Cajón Alert!

Greetings,
Here are a couple videos I shot of a pair of my guru-bhais (brother students) in my apartment in Pune:
Umesh Warbhuwan on cajón and Bhargav Garde on tabla. Both are longtime students of Taalyogi Pandit Suresh Talwalkar.

Umesh is an astonishing cajón player, oozing technique and tasty tabla stylings....check it: Here's the Jhaptal:



I'll wait while you go change your pants.

So.... they're working with divisions of 9-4-7 (9+4+7=20, cuts across the tala beautifully)

Try reciting throughout the whole video (including the final composition!):
TakitaTakitaDhikita Takadimi TakitaTakadimi

Bonus if you can keep Jhaptal on your hands as well ;) *see bottom of post for tala

GROOVY! and that final chakradar! *fans self*

Bhargav is an amazing tabla player... balance, speed, tone (though the camera is not getting the bayan very well, trust me, it's sweet)

Here's the 2nd vid: Tisrajati Tintal (Tisrajati=triplets, though Umesh moves into Chatusra [4s] at the end)



I should have warned you to wait to change your pants until after this video...sorry. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Bhargav is in a purely accompaniment role here, but it's NOT EASY. Keep tala, and you'll see why... Umesh is driving to the takiTA of the triplet from 2:34-3:24. :O

The rela (starting at 3:35 until 6:24) is phrases of 7 & 5: TakadimiTakita TakaTakita with some tasty tihais.

Nice goppucha yati (reduction) at 5:58...

aaaaand at 6:25 we hop up to chatusra nadai (4 or 8 subdivisions of the beat) for another blistering rela.

I cannot stress it enough: there are 2 reasons these guys play the way they do:
1. Good taalim (training) from Pt. Suresh Talwalkar
2. Insane amounts of practice.

These guys live at the Gurukul (school) with many other tabla and pakhawaj players, take 2 classes a day with Sureshji, practice in between classes--alone and in groups, and are massive nerds (nerds is a term of endearment in my book, fyi)

Phew!

I gotta go do laundry.

ciao for now!

(btw... both Umesh and Bhargav are on Facebook)

Sureshji working with Umesh (yes, he plays djembe too), pakhawaj wizard Omkar Dalvi (who also plays cajon),  Aashay Kulkarni (a smokin' tabla player, here on calabash) and Kulkarni Milind Vasudeo on harmonium.
I have video of the concert they were rehearsing for, editing, & will release soon...go... buy more pants...

*Jhaptal:
Divisions: 2-3-2-3

Theka:
Dhi Na
Dhi Dhi na
Thi na
Dhi Dhi na

Tala:
Clap-pinky
Clap-pinky-ring
Wave-pinky
Clap-pinky-ring

Class at Suresh Talwalkar's Taalyogi Ashram in Pune

Jhaptal and Chartal Ki Sawari

Greetings from India.

Here's a little video I made using a recording of a practice session with Jonathan Kay on dilruba and the last 27 minutes of the Delhi To Kolkata Rajdhani Express, pulling into Howrah station. Apologies for the lo-fi-ness of the recording, and esp the baya...combo of recording on my phone, and an old, much played clay baya. (excuses!)

We were practicing for my solo show on Saraswati Puja at Pt Sankha Chatterjee's house in Kolkata, and this was only Jon's 2nd time playing for a tabla solo. The first time was for another solo of mine a couple days before, hence the rehearsal. (Jonathan is a tenor & soprano sax player, studying with vocalist Pandit Shantanu Bhattacharya, but also plays dilriba, esraj and bansuri as well). I also accompanied him in a house concert, and will post later...Hindustani classical sax!

Anyway, here you go:

Composition types played are, in order: Jhaptal: Peshkar, Kaida x3, Paran x3, Gat, Thukra, Chakradar; Chartal Ki Sawari: Mukra, Uthan (my arrangement), Paran, Gat x2, Paran x2; with material from Pt Suresh Talwalkar, Pt Swapan Chaudhuri and material I learned from Subhajyoti Guha, that he learned from Pt Sankha Chatterjee. Delhi, Farukhabad and Lucknow gharanas.

