TABLA MUSINGS  BLOG  X  CONTD FROM BLOG  IX  DISCRIPTIONS AND EXAMPLES OF GATS

In the last Blog no  IX,I had discussed the definition and classification of Gats as I see it.It may defer from accepted approach to the definition.But it should be debated.

I am now giving descriptions of each classification and sub classification of Gats.I have relied heavily on Pt Arvind Mulgaonkar’s Paper read at ITC/SRA workshop mentioned in Blog IX.

Main classification: (My thought process).

GAT-KAYDA

It is a Gat which can be played by itself in one or two avartaans.It can be expanded as a kayda (This is an anomaly,because we have already stated that Gats cannot be altered or expanded.But this is one major exception).

Example:composer Khalifa Ustd Abid Hussein Khan of Lucknow Gharana

Dha dha dha ghidnaag dhingin,dhagetrak dhinghidnaagding nanakata,

Dha dha ghidnaag dinagin dhagetrak,dhinghidnagdin,nanakata tinakina,

Ta ta ta  kidnaag tingin…..Khali

This Gat can easily be expanded as a Kayda.

GATANG RELA:

It is a Gat which has germs of a rela embedded in it. The rela phrases can be extracted and expanded.

Example:

Dhin ghidnag tak ghidnag dhinghidnag tirakittak,

Dhingin dhingin tak tak dhinghidnag tirakittak,

Ta tin takdan tinagin tak tak tirakit

Dha   taa     dhina ghidnag

First three lines are teeshra jati,4^th line is chatushra jati.

First two lines can be comfortably developed as a rela.

In fact Utd Thirakwa used to play his favorite rela:

Dhingin tak tak  dhinagin ,dhingin dhagetrak tinagina,

Dhinagin dhinagin taktak dhingin dhagetraka tinagin

One can see the similarity in these two compositions.

GAT-TODA:

This is a gat which ends up with a teehai.

Example:

Dhagetit tagetit nagdhin nagetit

Kaddhatit dhagetit nagdin nagetit

Dhagetit kaddhin dhikit kita ghentaran dhettaginna dha,

Ghdan    tirkittakta         ghenta dha

Ghdan   tirkittakta         ghenta dha

Ghdan   tirkittakta        ghenta dha

GAT-PARAN

Frankly, I am not familiar with this class of Gat. Those who want to get some information may read Pt Mainkar’s book-Aesthetics of Tabla,page 145,and appendix 96

I must admit that I have not been able to comprehend the explanation given.

GAT (plain)

I have said in the previous blog that Gats which cannot be classified in the above classes could fall into this category.

Example:

Dhinna dhinna tak takit takit tak dhatrak dhjikit kat dhaddanna trakadhet,dhatikat tita dha trakdhet taginna dha gheghenanakat ?

One can see that this composition does not fall into any of the above classifications’

I have suggested in previous blog a sub classification or a name describing the nature of the Gat,these are:

Fard,Darjedaar,Manjdhar,Prapaat,Tripally,Choupalli,Do mukhi,Dudhari,Tidhari,Choudhari Gend Uchal,Anaghat,Sab-akaal,Mishra,Mayur and many more.I have already said that Arvind gives 16 varieties but Nikhilbabu/Nayan have 50  varieties.

It will be a very lengthy blog if I have to give examples of all the sub-classifications above. I will give you a few which I like:

GEND UCHAL GAT

This gat is composed to indicate sound produced by the bouncing of a ball ( gend=ball,uchal=bounce),composer Haji Vilayat Ali.

Dhagat takita dhatirakitatak tet dhirdhirkitataktet dhin takdhin dhin dhin na na dhagetirakit gadi gina nage tita ghina kata gaddi tita dhagena dhatraka kata gadigana takdan  tun tun nagna nagna nagetirakita,

Dhagat takita dhatirakitataktet dhir dhir kitataktet dhin.

The underlined part is in teeshra jati,rest in chatushra jati.

DO MUKHI GAT

Do mukhi Gat indicates that the beginning phrase and the ending  phrase are the same. The above Gat also qualifies as Do Mukhi Gat because the gat starts and ends with: dhagat takita dhatirkittaktet dhirdhirkitataktet dhin.

DUDHARI GAT:

The gat is composed of words repeated twice.

Example:

Dhin ghidan dhin ghidan,dhagenage dhin dhagenage dhin,dhatrakadhikita dhatrakadhikita,ghinatinna ghinak tinna,nakekitatak nakekitatak,dadannakitatak dhadannakitatak,dhadhaghin dhadha ghidnag tirkitaktak dhirdhirkit takita dhirdhirkita  DHA

MAYUR GAT

This gat is composed to describe the dance of a peacock.

Katita katan,dhatunna katta dha,dhita tita dhatitakatgadiganadha,trakadhet taginnadha,dhita kata dhita dhatitakatagadigana dha,dhita…kaa..ta..dhitdhatitakatgadiganadha,dhita kata dhita dha titakatagadiganadha.

This gat is difficult to express in a written form.It can be learnt from a Guru.Yet it is difficult to absorb.

I have been trying to get somebody to help me demonstrate  in a video all  the bandishes,gats relas,ravs mentioned in my blog. I hope I am able to do it.I must caution you that because of my age 83 and lack of practice,it may not be a finished product but I assure you it will put you on the right track.

