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The Tabla Series - Yogesh Samsi . |
Yogesh Samsi - Tabla
Ajay Joglekar -Harmonium
TRACKS LIST
Tabla Solo in Teentaal (16 beats) 48.56
Tracks 1 - 8
featuring :
Peshkar, Qaida, Rela, Gat, Tukra,
Chakradar, Paran and Laggi
Tabla solo in Deepchandi (14 beats) 15.24
Tracks 9 -13
featuring :
Uthan, Peshkar, Qaida, Rela,
Tukra, Anagat, Chakradar,
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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 provides the bass and 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. 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 orally 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, Qaida and Rela where a rhythmic theme is expanded and permutated using a variety of improvisatory techniques. Usually 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 from generation to generation and are therefore highly prized by tabla players.
The first tabla solo on this recording is played in a rhythmic cycle of sixteen beats, known as teentaal. This is the most popular framework for improvisation used by tabla players, because of its great scope for elaboration. The tabla is accompanied by a cyclic melody in sixteen beats called lehara, played simultaneously by Ajay Joglekar on the harmonium. The second solo is set to a fourteen beat rhythmic cycle called Deepchandi.
The Artist
Yogesh Samsi is one of those rare tabla players whose reputation has been built on his consummate artistry in both fields of accompaniment and solo playing. The son of the renowned vocalist Pandit Dinkar Kaikini, Yogesh Samsi was initiated into tabla by his father at the tender age of four, and later received guidance under Pandit H.Taranath
Rao. However it was under the gifted tutelage of the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha that Yogesh received intense training for twenty three years and, matured into a fine
young tabla player.
Yogesh has accompanied almost all the top ranking instrumentalists and vocalists and dancers of India, including Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pt Dinkar Kaikini, Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Pt Shivkumar Sharma, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pt Birju Maharaj. Apart from accompaniment Yogesh has performed numerous memorable solo performances in India and abroad. He has also had the privilege of accompanying his teacher Ustad Alla Rakha and his son the great maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain in their solo performances.
Besides performing Yogesh has a sound scholastic approach to the subject and has taken several successful workshops in world music centres in India, U.S.A, U.K, South Africa and Japan. He is also a highly respected teacher, creating a syllabus for learning tabla designed specifically for teachers in the West, an initiative which is sure to have great benefits for the advancement of tabla worldwide. Yogesh has also worked on an instructional CD-Rom about tabla which is now available for students.
With the growing influences of modern and fusion music, Yogesh Samsi strives to keep up his revered Guru's word of preserving the tradition in the presentation of tabla solo.
Performance
Teentaal (16 beats) 48.56
1: Peshkar (12.41) is an introductory improvisatory form beginning in a slow tempo, concentrating initially on a few select syllables of the tabla such as na/ta, ge, dha, dhin and tin. It gradually expands and unfolds introducing the listener to a wider range of phrases and sounds. Here the Peshkar moves into a faster mode called tishra jati where each beat has 3, 6 or 12 sound syllables. This passage concludes with the fast flowing Peshkar Qaida, which opens up further possibilities for improvisation.
2: Qaida (5.50) is considered as the most important form 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. This particular Qaida, created by Yogesh's guru Ustad Alla Rakha, places emphasis on the syllable 'tite'. The composition is in tishra jati ie. 3, 6 or 12 sound syllables to a beat. The Qaida has been elaborated on in detail and ends with a tehai, a phrase repeated three times and used to conclude the sequence.
3: Rav (5.12) is a soft, ornamental composition type using rapid flowing strokes.
This is a particular favourite of Yogesh as his teacher Ustad Alla Rkha often presented it in his solos. Rav is part of the same family as Rela where a rhythmic theme is expanded and permutated using a variety of improvisatory techniques.
4: Qaida (3.55) This is composed by the late Ustad Alla Rakha and places emphasis on the bol phrase 'terekete'. It also has a detailed improvisation and concludes with a tehai.
5: Gat (4.27) is a very advanced level composition in the art of tabla playing. It can include elements of Peshkar, Qaida, Rela and Tukda or Chakradar all in one composition with sudden changes in sound dynamics. It requires a lot of technical virtuosity and dexterity in the hands of a player to execute these compositions skilfully. This track has the presentation of three Gat compositions.
The first two gats are played in single and double speeds, and the third is what is known as tripalli gat which has the same sentence played in three different speeds ie: single,one and a half times double speed at the end arriving on the 'sam', the first and most important beat of the time cycle. All three gats are compositions of Ustad Alla Rakha and are recited before playing.
6: Chakradar (6.49) from the Hindi word charka (meaning - wheel, circle, 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.
The first Chakradar is a traditional Punjab composition, and the second is an old composition by Ustad Fakir Baksh Khan, grand guru of Ustad Alla Rakha. Track 6 concludes with a 'terekete' based Rela emphasising the bol phrase 'dhere dhere' towards the end.
7: Mishra Jati (5.47) compositions ie: 7 sound syllables to a beat, also known as Geet Angi, are a specialty of the Punjab Gharana. The first is a gat composition. The second is a bedum chakradar which means that there is no gap between the three main phrases of the composition. Both are composed by the late Ustad Alla Rakha. The third is a very old gat composition from the Punjab Gharana. The fourth and the last mishra jati composition is a gat chakradar composed by Ustad Fakir Baksh Khan. Track 7 ends with a short presentation of Laggi, a composition type associated with lighter romantic vocal forms such as thumri, which are played with a lilting movement in fast speed. Laggi, while structurally simple, requires a lot of practice to play well.
8: Paran (4.15) is a composition form which are traditionally played on Pakhawaj, the ancient barrel-shaped percussion instrument employing open handed and forceful strokes. Both Parans presented in this track are compositions of Ustad Alla Rakha. This track again concludes with a short improvisation of laggi with a tehai in the end.
Deepchandi Taal (14 beats) 15.24
9: Uthan/ Peshkar (4.41) Here the Peshkar is preceded by an introductory composition known as Uthan ('the act of rising'). The uthan is a short flourish of rapidly played bols (in this case lasting three cycles) concluding with a tehai which leads to the beginning of the of the taal cycle, so that listeners can identify the first beat (sam) and the first note of the lehera pattern. The Peshkar evolves into the intense flow of the Peshkar Qaida.
10: Qaida (3.38) based on the tabla syllable 'tereketetaka
11: Rela (1.55) based on the phrase dhere dhere, the word Rela is said to have probably derived from 'rail gadi', which means train. But technically it means a drum roll like effect produced by continuous repetition of one sound syllable. In this track the rela is based on the syllable 'dhere dhere'.
12: Tukra / Chakradar / Anagat (3.45)
Here there is a series of fixed compositions. Firstly there are two tukras, the second a composition of Ustad Alla Rakha, followed by two chakradars both composed by
Ustad Alla Rakha. All compositions are recited before being played. Finally there are two Anagats, which are gats that cleverly end precisely half beat before the sam.
13: Rela (1.29) The solo concludes with a rela sequence based on the bol phrase 'terekete'.
Notes: John Ball
John Ball is a freelance writer, musician and teacher based in Sheffield specialising
in Indian Music. |
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