Another solo in Chartal Ki Sawari...longer this time

Hello all,
New video from a concert I played the other night with sitarist Chris Hale:

You might recognize some of the material from these previous posts, but there's a bunch of stuff I haven't played or recorded before. Compositional types abound: mukra, paran, kaida, gat & chakradar. With lots of recitation.


So...

I learned most of the material I play here in a workshop with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, and it's all so very beautiful...the way the compositions follow the contours, and especially the sawari (little 'ride' on the last 3 beats of the tala) is really a joy to practice and play. I hope I do it justice.

Tabla has basically 2 types or extended families of composition: improvised, and fixed. I ramble on about the improvised forms (peshkar, kaida, kaida-rela, rela etc) a lot on this blog, so now it's time to focus on the short forms: mukra, gat, paran and chakradar.

I think of these forms as poems...rhythmic poems. One does not tend to improvise on them, though it's common to re-compose, or elaborate on one particular composition to put it in a different tala, or to just make a series of them that are all related. Some compositions have probably hundreds of versions, and every tabla player knows one you've never heard before. Still...they're fixed, not improvised.

The performance practice, unlike the long-forms, is to recite the composition first, then play. The poetry of these compositions lies equally in both realms... the vocalizations, if done well, can stand alone, are very lyrical, and can really illustrate the phrasing, grammar and flow, while the playing part operates on a completely other, abstract level...you hear a set of words (bols), then a musical or sonic representation in which you can 'hear' the words, but the real magic is that the drum sounds will set up accents and patterns that are not audible in the spoken language. One composition might, for example, have a progressive use of the open 'tun' stroke (open RH drum sound): 'tun' can be played alone (tun, di) or combined with open or closed baya (thun, dhin, dhen) and are grouped in combinations with a dizzying array of 'words' or longer phrases: dheneghene, gedighene, dhenegheran-ne, dighene, teteketagedighene, dhenetage, takedhene etc etc and when this happens, it's almost like another level of reality is exposed...the Matrix of Tabla! omg. Did I just go there? I really did. Tabla players DEFINITELY took the red pill ;)

So...the forms:

Mukra is a short composition, usually made up of bols from Pakhawaj. I think of mukras as small flourishes leading into sam...they're not usually a main-course type of composition, but can be very beautiful nonetheless. There is usually a tihai at the end of a Mukra. Mukra means 'face', but I'm not sure how that relates to tabla...perhaps it's more of a glance, or a glimpse of a face? Maybe a mischievous flare of the eyes.

Paran: compositions made up of pakhawaj and/or dance bols, including an ending tihai. Some of these bols are super obscure and cool... 'tunga', for example is pretty awesome, as is this entire phrase:
Ta--watun-ga-wa-tun-ga-dugga dugga tun-ga

Parans can also include entire words, and can take the form of prayers or invocations to Hindu deities. (see if you can find the album 'Masters of Tala -Raja Chatrapati Singh Pakhawaj Solo' for some AMAZING parans... wow)

Chakradar: basically a thukra or a paran (including tihai) that is repeated 3 times (aka Chakradar tihai). So, kind of a giant SUPER-Tihai. The real fun is that there are sub families of Chakradar, with carfully math'd out placements of 'dha' in relation to sam (1st beat). I'm not sure how to explain these at the moment...and besides, they deserve their own post. Later.

