PARTHA SARATHI MUKHERJEE: The Tabla Series

Partha Sarathi Mukherjee

The Tabla Series

© 2007 Sense World Music

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One of the leading exponents of North Indian tabla playing demonstrates his versatility by drawing on a wide range of traditional compositions from different styles and sources. A must for lovers of percussion and all levels of tabla.

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The Artist
Partha Sarathi Mukherjee has established himself as one of the leading exponents of Tabla playing in North Indian Music. He is the foremost disciple of the legendary tabla maestro and doyen of Benares Gharana, Pandit Samta Prasad, receiving his initial training from his father Shri Ashok Kumar Mukherjee. A versatile and highly skilled musician, Partha Sarathi has traveled extensively within India and abroad performing in major festivals with an array of internationally reputed artists including Ustad Imrat Khan, Begum Parveen Sultana, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra and Pt. Ronu Majumdar among others.

His work includes playing authentic traditional solo Tabla, accompanying classical Indian artists (dancers and musicians) and collaborating with western Jazz, Middle Eastern musicians and composers of great repute. In August 2004 he performed in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Athens. Furthermore, he has worked with composer Ross Daly (Greece) in several performances across Europe, and collaborated with Flamenco Guitarist Eduardo Niebla (Spain), Double Bass player Achim Tang (Austria), Jazz Guitarist Giorgio Serci (Sardinia, Italy), Percussionist Ronny Barrac (Lebanon) & Composer Flautist Deepak Ram (South Africa/USA) to name few.

He has made a name for himself as a composer, creating several thematic abstract rhythmic scores for Anurekha Ghosh & Company's choreographic productions, for which he has received wide critical acclaim. In this solo, Partha Sarathi Mukherjee has demonstrated his versatility in the field of tabla playing by drawing on a wide range of traditional compositions from different styles and sources. Throughout the performance he maintains a rich quality of tone and clarity which has become a mark of his tabla presentation.

Tabla
The Tabla is the most popular and widely used drum of North India. Its colourful range of tonal qualities combined with its capacity to express remarkable rhythmic permutations make it a unique percussion instrument which in recent times has inspired and fascinated audiences worldwide.

The pair of drums consist of a high-pitched, precisely tuned dahina (also called dayan or tabla), and a low-pitched, less precisely tuned drum, the bayan. The dahina is responsible for many of the resonant ringing sounds (or bols). The bayan is recognizable for its swooping bass sound, which provides colourful embellishment. The bayan is often said to be where the soul of the instrument lies.

Most frequently the tabla is used to accompany classical instrumental, vocal and dance performances, but as all tabla players will remind you there also exists a strong tradition of tabla solo playing. The history of tabla is shrouded in mystery and mythology; however it is most commonly thought to have developed in the area of Delhi in the mid-eighteenth century. Initially, much of the inspiration for its repertoire was borrowed and adapted from other Indian drums including pakhawaj and dholak. However, over the period since then, tabla players have built up a huge repertoire of material specific to the dynamics of the tabla. This vast range of compositions has been made richer by the evolution of a number of distinct regional performance styles, known as gharanas, of which there are six recognised by the tabla community, namely, Delhi, Ajrara, Farukhabad, Lucknow, Benares and Punjab. The word gharana literally means "house" or "from the house of" and is an important aspect of learning to play Indian classical music on both melodic and rhythmic instruments alike. These styles have played a major role in the development of tabla playing with regard to technique and repertoire.
The tabla player uses a vocabulary of semi-onomatopoeic syllables to represent the strokes on the instrument known as 'bols' (from the Hindi verb bolna, 'to speak'), a system which has been used to communicate compositions through the ages. Bols making up popular phrases such as 'dhati dhage tina gina' and 'dhati dhatere ketetake terekete', are recited by the player before playing, in a practice known as Pardhant, a kind of Indian version of rap. While in training a student is typically taught to speak the bols of the composition before actually playing it on the drums.

The solo tabla repertoire consists of a great variety of compositional forms, many of which are featured on this recording. The forms can be divided into two broad categories. Firstly, compositions of the' theme and variation' type are Peshkar, Kayida and Rela where a rhythmic theme is expanded and permutated using a variety of improvisatory techniques. Mostly featured in the first half of the solo, these themes are pre-composed, but designed in a way to allow maximum potential for improvisation, testing the performer's creativity to the limit. The latter part of the recital most commonly consists of fixed compositions such as Tukra, Gat and Chakradar, many of which have been inherited from great masters over several generations and are therefore highly prized by tabla players.

