From taal is born a sura
By Vivek Sharma
I can talk about how multiple-universes have come out of Intelligent Energy’s creative vibrations for years together. But, when it comes to getting down to specifics, I feel we are somewhere trying to see the part of a whole and I feel a bit off at it as the whole isn’t a whole if we break it into parts.
Some of you wanted hows and whats about music. Well, I can only treat it as a continuation of the whole—that is Intelligent Energy.
Whole can’t have parts
If you reach the whole, music becomes part of you as it had become the part of Shiva Ji (as a person), Ram Ji, Ravan, Krishna Ji (as a person) the rishis of the Samveda (wherein the definition of seven suras was first revealed), Narad Ji, Kabir Das ji, Gurunanak Ji, Sant Hraidas, Meera Bai, Tansen, Amir Khusro, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Paramhamsa Yogananda and I can take names after names no end. It is the fact that music as a means to spiritual enlightenment really developed in Bharat. But, it also developed in its own way on other lands too—in the jungles of Africa, to the boatmen sailing on the sea, to Chinese practising Kung Fu and drawing out rhythmic patterns with the body and hands, so on and so forth.
The idea is to tell you that music is the first expression of all beings, whether animate or inanimate. They all have sounds in a particular harmonics. The wood has music, the leaves have it rustling on, the winds have their whistling great, the water says it with each drop and splash, the earth, the sun, the moon and the planets all have their music classes going on….
What came first
There has been a debate over what came first sur or the taal (Beat). Some say both came simultaneously. Some say it is the sur which came first. All are right in their places. But, actually, sur came out of the womb of the taal. Without the taal, the sur is just cacophony, which is not the plan of Nature. Hence it is the beat, taal, which came first. Remember the famous Sanatan saying that everything has come out of the beats of Shiva’s damroo (the drum), refer to Siddhant Kaumudi and the Maheshwar Sutras.
In a body also, it is the heart which comes first in 18 days. It begins to beat and then the entire body harmonics are created. Isn’t it amazing? The fall of a pan in the kitchen produces a sound after it gets hit by the floor. In the vocal chords, you can’t produce the sur if you don’t beat the chords with the wind in a particular way. Beat first. But, it doesn’t mean beat only. No. Beat resolves into a sur, a note or a harmony of notes called chord. Oh, you play the Sitar, can it produce any sur without your finger beating the wire and you pressing the wire to produce the beat and a particular sur thereof. Ha-ha-ha-…You cannot really be a good vocalist, instrumentalist if you haven’t got the idea of the beat right first. You may say that you play the guitar well but you don’t have the knowledge of the beats. Well, then you should say you are not aware of the beats you know! Know them and then you can manipulate them more and produce your own music.
Percussion instruments?
The Sitar is not a percussion instrument, the tabla is. Well, this is trying to break the whole once again. Both are percussive instruments, both produce swaras after beat. So what’s big about the Sitar and not about the tabla. The sitar has certain add-on strings to produce beats to support the sur nikas on a beat pattern! The left tabla called dagga or bayaan is nothing but the real instrument to produce beat pattern and the dayaan can be compared to the strings tuned to a particular stress to produce sounds of na, ta, tin, tun, tit, kat, of that frequency. The ideal tabla will the one which can produce metallic sounds with clarity. Dagga helps in that. It also produces saat swaras when pressed. These suras couple up with the sound of the bayan or any other instrument playing along to produce a whole harmonics—the language of the music. I will rate the person the great tabla maestro who can really move ahead of the clutter being produced in the name of tabla playing. Some attempts in the direction have been made by Kishen Maharaj (who could produce Ganapati Vandana on the tabla), Zakir Hussain (who has really broken the myth and is manipulating the instrument by producing sounds of other instruments) and to some extent Anokhelal Ji. I mean no harm to other players. But my only humble suggestion is to try and play tabla as a music instrument and don’t show off the practice sessions of 16 multiples of tirkit and dhirdhir. They must be reminded that playing the 16 times, 8 times and 4 times multiples of tirkit and dhirdhir in a phrase are just meant as a hand practice—to add muscles to your fingers and hands. They can be beautifully used as fillers to complete a count. In fact, they are like flat counts, which contradict the bols with a space and rattle. They can be used as bols to suit a situation or as a filler. However, the real beauty of table lies on playing the compositions to suit the occasion or the raga being played on. Noted classical singer Ajoy Chakroborty too has highlighted the fact during his Baithak sessions and so did Shujaat Hussain Khan. They have rightly highlighted why a majority of solo tabla players fail as accompanists. It is because, they can’t manipulate the tabla sounds and fill it all up with tirkit and dhirdhir . I don’t say don’t use them. They must be used to produce a particular kind of swara in the harmony and not as a gymnastics to show how fast they can play. The tabla has come out of the mridangam. The mridangam had bayaan and dayan in one whole. Therefore, there was a great possibility of mixing the sounds of the two to produce swaras. It doesn’t mean the tabla cannot do it. It can if we first break the myth that it is a percussion instrument alone!
Music is nothing but a harmonic continuity of energy to draw you into its flow. If it fails to draw the listener in, it is no music. Therefore, whatever instruments you play or ragas you sing, it is a must that they should produce a harmonic continuity singly or together and be able to draw the listens in as the fast flowing rivers draw in from the bank whatever is there till it merges with the sea.