Gat: the king of tabla compositions (in certain Gharanas/styles anyway). Gats are super complex poetical forms that often (but not always) do NOT have a tihai. They're so cool, they don't even need a tihai. ;)

Gats often have virtuosic combinations of strokes (they can be quite long...blistering streams over many cycles), can change speeds (eg from chatusra (4s) to double tisra (6s) to misra nadai (7s) etc) all in one composition. There are gats that repeat each bol 2 or 3 or even 4 times in a row: dhenegheran-ne dhenegheran-ne gherenagedhene gherenagedhene etc;, there are gats that rhyme the ends and beginnings of phrases (i.e. finish with a tun, start with a tun, finish w a dhet, start with a dhet etc); the same phrase in 3 or 4 different speeds and on and on. Super rich creative soil, the gat. I do a couple gats in this solo.

Gats are also improv friendly...there are Gat-Kaidas, for example, where the body of the gat becomes a theme for improv. Amazing.

So, here's a time'd, absurdly detailed breakdown of what's happening in this solo:

0:00-2:15 Chris plays alap in Raga Jaunpuri (introduction of the raga, or melodic mode) *at 0:23 I get my list of compositions...basically a sheet that reminds me what I want to play, and in what order, as it's easy to forget in the heat of the moment, for me anyway. The entire compositions are not written there...just the first lines, so I know what's what.)

2:15-2:20 I give Chris the tempo

2:20 Chris starts the lehara (from beat 9) and I mark the first sam, and then adjust my mic stand, which is too low :P

tihai into the next cycle at 2:33, where i show the audience the 11 beats (I've talked about the tala cycle before starting, so now they can hear the pulse and the sawari in action) Chartal ki Sawari is broken down 2-2-2-2-1.5-1.5, and those 1.5s give the last three beats a very cool feel...the Sawari, or 'ride'.

2:43 theka, introducing the baya on beat 9

2:52 mukra (note how he tihai follows the sawari at the end of the tala *swoon*...but then again, ALL the tihais do that!)

3:02 first full cycles of theka (Dhin terekite Dhin na Thun na Kat Ta Dhin..Dha.re Dhin..Dha.re), and Chris improvises for a few cycles, still setting the mood.

3:58 Paran (my adaptation of something I know in tintal), followed by theka, and then a variation of the theka Swapanji taught that is very similar to Ektal (a 12 beat cycle, and an example of a subtle sense of humour ;)

4:34 Paran (from Swapanji), followed by Theka

5:00 Kaida (everything following this is from Swapanji unless noted), starting with single speed, introducing double, then full double, finishing with a tihai and theka (there always theka! the tabla version of idling, or grooving...won't mention it again)

7:26 Gat, recited a couple time then played. This is a Di Padi Gat, meaning that each phrase is played twice, flowing right into...

8:18 another Gat, that finishes with a phrase in Tisra nadai, right into...

8:52 a sort-of-kinda rela I made up on the spot, and barely survive...this is the tabla equivalent of drifting in a car...you're skidding and sliding, still moving forwards, somewhat in control, but maybe not entirely :P My notes simply said 'improv on tisra gat phrase'

9:41 Mukra, recited and played a couple times...lovelovelove this composition! Din Din NaNa kitetake....and those 'Nas' are open Na's...on the rim of the drum, not regular types...mos def a pakhawaj bol.

10:39 Paran, recited and played a couple times...the tihai is some very challenging technique...many many repititions at slow slow speed to get it right, and keep it intact at top speed: Dha - kitetake din . ghere Dha

11:20 Gat. MONSTER Gat. 2 cycle beast of a Gat. Very beautiful composition, but hard. Recite, playplayplay. I kinda break the rules here btw...Gats are supposed to be played Bhari/Khali (like a kaida..version with bass strokes and then a version partially without bass strokes), but I wanted to try to play all the compositions 3 times in a row, you know, just to make it harder O.o

12:33 Paran, and one of my favourite parans ever! Swapanji taught us 3 different tihais for this...i'm playing the simplist one...the hardest one is crazy technical mountain climbing and I can't play it...yet. working on it. This composition is NOT about tunafish, despite what you might think.