The Performance

Partha Sarathi Mukherjee's tabla solo is set to Teentaal, the most popular rhythmic cycle (or taal) in North Indian Music. Teentaal consists of sixteen beats (matras) divided into four equal sections. Teen (or tin) is the Hindi number for three, and it is named teentaal because the cycle has three accented sections (tali) which are marked by emphasis on the 1st, 5th and 13th beats. These beats outline the 1st, 2nd and 4th sections. The 3rd section (khali), starting on the 9th beat is unaccented. The 1st beat, known as sam, plays a significant role by marking the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one. Most of the compositions are designed to conclude skilfully on the sam, highlighting the framework of sixteen beats. The design of the taal allows the player freedom to explore rhythmic and cross-rhythmic patterns, many of which are spontaneously improvised. The taal is outlined throughout by a repeated sixteen beat melody called lehera or nagma, played on the Harmonium by Somnath Misra.

1. Bhumika (13.10)
An introductory passage preceding the uthan as is traditional in the Benares gharana. The bhumika is improvised initially using phrases made from the open resonant as well as closed sounds of the higher pitched right hand drum (dahina) and the closed sounds of the bass drum (bayan). This composition which includes Amad, Peshkar and Chalan (movement) of theka progresses systematically in a style true to the Benares tradition.

2. Gat Kayida (2.37)
This is a traditional Benares composition which has both aspects of Gat and Kayida.

3. Kayida (4.00)
Kayida is a theme and variation form, considered important for tabla players because of its great potential for elaboration. It is a composed theme followed by a sequence of improvised variations known as palta played according to set rules. Kayida plays a significant role not only in performance but also in the tabla player's technical and conceptual development. This composition is from the Lucknow gharana repertoire.

4. Delhi Kayida (6.23)
This is a very famous and beautiful Delhi Kayida with vast scope for elaboration. Delhi style of playing is thought by most musicologists to be the very first tabla gharana established sometime in the mid-eighteenth century. It is characterised by technically demanding single finger strokes.

5. Benares Chand (3.11)
This is a very common Chand theme from the region.
Chand literally means rhythm. Benares gharana has a rich repertoire of chand compositions.

6. Gat (1.44)
Partha Sarathi Mukherjee has learnt this Benares Gat from Pandit Kumarlal Mishra son of the late Pandit Samta Prasad. Gats are some of the most prized compositions in the tabla player's repertoire. For example, there are many stories of Gats being exchanged between musical families as part of dowry negotiations. Here the syllables are recited before playing in three speeds.

7. Gat (1.41)
This gat was composed by the great tabla maestro of Benares, Pandit Anokhelal Mishra. The composer is acknowledged by the performer before playing, a usual custom in live recital.

8. Gat (1.44)
From the Lucknow gharana.

9. Kayida Rela (1.40)
Taught to Partha Sarathi by Ustad Nizzamuddin Khan of Farukhabad.

10. Fardh (1.32)
This is again a typical Benares composition which characteristically uses the tabla syllable phrase 'dhere dhere' at the end of the pattern.

11. Rela (1.05)
The word Rela is thought to have derived from 'rail gadi', which means train. But technically it means a drum roll like effect produced by continuous repetition of one sound syllable.

12. Udan Ka Fardh (2.26)
A traditional Benares composition.

13. Gat (2.53)
Taught to Partha Sarathi by his guru Pandit Samta Prasad, one of the legendary exponents of the Benares gharana.

14. Paran (0.24)
Paran is a composition form traditionally played on Pakhawaj, the ancient barrel-shaped percussion instrument employing open handed and forceful strokes. This is a Lucknow composition also featured in Kathak dance.

15. Paran Churiyan (0.22)
Composed by Imam Baksh, a famed tabla player from the Lucknow style.

16. Paran (0.16)
Passed on to Partha Sarathi from the great Lucknow tabla player of modern times, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.

17. Paran (0.11)
This is from Ustad Nizzamuddin Khan of Farukhabad.

18. Paran (0.35)
Traditional Benares composition.

19. Chakradar Paran (0.21)
From the Hindi word 'charka' meaning wheel,circle or cycle, Chakradar is a fixed composition which is essentially a tukra played three times in order to reach the first beat of the cycle (sam) with the final tehai stroke. Tukra combines a wide range of colourful tabla syllables with skilful varieties of dynamics in a short space of time. Composition by famous pakhawaj player of Datia (M.P.) Kudaon Singh.

20. Chakradar Paran (1.28)
Taught to Partha Sarathi Mukherjee by his guru Pt. Samta Prasad.

21. Chakradar Paran (Punjab) (0.58)
A popular chakradar composition from Punjab.

22. Chakradar Paran (1.20)
Benares composition created by the founder of the gharana, Pandit Ram Sahai.


23. Chakradar Paran (1.41)
A composition made popular by Pt. Anokhelal Mishra, and taught to Partha Sarathi by his father.

24. Chalan (2.15)
This is a traditional way of concluding a Benares tabla solo.

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