Music in Tabla: Thirakwa's Legacy

After a long time I felt the necessity to return to my blog. I have been active on the Facebook for the last three years with a fair interest shown by Tabla lovers. But this subject is going to be a little exhaustive. I therefore decided to approach my friends through my Blog.

Note: discussions in this Blog are only applicable to Solo playing. Requirements of accompaniment need a different approach which will be a subject of my next blog.

The Subject: Musical notes on Tabla, Ustad Thirakwa's Legacy.

In August 2017, esteemed publisher Popular Prakashan has published a book accompanied by a DVD containing a 2 hour interview of Pt Bapu Patwardhan(incidentally, I am the interviewer), explaining and demonstrating the above subject. The book and interview is in Marathi. I thought, it might be useful to give an overview of the subject in English for non-Marathi Lovers of Tabla.

Name of the Book: Tablyacha Antarnaad.

Writer: Pandit Bapu Patwardhan, 81, Shagird:Ustaad Ahemadjan Thirakwa.

Interviewer: Suresh Mulgaonkar, 86, Shagird:Ustaad Amir Hussein Khan.

Publisher: Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd,301 Mahalaxmi Chambers,22 Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mumbai 400026

Price in India: Rs. 200, includes DVD.

I was involved in my engineering  profession till year 2002. By this time I had given up Tabla. In 2003, I accidentally met Bapu in Satara where an anniversary of Thirakwa was being celebrated and Bapu was performing. I had no knowledge of Bapu or any other participant.I learnt with Ustaad Amir Hussein around 1954-56, but as an Engineer I got engaged in my manufacturing activity.By 2002, I was free of my profession and wanted to get back to Music. Apparently Bapu had heard of me as a Tabla Player as of 1954. When he asked me about my playing I had to admit that I had given up because I could not play a Kayda for more than 2 minutes as my forearm would tighten up. He assured me that he can help me by adopting Ustaad Thirakwa's technique, which he did and in 2006, I played a solo for 120 minutes. 

Thirakwa's rendering is all about playing with ease with minimum body movements and many other techniques which Bapu has explained and demonstrated in his book. He hardly had any authentic Shagirds. I do not think Thirakwa was aware of his attributes, or else he would have or could have imparted these to his genuine students.Though Bapu had a short stint with the Ustaad, he was not afraid to ask explanations and on many occasions was able to play certain Bols/Compositions with Ustaad's Nikas through observation and not instructions. Devices which Thirakwa used, enabled him to perform on Bombay television at the age 90.

Bapu was an accomplished Accompanist and a Solo player in his young age. Because of money problems, he had to work as an Artisan with a Railway Workshop. At the age of 42, he was nudged to take a studentship at a class of ten students conducted by Thirakwa as a visiting Professor, sponsored by The National Centre for Performing Arts. I am sure Ustaad's intention was just to earn an attractive remuneration and nothing more. He even got students to pay him Rs 100 apiece for tying a Ganda and declaring them as Shagirds.

Bapu realised that this was a good opportunity to learn Thirakwa's style and technique and he started questioning the Ustaad on everything to the annoyance of the Ustaad. Bapu was scolded, at times abused, and even thrown out as a precocious child but Bapu stood his ground. In the process he earned the respect of the Master and was able to imbibe his technique. The class was short-lived, Thirakwa died shortly after his assignment.

Bapu had no intentions of giving up his job which by then was a senior position in the Railways. Yet he decided to take a premature retirement and concentrated all his time in unfolding his style.

As we know Thirakwa's only Guru was Ustaad Munir Khan. However Munir Khan had the fortune of learning from many Gurus, He was therefore trained in Banda (Delhi) and Khula (Lucknow) Baaj and also their offshoots such as Ajrada and Farukhabad. Thirakwa mastered all these Gharanas and did not feel the need to look for another Guru. When he was asked whether he learnt from Nathan Khan of Delhi, he said "Why should I? I Iistened and absorbed" (Suna aur samajh liya).

Munir Khan had many well accomplished  Shagirds. But Thirakwa's playing was conspicuously different from his peers. He was acknowledged as the Emperor of Tabla by all Gharanas. Did he develop his unique style consciously? He would always say that he played what his Guru taught him. Unfortunately there is no recording of Munir Khan to verify this. Thirakwa would always stress that Munir's diction (Zaban) was SARASOTI (Saraswati, Indian goddess of learning). It is possible that he was influenced by vocal and instrumental music in his family. His father was a Sarangiya, he himself learnt Vocal and was possibly expected to sing rather than play Tabla. His concentration on maintaining Sur in Tabla may be a subconscious effort. Some of his remarks in Urdu throw some light on his thought process.

