Tabla and Rhythmology in North Indian Music 01/11/2020

Ciro Montanari

Tabla is a percussion instrument originally from India that is played to accompany Hindustani Classical, semi-classical and Folk music. It is largely used also in Afghanistan,  Bangladesh and Pakistan, and nowadays in the western Countries this instrument finds  place in different genres of music and its rhythmic system is studied and integrated in the playing of many other percussion instruments. 

It consists of a pair of tunable drums called the dhayan, a wooden higher pitched drum, and the  bhayan, a clay or metal lower pitched drum. They are played with a finger technique characterized  by a vast sound production that express the rhythmic language called tala, singable with the  voice through a code of onomatopoeic syllables called bol (to speak). 

During the last centuries, thanks to the contribution of great masters/composers, the techniques and the language has been developed to such a point that it has become, from an accompanying instrument, to a solo instrument, with a vast repertoire of rhythms and traditional compositions  transmitted orally.

In this seminar we will focus on different aspects of the North Indian rhythmic world, learning the alphabet of tabla will allow you to sing, clap different tala (rhythm cycle), recite compositions, work on kayda (themes and variations) and tihais (cadence). The seminar is open to all kinds of percussionists, singers and melodic instrument players and musicians who want to step in the Indian rhythmic world for the first time.

The main language of the seminar will be Spanish with an English translator.