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Historically, the role of the tabla as an accompanying instrument to a vocalist, instrumentalist or a dancer, preceded its full-fledged solo incarnation. It is not an accident of history that the evolution of the tabla was concomitant with that of the strides made by the music and dance it accompanies. Though influencing each other greatly, we seem to have forgotten the points of engagement and dialogue perhaps as a result of having traversed so deeply into areas of specialization. Shared musical terms and colloquialisms are clear signposts of this exchange - an exchange that proved the definition of the term sangeet, which originally referred to the amalgam of vocal and instrumental music, and dance.
This essay discusses the basic features of tabla accompaniment or sangat to Hindustani vocal and instrumental music and Kathak dance. It seeks to examine the areas that a tabla player needs to be conscious of and responsive to while providing sangat.
Theka
To most listeners of Hindustani music, the tabla player's role is that of a time-keeper, who maintains a constant rhythmic canvas for the vocalist or instrumentalist to layer with melodic development. The rhythmic canvas alluded to here is in the form of the theka, a fixed sequence of universally accepted mnemonic syllables that are translated to strokes or bols played on the tabla. The theka thus denotes the framework of the tala in actual performance and is a recurring rhythmic idea that moves in a cyclical pattern called avartan.
But the tabla player performs a far more complex part as an accompanist, and goes beyond the ability to recognize the tala that is to be maintained at a uniform speed in the vilambit, madhya or drut layas. In relation to the theka, the tabla player is required to provide a clear and balanced theka at a steady pace to the music or dance that is being accompanied. Boh played with both hands must be given equal importance to produce appropriate tonal colours, and the space between individual boh of the theka and between succeeding avartans must be as precise as would be humanly possible. Notably, it is neither possible nor desirable for the tabla player to maintain a theka akin to the click of the metronome or the...