From: naik@nynexst.com (Jay Naik)
Subject: Review of a Tabla concert
Keywords: Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain 
Organization: Nynex Science and Technology
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 06:18:59 GMT



	I had the pleasure of attending a Tabla concert of Ustad
Alla Rakha  and his son Ustad Zakir Hussain, with Sultan Khan on the
Sarangi  and Ken Zuckerman on the Sarod, on Saturday April 4th in 
Manhattan. This concert was organized by the World Music Inst. in NYC,
in their 'Masters of Indian Music' series. 

	The concert opened with Ken Zuckerman and Zakir Hussain, in
raag Durgaa, vilambit and drut in Jhap Taal. I have listened to 
Zuckerman's recording once before and this was a fair performance.
He was subdued and mellow (matches the mood of durgaa !), and ZH seemed
impatient to liven up the mood, coaxing him into sawaal jawaabs. 
Zuckerman was a student of Ali Akbar Khan and teaches Indian and
Western Renaissance music in Switzerland. 

 Raag Durgaa, of Bilaaval thaat, has the aaroh/avaroh :
	    .  .
  S R M P D S  S D P M R S  

	Its Karnatak counterpart is Shuddha saaveri, I think ???

 Jhap Taal, has ten beats ; its thekaa : 
    x        2              O        3                x - sam;    
   dhee na | dhee dhee na | tee na | dhee dhee na   2,3 - talee; 
						      O - khalee 

 Jhap taal is popular with light music (Rabindra Sangeet uses it a 
 lot, as it does jhampa taal, 3,2,3,2). 

	Next, AR and ZH started their tabla concert with SK playing
the lahraa (See glossary below). They started with Roopak Taal,  
(7 beats), and moved on to a brisk Teen taal (16 beats) and 
concluded with a lively piece in taal Dhamaar, played in the 
panjaabi baaj, to which Alla Rakha belongs. It was to say the least,
a feast for the ears and eyes! One could see the contrasts between the 
two generations, in style, in flair and in their interaction with the 
listeners. AR, calm, composed, confident and supremely traditional. 
ZH, flamboyant, yet deferential to his father/guru, and unrelentingly
creative.  ZH explained the taals and their structure and playing
styles, his explanations sprinkled with his usual lighthearted banter!

 Roopak Taal, has seven beats ; its thekaa : 
    x           2         3                x  - sam  
   tee tee na | dhee na | dhee na         2,3 - taalee 

Dhammar taal has 14 beats; its thekaa :
  x                    2         O            3          
  ka dhee ta dhee ta | dhaa  - | ge dhee na | dhee na ta - 

  (This is the way I know it; there are many versions of it.
  Dhamaar is usually played on the pakhaawaj, in dhrupad singing).
  By the way, these two taals show why the Indian taals are 'additive'
  and the western metre is 'divisive'. 

	The rapport between AR and ZH and their recitation of the 
complicated bols was simply delightful. Folks, if you get a chance 
to attend their concert, don't miss it. They are touring the U.S.
now. I just wish the organizers would record these wonderful concerts
on video, which will capture the mood of the performance more fully
than just the sounds of the tabla. They didn't allow my camcorder :-(

	The next part of the concert was Ustad Sultan Khan and ZH. 
SK started off with raag vachaspati, a raaga of the karnatak school 
(64th mela ??) I had not heard this before, but it was just grand! 
The perfect rapport between SK and ZH who often perform together
was a sight! Does anyone have the recording of SK's in this raaga? 
It was set to roopak taal, I think. The wonderful sounds of SK's 
Saarangi, eerily echoing human voice was enchanting.  The concert 
concluded, after 4 and a half hours, with a thumri in bhairavi by SK,
set to daadra taal (6 beats, popular with lighter music such as 
thumri's; also a singing style). 
SK also sang a few lines of the bhairavi thumri that he played and 
he mentioned that he had learnt music from the great Ustad Amir Khan.  
It was quite an evening!

---------------------------
 glossary: 

sawaal jawaab - lit. question-answer. This is when the instrumentalist
		and the tabla player play short melodic/rhythmic
		phrases back and forth to a climax.
thekaa        - a basic rhythmic composition, made up of simple,
                usually single syllables, which establishes the basic
		structure of the taal. It 'keeps' the taal. 
bol           - a composition of more complicated syllable
	        combinations,  which is 'spoken' and played. 
sam           - the point of convergence and the first beat in the 
		taal cycle. This is where the melodic phrase and the 
		rhythmic pattern come together.  
taalee/khaalee - The first beat of each 'ang' (division) of a taal 
                is either a taale (beat/clap) or a khalee (void/wave) 
		these two delineate the progress of a taal.

		 Their resemblance to Karnatak suLaadi taalas is easy
		to see; refer to a recent excellent post on that by   
		Srinivasan Pichumani. The Hindustani taal's are not
		quite as nicely laid out as the suLaadi taaLa's
		though!   

lahraa        - a fixed melodic phrase, which is played over and
		over again  on a saarangi to maintain the metre for
		a solo performance of tabla or pakhaawaj. ('wave' ??)
baaj          - playing style, as 'gharana' is to vocal music.
		poorab, agra, farukkabad/ajrada, dilli, benaras,
		lucknow, panjab are some of the popular one's. 

chakradaar tihai - a triple repetition of a rhythmic phrase, whose
		   last syllable falls on the sam.
                 ...| tita kata dha tita | kata dha tita kata | dha (sam)
chaugan       - quadruple speed
rela          - An increasingly complex combination of tabla syllables
		played in double (dugan) and quadruple speeds. 

 p.s.  In the department of 'constructive critique' :-(

	I would enjoy ZH's concerts even more, if he 'developed' the
taals in his solo concerts, much as a vocalist develops the 'raag'.
Establishing the basic rhythm in the minds of the listeners and then
expanding on it to show the playful permutations of the strokes and
the complexity of the patterns somehow adds to its enjoyment. 
It is of course, nice to entertain the audience, but nicer still if
one educates them a little bit too. Playing a few short rounds of 
thekaa and immediately jumping into complicated chakradaar tihaai's  
and chaugan rela's, somehow leave the impression of a whole bunch of 
exotic sounds and prodigious drumming skills, but convey little 
of the finer subtleties of the taal and tabla. I must say that, AR
'developed' the taal methodically, more so, than did ZH. May be,
it is a difference in style and I am a hopeless traditionalist... 

  Oh well, if they come to a city near you, DON'T MISS IT!! 
---------------------------
Jayant Naik