In the 20th episode of the series on tabla accompaniment to Hindustani music and dance, we discuss the role of the tabla player while accompanying the tarana, a compositional form for vocal music that uses syllables like ta, na, dere, deem, that are at times interspersed with Persian couplets.

Most taranas are in the madhya or drut laya and employ taals like the 16-matra Teentaal and the 12-matra Ektaal, though there are instances of taranas in the 14-matra Ada Choutaal and the 10-matra Jhaptaal. And of course, there are taranas and khayals in taals that are not commonly heard and are presented at times not just to share their novelty and design with the listener, but at times to also confuse the tabla player.

Advertisement

Many old taranas include Persian, Braj Bhasha or Sanskrit couplets and have pakhawaj and/or tabla bols. While the tabla player is not necessarily expected to anticipate or reproduce the latter, it is quite possible that he or she may do so.

The first track we include in today’s episode features a tarana set to a fast-paced or drut Ektaal in the raag Chandrakauns sung by the maestro Amir Khan.

Kumar Gandharva sings a tarana in the raag Shree. The composition is set to drut Teentaal.

The third track has Bade Ghulam Ali Khan’s rendition of a tarana in Bageshri. The composition is set to the 10-matra Jhaptaal and the syllables move at double tempo. Listeners will note the inclusion of pakhawaj and tabla syllables in the composition.

Gwalior gharana exponent Kashinath Bodas sings a tarana in the raag Patdeep set to Ada Choutaal. One of the characteristic features of the composition is the inclusion of triplet rhythm for the pakhawaj syllables.

One of India’s leading tabla players, Aneesh Pradhan is a widely recognised performer, teacher, composer and scholar of Hindustani music. Visit his website here.

This article is based on Pradhan’s book Tabla: A Performer’s Perspective.