recorded, edited and mixed.

until next time,
tata!

Technique

Pandit Suresh Talwalkar on the importance of technique:
(full screen it so you can read the subtitles, unless you speak Marathi)


I find this video to be incredibly inspiring, not only because he hammers home the importance of technique, but also because he seamlessly slides into talking about style...individual style. In my humble experience, we tabla players spend so much time working on technique, learning material and imitating/emulating our teachers and heros that we often don't develop our own voice. (welcome to the wild generalizations edition of 52 Kaidas!)

Hands up tabla players if you've ever thought: "I have to play this exactly like I was taught".

To a point, that's true. The preservation of such a rich and complicated musical tradition does depend on the information being passed accurately from teacher to student. It takes time...a long time....forever, even....to understand the intricacies of technique, tala, form, the myriad of different repertoire etc. But! Tabla is an oral tradition, and like the old broken telephone game, subtle variations are introduced with each passing. Over time, those subtle variations magnify, and a transformation begins to take place. Evolution.

I have certain repertoire (the Dhadhagegenage Farukhabad Chalan-Kaida) that is a good example of this. The version I have was taught to me by Ritesh Das, who had learned it from Pandit Shankar Ghosh. When I was researching that blog post, I found out that Gnan Prakash Ghosh is credited with that particular version. So, 'my' version is the 4th generation, minimum. I've probably, over time, introduced baya inflections, accents etc etc that are my own, either through my physical limitations (what actually sounds good with my hands) or my choices of the path I take through the material, the relationships I hear between strokes etc (and I continue to refine it each time I play it) and what I like. Similarly, Ritesh probably injected his own personality when he taught it to us, and so on down the line.

I have played 'my' version to a few different tabla players, and each time, an interesting thing has happened: "oh, that composition...it's good, but the correct version is this" and they play a different version of the same composition. The soul of the composition is the same...it still has the same groove, flows well at the same speed, BUT, some of the strokes are different, the accents are different, the structure is different, and because of this, the variations, the pathways for improvisation are necessarily different. I was taught to play a sur stroke for the phrase that starts the second half (TageTete). None of the other versions I've heard have TageTete in them, and none of them use a sur stroke anywhere. It's all kinar. Now...I like the sur, I've worked on it a lot, and it's something I do well, if I can say that. So, naturally, I'm going to focus on, and expand on the variations that show my strength.

And this is my main point: That's ok.

I'm not saying neglect anything that's hard, or doesn't come naturally, but it's ok to specialize in certain focused areas of technique, repertoire, or sound production because that is what makes us unique...that is our 'style'.

Both Swapan Chaudhuri and Suresh Talwalkar told me almost the exact same thing at different times, and I'll paraphrase:

Don't imitate. If you imitate, you will never 'own' what you do, because it's not yours. You will always be weaker than the person you're imitating. It will always be a facsimile of the original. Carve your own niche, and you'll automatically be the best within that niche.

I think that the fact that tabla, with all its strict rules and freakishly hard technique, has room within it for everyone to contribute their own voice is a testament to the richness of the tradition. It's not frozen in time. It's evolving right now, as we speak, with each and every person who is practicing or performing at this very moment. That's why there are thousands and thousands and thousands of different compositions, each different from the other, and that a single kaida (for example) is a universe unto itself.

To be honest...knowing this makes it easier for me to practice. Drilling something 300 or 1000 times is daunting, boring, hurts-physically, but also mentally, and is frustrating at times. But practicing something to make it my own, rather than trying to sound *just* like X or Y tabla player is way easier. I can play, in the little kid sense of the word. I can do what I like over and over again, and I don't even notice the hours going by.

So...technique is important! You must practice!! (sound of a whip cracking). But practicing is hard! It's no fun! (sadface) BUT...if you introduce 'style' to that equation, then practicing will be easy, and technique will automatically follow.

Also...practice with other people. It really helps.

/end gooey inspirational post

Another video

The 2nd video from my solo concert on January 15th at Musideum.



This is a live version of the Sankha Chatterjee Farukhabad Chalan-Kaida I previously recorded and wrote about in the Four-in-one super-special mega-simul-post extravaganza!:
http://52kaidas.blogspot.com/2010/08/farukhabad-chalan-kaida-punjab-kaida.html

Another video from this concert:
http://52kaidas.blogspot.com/2012/01/video-video.html

And an audio recording:
http://52kaidas.blogspot.com/2012/01/live-in-concert-1.html

Please sign up for emails (see the Feedburner form on the right?) and feel free to fan-up on my Facebook artist page.
until next time,
TaTa!