S W Mulgaonkar

Mumbai

sureshmulgaonkar@gmail.com

      BLOG  IX TABLA MUSINGS  SUGGESTED DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATION OF GATS

In my last short blog VIII ( unfortunately,I forgot to title it as VIII ) I had lamented that the definitions of many Tabla PHRASES  are not clear.I can understand the old masters who were majorly illiterate using the phrases loosely. But I cannot understand the present day senior players and musicologists using them,as told by their GURUs, without questioning.

Thirakwa used to play PESHKAR in two parts.Hecalled the first part Farashbandi and the second part Peshkar Rang.But in a recording ,he has reversed the terminology.I will be discussing Peshkar in my next blog ).

In this blog I will discuss the definition and classification of a GAT.

I will give below definitions of Gat as described by some of the leading practitioners and musicologists:

Pt Arvind Mulgaonkar writing in his paper presented at a workshop on ‘Bandish’ organized by ITC-SRA on 25/26 October 1997 gives following definition which I like:

A gat is like a ‘POEM’ composed by some talented old timer players.They have come down to us through oral transmission over generations and usually with the name of the composer and its qualification such as Farad,Darjedar etc.

A gat is precomposed and cannot be /should not be tampered with.

A gat is usually non expandable except for gat-kayda or gat-rela.

A gat does not have any restrictions like a Kayda where one has to restrict to a few words contained in the Kayda. It can have a combination of Khula and Band baaz. It can have a mix of Jatis such as teeshra,chatushra mishra etc.It can have stops to give a surprise.In short the composer is at liberty to use what ever the arsenal he has in his repertoire. The ultimate aim is to surprise and please the listener.(This is my analysis but I am sure Arvind has touched on these points somewhere in his text).

Gat is derived from the Sanskrit word Gati which means speed or movement.Gat  therefore  can be repeated continuously.(Usually,performers repeat the gat twice )In order to repeat the gat,it ends before the sum.

The gat is based on metre of a poem.All Yatis ,Jatis and Grahas as described in taal-shastra are  employed freely in Gat compositions,(I do not agree. My comment is that nearly all Gats are composed by mostly Muslim stalwarts such as Haji Vilayat,Chudiavale ImamBax,Munirkhan and many others from Ajarada,Benaras,Panjab gharanas.These composers,I am sure were not educated enough to know taal Shastra but they were capable of composing attractive Gats.Recently I heard the recordings of bandishes in a CDE attached to an erudite book titled Aesthetics of Tabla by Pt Sudhir Mainkar. Gats are presented in poetic vrittas which are certainly attractive and form the basis of new contemporary compositions. If what I heard on the recording are Pt Mainkar’s compositions ,he deserves to be complimented  for contributing a new dimension for creating new attractive class of bandishes.)

My comments:

Above I have given two comments.Otherwise I am  in agreement with Arvind’s definitions.

I will also say that the main classification of Gats should be:    A…Gat Kayda,  B …Gatang Rela,  C… Gat-paran,  D…Gat-toda..   E…Gat which does not fall into A,B.C ,D classification.But if you do not want to classify a Gat,then you can call all classes as simply ‘Gats.

Since most Gats have come down from old masters through oral transmission over generation of students,they are  awarded certain status by the Gharanas.For example,we have Farad gat,Darjedar Gat.Farad means Unique,a gat which cannot have a Joda or a comparable similar composition. I feel that when the Ustaad composed a Gat, the students and may be  his peers,will have praised it as Unique and this prefix has been carried down by the students.I cannot imagine that a ‘Joda’ cannot be made. But we honour the composer and retain its prefix Farad. Similarly, a Darjedar Gat is also in praise of a composer and has come down to us over generations. I f you ask the composers what they think of their composition,I am sure they will all describe it as Darjedaar.It also means that Farad and Darjedar Gats can belong to any of the above A to E gats.

Then we have,Manzadar,Gend Uchal,Tripalli,Dudhari,Teedhari,Choudhari,Panjdhari,Domukhi,etc Gats. Arvind has given 16 varieties,but Mainkar  mentions that Nayan Ghosh has 50 varieties.Pt Mainkar suggests that a special classification can be considered if there are substantial compositions of a particular variety.

Pt Mainkar writes:”If one aesthetic principle ( say gend Uchal,Waterfall,Dance of a peacock etc.This bracket is my explanation ).is accepted as a criterion to denote individuality of a Gat,as a kind of playing,then at least two to four Gats belonging to that category should be available for quotation,as  the compositions built on that principle”My comment will be that even then it does not qualify to be the main classification, It can only qualify to be a sub classification.For example,just for argument’s sake,can one not compose a gend uchaal or a Tripalli Gat as a part of a Gat-Toda?.

The description of each class and subclass along with examples of Gats will be given in the next blog no X’

Suresh Mulgaonkar

Mumbai

sureshmulgaonka

I am of the opinion that the definitions of various terms used in tabla have no logic. I have read definitions given by Arvind Mulgaonkar,Sudhir Mainkar,Abban Mistry, Sadanand Nayampalli,Madanlal Joshi.etc. As an engineer I feel that any definition must stand the scrutiny of the compositions. My  comments and explanation on difference between rav and rela will stand to scrutiny. But the explanations by other erudite scholars does not. So I am going to discuss these in my future blogs.