13:32 Chakradar (aka super tihai) this one starts out with a couple phrases of 7, in 11 beats...7-11, get it? *facepalm* None of these are easy, but the 2nd palla (repeat) of this one starts on the offbeat, and crosses sam on the offbeat and finishes with a tihai in groups of 5, so yeah...hard. One of the most fun to recite though.

--speed increase--

14:59 Gat...sort of... this is an adaptation of a tintal Gat I learned from Pandit Anindo Chatterjee (I play it at 5:46 if this recording) and my version isn't really all that super...I actually met with Anindoji in Toronto the night before the concert, and he made a very nice chakradar version, but I couldn't get it stable enough to pull off in concert that quickly, so I reverted to my version. *sigh* Next time.

at 15:12 I launch out of the ending phrase of the gat into a Adjrada-y groove, then into a kitcheri-y* version of the Farukhabad Chalan-Kaida I recorded here and this is another wet-road drifting session...I could've played a lot longer, but I could feel the traction slipping, so I bailed into a tihai. Yup...I believe in honesty! ;) *kitcheri-y because I'm mixing in strokes not in the original composition.

16:41 Paran (I talk about this on the video). Some challenging baya work here, and I tag a tihai onto the end that is not part of the original composition Swapanji taught (apologies!) BUT! it IS made up of bols from the original composition, so hopefully that smooths the infraction somewhat.

17:40 final Paran, and it's another 2 cycle beast, crossing sam in the middle of a phrase, and with a tihai that is so precarious that a 1/4 beat error is unrecoverable. I was going to say fatal, but you can always ditch the main 'chute and go to the backup 'chute...i.e., revert to theka and try again! ;)
I tag a tihai onto this composition as well, just to really give it that 'final tihai' feeling.

and if anyone actually read all that, and followed along, get yourself a Tabla Geek patch and sew it on your kurta!

OH! aaaand, i would like to give major props to Chris Hale for his wonderful playing...this tala, and especially this tala with these rhythms is NOT easy to keep lehara for. Awesome job Chris! *Kran* hi-five.

That's all for now, thanks for reading, listening, and oh, hey! if you like what I'm doing here, feel free to buy a track, or an album...everything is over here on Bandcamp.

tata, dinginatoms
E

Double post: Heavy Metal Tabla in Chartal Ki Sawari and 30 min Jhaptal solo video

Well, it's not really heavy metal, but it's definitely not traditional...or is it?

Let's see. Traditional tala? check. Lehara? check. Theka? check. Mukra? Gat? Parans? final Charkradar tihai? checkcheckcheckcheck. Recitation? check. Screaming guitar solo? err....ummm...

Yup, passes the tradition test for me, with the one exception of the sounds, which begs the question...what makes traditional music traditional? Is it the content, vocabulary and grammar? or is it the instruments? pure sounds only? the people who play it? the time or place it is performed? what?

I bent the tabla tradition as much as I could here, and it didn't break.

So, what do we have:
The tala is Chartal ki Sawari, an 11 beat tala:

Dhin terekite Dhin Na Thun Na Kat Ta Dhin..Na..Dhin..Na..

The sawari (lit 'ride') at the end (last 3 beats) is what makes this tala so awesome. Count 'em: Tkt Tkt Tkt Tkt. You can geek-out a bit and count the tala as 3 groups of 4, with the last 4 squeezed into 3 beats:
1...2...3...4...
1...2...3...4...
1..2..3..4..

All the tabla material was taught by Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri in a workshop in Toronto. I'm worried he may disown me after this track, but it had to be done, and as I said, I don't think I've broken the tradition at all.

All the material Swapanji taught us in the workshop followed the sawari beautifully, so, rather than just being material in 11 beats, it is all definitely material in Chartal Ki Sawari. An important, but subtle, distinction.