Live in concert #1

What?!? Two posts in two days? Madness I say... Madness!!

Here's a live version of a (previously posted) Farukhabad Chalan-Kaida, recorded on Jan 15 2012 at Musideum in Toronto:

Farukhabad Chalan-Kaida Live by Talawallah

Check out the timed comments, and feel free to leave your own if you're a Soundclouder.

I wrote a fairly big post about this in July 2010 when I posted the studio version. You can read about it here: http://52kaidas.blogspot.com/2010/07/dha-dha-gegenage.html

There's video of this concert here, in yesterday's post (never thought you'd see those words, didya?) : http://52kaidas.blogspot.com/2012/01/video-video.html

Not everything was videotaped, but there are a couple more clips coming eventually.

Here's a pic of the show, and my poster design:

Floor seating!

Cheers!

Video? Video!

Hi all,
No lame excuses for my long absence (though I have been in India).

Just a brief post with a short video excerpt from my tabla solo concert this past Sunday.

This is a fairly well known kaida:
DhatiDhagenaDhaterekite
DhatiDhageThinnakena



Interesting, because it kinda breaks the super strict 'no bols that aren't in the theme' rule, though it's such a ubiquitous and lovely composition, and a fine example of how the rules can be bent for the sake of creativity, inspiration and flow.

I was fortunate to have Rattan Bhamrah accompanying me for what turned out to be a 90 minute solo in a rare musical instrument museum and store called Musideum, right here in Toronto. If you can, please go. It's simultaneously a playground and a temple of music...beautiful space.

More from this concert soon...

cheers,
Ed

A year of Jhaptal

Hi! I'm back, finally. This year has been busy, lots of different stuff going on. I have a lot to share...what I've been up to, plans for the next year etc...it's another mega-simul-post-extravaganza! But first, two new new recordings:

The first one is a very beginning kaida, albeit in Jhaptal (10 beat rhythm cycle) that I learned recently, and the second one, also in Jhaptal, is a little more involved, bol-wise. 'What I've Been Up To' will help explain, so here goes:

What I've Been Up To:

I spent the last year or so in a very intense training period. I took 4 online sessions (32 classes total) with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri via the Ali Akbar College of Music, a bunch of private classes with Subhajyothi Guha in Toronto, spent Dec-Feb in Pune, taking classes with Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, and finally, I just finished an intense, incredibly humbling yet inspiring week-long workshop with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri here in Toronto. Suffice it to say, I have several lifetimes of material to work on. This was all made possible by a generous grant from the Canada Council:

thankyouthankyouthankyou

The first Kaida:

This is the first kaida I learned from Pt Suresh Talwalkar in December. We worked on developing my technique further (tone, power etc) and he started me right back at the beginning, but in Jhaptal, which kept in interesting! I have studied Jhaptal before, but it was so great to start right at step one, slow it waaaaay down, and strip it right back to the basics. 

The tintal version of this kaida would be something like DhatiDhati DhaDhathunna, TatiTati DhaDhaDhinna, but the Jhaptal version has more shapes right off the bat:

Dha-Dhati Dhati DhaDhaDhinna, DhaDhaDhinna Dhati DhaDhaThinna

Delhi gharana.

Raise your hand if you've neglected the very first compositions/exercises you ever learned. I think a lot of people do that, and I'm guilty of it for sure. One of the things that is so challenging about this composition is that the bol groupings are very small. 

Let me explain:

I think of each tabla stroke as a letter. When we first learn to read, we first learn to recognize the letters of the alphabet, then small words, then larger words, then we can absorb and create entire sentences with ease. Tabla is the same way. We first learn Ghe, Ke, na, Tete and so on. Then, we learn more complex letters, combination strokes: Dha (ghe+na), Thun, Dhin etc etc. After that, we learn small words: DhaTete, Thunnakena, terekite etc. Once you're a few years into learning, you're dealing with large, complex words and groups of words eg: DhatrekeDhetete Ketagedighene and the phrases get longer and longer, to the point that entire compositions become a single entity that we can recall, recite and perform. Anyone ever read Green Eggs and Ham? Written by celebrated children's author Dr Seuss, the entire book only uses a total of only 50 words. A small vocabulary for an entire book for sure, and while it's aimed at new readers, it can be a bit of a challenge to read, simply because of the repetition and rhyming (ok, maybe that's just me). This kaida is a bit like that. Lots of short words in gradual, low contrast permutations. 

