Listen: Tabla exponent Kumar Bose accompanies Ravi Shankar on compositions in Piloo Banjara

Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing ways in which tabla players choose to begin their accompaniment to the vilambit gats or the slow instrumental compositions set to different taals.

Conventionally, the vilambit gat is followed by a drut gat or fast instrumental composition that may be set to taals like Teentaal, Ektaal or Ada Chautaal. Given the speed of the rhythmic cycle and the fact that the tabla player has already presented many rhythmic ideas during the vilambit gat, it is very likely that the improvisation on the tabla during the drut gat may be contained.

However, there is no rule to this effect, and in fact, some instrumentalists even create a space during the drut gat to invite the tabla player to present a short solo. In the latter case, the instrumentalist often marks out the basic cycle by playing a sparse set of notes from the chosen raag.

An element related to tabla accompaniment that is often heard in instrumental performances is called the savaal-javaab or the question-answer section. This is a misnomer, as the “questions” that are posed by the instrumentalist are not “answered” by the tabla player, but are imitated. The instrumentalist chooses a series of melodic-rhythmic...

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