Material: (in order of appearance)
Mukra (gerenage terekite dhagethrekethunnakena...no recitation)
Gat (takatakataka dheneghene takatakataka dheneghene...)
Paran (Dha KreDha ne Dha Dha kiteDhet Ta...)
Paran (Din Din nanakitetetaka...)
Paran (Takite Dha-ne Dha- Ge di gerenage...)
Paran (TakaterekiteTaka teteketagedighene...)
Paran (dhetedhetedhagetete kredhetetetagetete...no recitation)
Tihai (from a kaida)

I derived the bass-synth lehara from a Jaunpuri gat that sitarist Chris Hale plays...and in fact, I play the same tihai in the video (end of kaida that starts at 0.44) and at the end of the track above. It's a little obscured by drumkit-guitar chaos above though. Here:

Personell:
Ben Riley-drums
Rich Brown-bass
Justin Abedin-guitar
and I played played tabla, vox, recorded, edited, mixed etc
Mastered by Andy Krehm

OK OK THAT'S IT ! Enough hanky-pankying around with this fusion-con-fusion business!!

Here's a Jhaptal solo I played recently. Informal setting, major tabla geekage in the room:

This is a rehash/shorter version of the big Jhaptal solo I played last year, but covers peshkar, kaidas, kaida rela, a sort of palta theka-rela hybrid, parans, thukra and chakradar. Material from my teachers Pt Suresh Talwalkar, Pt Swapan Chaudhuri, Pt Anindo Chaterjee and Sri Subhajyoti Guha, who very generously organized this concert. Thanks Subho!! It should be noted: Rattan and I didn't rehearse at all, and in fact, he arrived at the hall 5 min before we started playing.

Pics:

 

And this concludes this latest post. Thanks for reading, listening and watching. Please post your irate comments about the Chartal Ki Sawari piece below, but you should probably buy the track first ;)

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

DhageTete GheGheTete

This edition of 52 kaidas features an apparently simple* tintal kaida from the Lucknow gharana. Actually, more like 2 kaidas, with a strong family resemblance. Lucknow twins, perhaps? I think of them as parent and child, but either one works.



DhageTeteGheGheTete KeTaGheGhe Terekite / DhageTeteGheGheTete KeTaGheGhe NaNaGhene

and, starting at 3:13:

KeTaGheGheTerekite / KeTaGheGheNaNaGhene

The 2nd one I learned a long time ago in a workshop with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, and the first one I've kind of pieced together from listening and practicing. More on that later...

I say apparently simple because the strokes are not complicated, and appear very straightforwardly square at first glance. In fact, the 2nd chapter, KeTaGheGheTerekite...doesn't even have any combination strokes at all until the tihai: everything is individual RH or LH strokes. Should be easy, right? Beginner composition, right? HA! Very tricky, and uniquely so, in my repertoire anyway.

Ever try to brush your teeth with your left hand? (flip of you're a southpaw) Ouch. A friend of mine studied with the Kodo Drummers on Sado Island in Japan for a year, and the first thing they did when he arrived was forbid him from using his right hand for anything....chopsticks? LH. Brush up the teeth? LH. Throw/catch? LH. Write, cook, clean, you name it?....LH. This was to try to break the RH's dominance, and make his drum strokes more balanced. (It worked, by the way....he's practically ambidextrous at this point).

In this kaida, the bass drum leads the way, and it is a fantastic way to develop baya prowess, stamina, speed, strength and control. [<- things tabla players dream about]

The LH conundrum aside, and despite the 'simple' strokes, the kaida is very lush and fertile, with lots of possibilities for improvisation. The elements that make up the theme are very small and compact, and fit together like puzzle pieces...including the fact that some pieces don't fit together at all, so you have to spend time with it to learn the ins-and-outs. As usual, I feel like I could practice this every day for a year, and still have farther to go....but then my already glacial pace of posting would completely grind to a halt!

