In our ongoing series on tabla accompaniment to Hindustani music and dance, we have looked closely at the tabla in the context of khayal, dhamaar, thumri and its allied forms, and tarana. Today, we discuss some aspects of tabla accompaniment to the ghazal form.

The traditional manner of musically rendering a ghazal was largely influenced by the thumri-dadra genres and had an element of improvisation, though only to the extent that the poetic element was not disturbed. This episode will feature some ghazals sung by the incomparable Begum Akhtar in the traditional style.

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The first track today features a ghazal by the incomparable Begum Akhtar. Listeners will note that the melodic composition has the first line of successive couplets of the ghazal sung ad lib followed by a brief re-entry of the tabla on the following line with a few laggis that are played at double the original tempo. This was the older manner of presenting ghazal. The composition is set to the eight-matra Kaherva taal.

Not all ghazals were composed to incorporate ad lib portions. The ghazal on the next track presented by Begum Akhtar is also set to Kaherva, but the tabla is played right through the performance. The couplets are interspersed with rhythmic improvisation that also includes laggis. The sarangi and tabla accompaniment are provided by noted exponents Shakoor Khan and Ramzan Khan, respectively.

On the next track, there is no inclusion of laggis on the tabla, but there is a constant improvisation to the basic theka of Kaherva to correspond with the lilt of the melody and the lyrics. The tabla accompaniment is provided by well-known tabla player Mohammad Ahmed Khan.

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.