Listen: Zakir Hussain’s tabla respond to the cross-rhythmic sections of Shivkumar Sharma’s santoor

In our series focusing on tabla accompaniment to Hindustani music and dance, we continue with the discussion on instrumental recitals.

While it is true that tabla players are required to respond to the melodic movement through their solo passages, it does not necessarily follow that these passages are spontaneously conjured up. The response depends equally upon the creativity of the tabla player, the vocabulary at his disposal, the chemistry between both performers, and several other factors.

At times, a piece may be created on the spur of the moment. But in most cases, it is a spontaneous redistribution of previously learnt material or a kind of permutation and combination of more than one composition from the solo repertoire.

There are moments when both options are combined. For example, the tabla player could start a pattern that has been directly inspired by the preceding melodic movement and one that is not preconceived, but this pattern may be used to launch into material that has been selected from or is inspired by solo repertoire. There are also those moments when it is not always possible for the tabla player to be spontaneously creative.

Ideally, therefore, a tabla player needs to have sufficient solo repertoire to be able to cull...

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