As mentioned, I've never had a formal class on DGTTGGTTKTGGTRKT. I have a practice exercise based on it, and I've heard Swapanji play it a number of times, so I have worked on it over the years, developing a few of my own variations, and trying to lift as many off recordings as possible. The fit with KTGGTRKT is so obvious that I glom them together into a big extendo-super-kaida!

Couple things to note:

I have heard Farukhabad Gharana versions of both of these kaidas with one important difference: it seems that Farukhabad plays the Ta on gab/sihai, while Lucknow plays the Ta on sur. It makes a HUGE difference, not only in the character of the composition, but in the variations that can be made. I like both, but am partial to sur, as you might have noticed. ;)

In fact, there are probably dozens of versions of this composition, possibly from different Gharanas, with slightly different strokes (Dhene NaNaGhene instead of GheGheNaNaGhene for example)...feel free to share if you have any! and feel free to chime in if you have history or stories.

Another interesting point to note is that KTGGTRKT follows an unusual form for a kaida: rather than the usual binary Bhari-Khali form where the same phrase is played twice with Bhari and Khali falling over the 2 phrases, this one is a four-parter:

Bhari-Bhari-Khali-Bhari or Open-Open-Closed-Open

Similar to Tintal theka, n'est-ce pas? Usually I see this type of form with relas, especially when the phrases are very short, but not usually with kaidas. The variations follow the form Bh-Bh-Kh-Bh form for the most part, but there are 2 regularly proportioned ones in there, one directly from Swapanji, and one of mine.

What else....let's see: I recorded this twice, because my baya was tuned waaay too low the first time (it was raining) and it just didn't translate into the recording (still...slap on those headphones people!) PLUS the C# drum didn't agree with my usual mics or mic'ing technique for some mysterious reason, so I rented a nice AKG 414 for a month. :D

I plan on upping the posting pace while I have this mic, so stay tuned.

Almost forgot: there are 2 other compositions in this recording!

Things open up with a Chakradar that is based on one I learned from Swapanji. I did a bol-swap to make it pertinent to the kaidas in focus (with apologies to Swapanji). In other words, I adored the calculation, and adapted it to fit the theme of this post. It features one of my very favourite rhythmic devices: the reduction (aka Gopuccha Yati in Karnatic music).

KTGGTRKTD-

TRKTD-

KTD-

TD-

...

The recording closes with a Farukhabad Gharana Gat (Gat=fixed composition, usually very rich in varied stroke combinations) that I learned from Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. I don't have any history on this one (composer etc) but it has lots of open tabla strokes (din, dheneghene, dhenenanaghene etc to contrast with the total lack of those strokes elsewhere in the post), and a very nice very compact tihai.

Deepest respect and thanks to my friend Prosad, who played sitar on the recording. Check his stuff out here. And here and here.

Finally, in what is rapidly becoming a 52Kaidas tradition, I have a music recommendation.

I think my dear friend Memsaab absolutely nailed it when she intro'd him on her fabtastic blog, and I'm stealing it: meet Tamilian Renaissance Man Wilbur Sargunaraj.

Put it this way: I smiled so much the first week I had his album that my face hurt. And that was before I dug into his 38-and-counting youtube videos, his eye-popping website and started following him on Facebook, where he's super-humanly hyper-actively engaging with his fans on a daily basis.

Ahem...I give you the newly adopted theme song for 52 Kaidas: Blog Song



Chicken 65 is also mouth and eye watering-ly fantastic, and Melanin Man is another fav, albeit on the more serious side. You know what?....the whole album is good. Buy it from Bandcamp and all the $$ goes directly to him.

Love Marriage is the big 400,000+ hit breakout youtube viral video.

I think that's all....I hope you enjoy.

Tata!

*as if anything in tabla is 'simple'. Who am I kidding?? ;)

Dha Dha Dha Ghena Dha

Lets start this yearlong journey with something that's already recorded...

Tintal (tisra nadai). Includes an Ajrada kaida, a few gats and a chakradar. This is from Autorickshaw's CD Four Higher, recorded in 2004.