Musical Instruments of India

The icon of Indian percussion

​

Tabla are the percussion instruments that best represent Indian musical culture. This instrument, used mainly in the Hindustani style, accompanies singing, instrumental music and dance, mainly maintaining a fixed rhythmic cycle and introducing, at appropriate moments, particularly elaborate variations. Nonetheless, these percussion instruments also find widespread use as a solo instrument, whose repertoire boasts a very vast range of compositions and variations handed down from generation to generation and which are divided into six main schools, or gharanas.

 

Background

​

The name probably derives from the Persian tabl, or from the Latin tabula which generally indicates a flat surface facing upwards. The percussion instruments used by the armies during the Muslim occupation were called tabl and are closer to the eardrums. Metal was the material most used for the construction of these military percussion instruments, but probably, as can still be found today, they find their archetype in terracotta. The term found widespread use throughout the Middle East, suitable to indicate prejudices in general, in fact we find tabl-baladi, tabl-turki, tabl-naqqara, tabl-migri, tabl-al-gawig, etc. (Curt Sachs, History of Musical Instruments). Regardless, in India before the 14th century no mention of the term Tabla was made and these aforementioned percussion instruments of martial origin do not have much in common with contemporary Hindustani tabla. Furthermore, the archetypal percussive mridang is often depicted with two of the three parts facing upwards, and the third positioned horizontally. The latter probably developed more within religious circuits, while the other two pieces found their development within more profane environments. In fact, until the seventeenth century, tabla were used only for simple music, only finding such a sophisticated development later. However, mainly we will always find two fundamental theories, one of which is Hindu-influenced and the other Muslim-influenced, and the truth will probably lie halfway between them. Some trace the tabla back to a possible section of the pakhavaj, but this is considered quite unlikely. The tabla, being quite distant from the yogic music of the dhrupad, has always found widespread approval among the masses and saw its success precisely with the explosion of the more lively khayal style that appeared in India at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

 

The different styles or Gharana

​

Historically, the affirmation of these percussions as the main instrument for accompaniment is attributed to Sudhar Khan or Sidhar Khan Dhadi (Delhi). Another pioneer of the tabla is Lala Bhawani Das or Bhawanidin of Punjab. These percussion instruments established themselves in the Hindustani musical system at the beginning of the eighteenth century during the reign of Mohammad Shah Rangeli.

The resulting style, having seen the trees in the city of Delhi, takes the name of Dilli Baj or also Dilli gharana. The disciples of this school, moving to various areas of northern India, gave life to four other styles or gharanas, more precisely, Lucknow, Arjada, Farrukhabad and Benares.

The Punjab style is probably to be considered much more autonomous from Dilli Baj, where in fact the style remains closer to pakhavaj and furthermore the founder Lala Bhawani Das was contemporary with Sudhar Khan, founder of the Delhi style.

 

Tabla and Pakhawaj

​

These percussions managed to integrate all the previous rhythmic and stylistic knowledge of other percussions such as the pakhavaj, the dolak and the naqqara and managed to achieve widespread appreciation among the public in a very short time. While the pakhavaj mainly uses the palms of the hands, the tabla technique is mainly based on the use of the fingers and this is one of the basic reasons that makes the rhythmic possibilities of the tabla much faster than the pakhavaj, furthermore the position of the hands it is more ergonomic and the range of timbral and tonal varieties on both bodies is far superior.

 

The construction

​

The tabla are a pair of percussion instruments, in fact separately they take the names of bayan and dayan, which literally mean left and right. The materials used for the construction of the largest piece called bayan, which resembles a tympanum, vary depending on the timbre taste or the economic possibilities of the buyer and we can find terracotta, bronze, copper or iron bayans. Glass can be added inside which will help the depth and duration of the low sound.