1. "Tablese pyar karna sikho to wo bolega. Mar pit karoge to sar dard dega".(Handle Tabla with love. If you bang it ,it will give you head ache)
2. "Tabla bajanewale ke teen prakar hain. Bahubaliye, Hisabiye, Tabaliye".(three types of players: strong armed who hammer the Tabla, mathematicians who manipulate beats, authentic Tabla players who play with sensibility)

It is interesting to note that Tabla is arguably the only percussion instrument which can be tuned to merge with a Tanpura note. An open 'tin' note on Tabla denotes Shadja (Sa). An open 'tun' note denotes Rishabh (Re). Use of these two notes will maintain a Gunjan (drone) in your production. To enjoy the open sound of a struck note it is necessary that there should be a minute interval between the open note and a successive note. In a fast tempo execution there is no room for an open note to reverberate because the next note dampens it. Therefore certain Kayda compositions and Gat compositions must be played at a suitable speed at which open notes get a chance to establish themselves. This brings us to the ideal pitch of Dayan and Bayan for a solo performance. Thirakwa used pitches around G sharp for his Solos. Pitches around G sharp are suitable for execution of all open strokes such as ding ding, dinagina dingtak, ghadan, tintirakita, dingnag, etc. Pitches around C sharp are not suitable because these open sounds are difficult to produce. Nana, Tirakit, Dhirdhir, Taktak, etc. are suitable for a high pitch. High pitch Tablas are suitable for high speed but Nikal is superficial. Modern audio equipment is a boon to high pitch players.

Usually Kaydas are practiced as a Dohra, Ek Viram, Do Viram, 3 3 2, etc. combinations.

Thirakwa hardly  used this approach. He used lout palat, bol baat, bol banav while executing Kaydas. (This aspect is demonstrated by Bapu in the DVD and explained in the book). He believed in playing a Kayda with these unusual variations and exited with a short teehai. In his performances, Kaydas were played for  no more than six/seven avartans and a teehai would cover half an Avartan. The exit may not be with a teehai but some other attractive variation. It is not possible to give here all the various ways (these are played in the DVD). but one example is given here.

"Dhatraka Dhikitgina Dhatigina Tunagina played at  4X speed and ended with "Dha  Traka  Dhikita  Gina  Dhati  Gina Tuna Gina"  played at 1X speed (no teehai).

Thirakwa did not believe in Lamchad (long) teehai. He abhorred mathematical calculations. He believed in riyaz at speeds 'one' , 'two', 'four'., 'eight', etc. He did not encourage moving from speed one to four in a slider fashion. Firstly, this process is detrimental to keeping a steady speed of theka while accompanying. Secondly, the Nikal at speed one and two is elementary as per the alphabets but at four speed Nikas comes into picture. Fingers can be interchanged, some alphabets may be dropped, a bol may be totally replaced by another to give an impression that nothing is changed. No two players will necessarily have the same Nikas. Old timers never parted with this knowledge. Even Thirakwa would say "Mere hath dekho our samajh lo" (look at my hands and grasp what I am doing).

An example of Thirakwa's favorite Rela:

"Dhage Tirakita Dhage Tag Dingdinagina"

gets converted to:

"Dhatirakitdhatdindidigin"

The concept of Sthanbhed, Varnabhed, Langar, Bol Bant, Bol Banav, Lout Palat, pitch of Bayan, Dab Chak on Baya, use of Khula stroke on Bayan, and many more. All these are covered in the book and DVD.

I am giving a link of a private recording of Thirakwa,played on the 60th Birthday of Master Krishnarao, a legendary singer and composer from Maharashtra. I selected and edited it from my collection and uploaded it to YouTube specially for this blog.

The  Lehra player was an apprentice who had no knowledge of Lehra. Thirakwa spends nearly 20 awartans with him to get grooved (I have cut these out). The Bayan was high pitched, which Thirakwa would never use for a public performance. Yet, even with these handicaps, he has given one of his best performances.

What to look for:

• He opens up with a teeshra kayda "Ghina dhagena dhatraka dhagena dhatraka dhati dhagena tunagina". Note the speed, which is suitable for the Kayda. You should pay attention to other players who play this kayda at a supersonic speed destroying beauty of this composition. Also notice the short teehai.
• There are five Relas where he has maintained Soor. Use of "didigin" in place of "dindinagina", a light touch on "tirakita" and a continuous drone is maintained. He does not stay on one variation for more than one awartan and ends with a short teehai.
• Kayda "dhatirakitatak takdhatirakita dhatita ghidanag tuna kidanag" and its conversion to Rav.
• Delhi Kayda "dhatita dhatita dhadhatita dhadhatuna tita" modified to maintain Soor. 
• Use of "Dhagena", a pause after "dha (dha a_a_ dhatita dhadhatita)" etc. "Ta" of "dhatita" played light, almost sounding "dhatitum".

Bapu feels that unless Thirakwa's techniques are explained and recorded, they will be lost over a period of time, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. By associating myself with his project and by virtue of the numerous discussions we have had and the demonstrations he has given me, I feel I am immensely richer.