Sam, I am, indeed! ;)

This kaida is short, uses very small words, and therefore requires a different level of concentration (for me anyway) because everything is ripping past so quickly. It also uses strokes that are speed limiters: DhaDhaDhinna is a total workout stroke...all one finger, and a real burner if you do it for a long time.

Initially, I thought this composition was all about Na: there are lots of them, both alone, and in Dha strokes, after all. But once I got it up to a certain speed, it was Tun that really caught my ear. There are very cool patterns happening with Tun, and the Na strokes sort of become a bed, a flow, that the Tuns punctuate. If that makes sense ;)

It gets really exciting when the variations move away from the 'Dha-' in the theme, and get completely full!!

It was challenging to make an arrangement of this for a couple reasons: The kaida is short, and the tala is fast. I always try to find an interesting way into a kaida, hence the extended groove section off the top. There are three tabla tracks on here: a low D tabla, and a pair of high D tabla. The low tabla is a Mukta Das drum i picked up from Kala Kendar, and the baya is an old raw copper Benares shell that Mukta reheaded years ago. Both high tabla tracks use the same drums: a Haridas Vhatkar tabla, plus an old dented Mukta Das baya, again from Kala Kendar. 

The lehara is originally from my old standby, the iLehra iPhone app, but I sent it to my good friend Suba Sankaran, and she composed and sang a whole bunch of variations on the lehara, which John Gzowski (guitar) and Prosad Caruk (sitar) played. Thank you, beautiful people!!

The second Kaida:

This is a beautiful Lucknow kaida i learned from Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri during the online classes, and it immediately became a favourite. 

Important disclaimer!: The tihai is not Swapanji's composition...I was experimenting with the bols, and came up with this tihai. I decided to record it, mainly because I am always a little bit wary of recording class material verbatim. 

This a 2-part kaida that has a really nice flow, and the variations are super interesting and challenging. I've already blathered on for too long on this post, but let me just say this: DheneDhinnagena is hard....especially hard not to cheat the last Na and turn it into a Ne. Ne is easier for sure, but the Na...well....it really balances the composition for me. I love how the variations focus down to smaller and smaller bol combinations, and the original tihai followed that direction. *Sigh*. Can you tell I have angst about recording my own tihai? :-/

This recording opens with a short Chakradar from Pt Suresh Talwalkar.

Oh, and the drums: Haridas Vhatkar tabla, plus a recent acquisition: a Mukta Das clay baya from Kala Kendar. Clay sounds great! I've always wanted one and the price was right. It took a little while to break in, but it has an earthy sound I quite like.

The plan for the next year or so:

Here's what's coming: I am planning 2 albums this year. A traditional Jhaptal album (all Jhaptal, all the time!!) and simultaneously, a remix (I prefer 'dub') album of the traditional tracks. I will record additional musicians on the dub tracks, and hopefully make a new kind of contemporary recording, with traditional tabla in the centre of a modern soundscape. 
We'll see how THAT goes! ;)

So, first will be the traditional kaida, and shortly (and by that I mean 'at some point') thereafter, the remix track. And yes...the 1st track isn't entirely traditional accompaniment wise (electric guitar? shakers? am I mad??) BUT....I have big plans for the remix. 

The vision for both albums has become quite large...I have a huge list of musicians in mind, for both albums (I'm trying to have different people, sounds and approaches on every track) but that brings me face-to-face with the eternal problem: finances. I want to pay everyone, but that's just not possible right now. I haven't thought it through, but if people are interested in pre-buying one or both albums, that could help. Drop me a line if you're interested.

Of course, the tracks are always pay-what-you-want (min $1) so you can always show your love that way!! 

Social media

I'm taking advantage of various social media to these days. There's a Facebook artist page here: which will be mainly a platform for upcoming concert announcements and info. Feel free to 'like' :P

I'm also on Twitter (streaming in the box on the right) which I plan to use for mini-updates not worthy of a full post (i.e. 'like, omg! recording so-and-so for the next post!') and thoughts on music, and being a musician.

So...thanks for your patience, and please stay tuned...I'm quite excited about the next year of recordings!! 

peace