Listen: Zakir Hussain’s tabla responds to the cross-rhythmic sections of Shivkumar Sharma’s santoor

In our series focusing on tabla accompaniment to Hindustani music and dance, we continue with the discussion on instrumental recitals.

While it is true that tabla players are required to respond to the melodic movement through their solo passages, it does not necessarily follow that these passages are spontaneously conjured up. The response depends equally upon the creativity of the tabla player, the vocabulary at his disposal, the chemistry between both performers, and several other factors.

At times, a piece may be created on the spur of the moment. But in most cases, it is a spontaneous redistribution of previously learnt material or a kind of permutation and combination of more than one composition from the solo repertoire.

There are moments when both options are combined. For example, the tabla player could start a pattern that has been directly inspired by the preceding melodic movement and one that is not preconceived, but this pattern may be used to launch into material that has been selected from or is inspired by solo repertoire. There are also those moments when it is not always possible for the tabla player to be spontaneously creative.

Ideally, therefore, a tabla player needs to have sufficient solo repertoire to be able to cull out material appropriate for accompaniment. In fact, students begin their training in accompaniment by utilising solo material, before graduating to a level where they can respond spontaneously.

Here is a link to a recording of a live concert featuring maestros Shivkumar Sharma on the santoor and Zakir Hussain on the tabla. Sharma presents an extended aalaap in the raag Madhuvanti followed by two compositions, one set to the 10-matra Jhaptaal and the other to the 12-matra Ektaal.

Listeners will note the interplay between the santoor and tabla through the performance with the tabla responding to the santoor’s cross-rhythmic sections with similar patterns at times completed after a few cycles of the taal and at other times leading into vocabulary that is also found in solo repertoire.

However, the latter is accomplished masterfully with a seamless progression from the basic cross-rhythmic patterns to the incorporation of phrases that at first appear as clusters amidst the aforementioned patterns but then have a life of their own thus creating a climax for each section.

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.