Odisha Review ISSN 0970-8669 “Hail Thee, O’ preceptor, World is full of sounds i.e ‘nada’. In the You are the embodiment of the human heart the abounding sentiments only get Brahma, Vishnu & Maheswar : The Trinity. stretched to the voice and when this voice gets You are the Parambrahma-The non robustness it manifests as song in a broader sense, differentiate Supreme Spirit. the muse. A thesis on music, ‘Sangeeta Ratnakar’ To you, all my obeisance & surrender.” says thus as the source of 'nada' or sound, when innermost self gets impatient to express, it inspires Introduction: the mind, the mind to fire in the body, fire to the In the whole of universal creation, man is air and this air creates power. This power strikes held as the best of it. As because he has been the permanent knot. This air makes sound through striving to express his minutest feelings of mind five outlets i.e to naval, heart, throat, head and through various means from the very beginning of mouth. Thus created sound or tone manifests tunes the civilization. Hence, literature, music, painting, which we call music. In the epic “Shreemad fine arts etc have taken definite shape and form Bhagabata” the Lord says “O, Narad ! I don’t The Role of Rhythm, Rhythmic Instrument and the Instrumentalist in the realm of Music : Hindustani Classical etc. Sushil Kumar Patnaik through human effort to bring glorification to its dwell in Vaikuntha or paradise, neither in the existence. Notwithstanding this the supplication hearts of Yogis, but I do reside there where my for truth-prosperity and beauty i.e “satya, shiba, devotees sing to my praises.” sundar” has been the main force to his supreme contemplative emotional impetus. That which It is also said, Brahma the creator creates paves the way to realization of the much sought musical instruments from “ Rig Vedas”, dramatic after four aims of human life i.e righteousness, representation from “Yajur Veda”, the essence of property, lust and salvation is propounded in our poetic sentiments from “Sama Veda” which philosophy. Hence, the seer announces ‘it is the constituted authoritative treatise of music, the art which emancipates, i.e.'sa kala ja bimuktaye'. musicology came into being. This scripture bears Therefore, it is quite obvious to behold the art the elements of panacea to all sorrows, distress, spreading itself in atoms, matters throbbing and despair, grief and pangs of separation. Thus bliss still as well as flora and fauna. supreme i.e Brahmanada is finally obtained. FEBRUARY-MARCH - 2019 35 ISSN 0970-8669 Odisha Review Hence, the player of musical instruments These are of 4 categories: i.e supplicates with this - the sentimental supremacy a) Tat (Instruments with strings)- veena, sitar, which is manifested in dance, specialty of dance sarangi, sarod, and behela etc. with musical instruments and instruments adhering b) Sushir (instruments played by putting air)- to beats i.e. 'Tabla'. Therefore I salute to beats banshee, flute, Sehnai, Mahuree, cornet, clarionet i.e music supreme everyday. etc. Various opinions are floated to the origins c) Ghana (instruments made of metals)- of Tabla. It is said, “the threesome elements, i.e ghanta, manjira and jhanja. song beating instruments and the dance and their intermingling constitutes the music perfect. The d) Abanaddha (instruments wrapped with hydes)- tabla, dholak, mrudanga, pakhauja, presiding deity of music is Mother Saraswati, the mardala, khanjani etc. goddess of learning. Of all these instruments the prime A rare devotee, the saint RamaKrishna importance is given to Tabla. It is said, “without Paramhansa pronounced the greatness of music Tabla no music becomes perfect or established. with the following words. "Blessed the pious soul This word has the verbal root “tal” after having who drinks the nectar of sweet musical notes the suffix “ghajna” becomes tabla. Tal denotes which have been churned out of the Vedas, which installation. That by which music is installed or removes impurities of mind, which is a sovereign positioned is Tal. The time used in music is remedy to cure all diseases of worldly existence measured by Tal. Our ancient music system and can transform man into a better citizen. It is contained hundreds of Tals. But as time passed priceless treasure." Needless to say, music on now only 10-12 are being used and practised. therapy is in vogue now a days in native as well How Tabla Originated ? as foreign countries. Indian classical music is divided into 2 Teacher- taught tradition: schools. One is North Indian music or Hindustani The pious relationship of preceptor- music and the other is South Indian music or disciple emanates in this life and life after. As we Karnatic music. In Hindustani music tabla and pakhauja are taken as rhythmic instruments. But know this bonding of teacher-pupil had been the prominence is given to tabla. Some exponent regarded eternally sacred and the pupil had been mathematicians of tabla scripture like Dr. Lakshmi taking it not only customary but duty bound to Narayan Garg is of the opinion that both tabla surrender himself to his Guru and was mentally and harmonium are foreign instruments. As is prepared to render any service to him. This father known the Sedang instrument of China invoked and son relationship is found waning today for Europeans to make harmonium in 1810 A.D. which practice and penance to reach perfection which found its way to India afterwards. Dr. Garg in music is being seriously thwarted. This state of says the advent of tabla is of the same period affairs will spell doom if it is left to continue. Now which was then called “Atabal”. The French name let us come to musical instruments. tabal is now tabla in Hindustani. 36 FEBRUARY-MARCH - 2019 Odisha Review ISSN 0970-8669 The opinion that tabla instrument te te these 2 notes which are being played originated from splitting pakhauja into 2 has been by the finger on tabla also play ‘tere’ with the widely accepted until Jogmaya Shukla and Kishen same finger and at the same surface- place. But Maharaj put a dispute to it as only wishful. But how this occurs ? This is done only by the trick Thakur Jaydev Singh holds that tabla was in vogue of hand which needs constant practice. Te Te is in ancient India and so this should be accepted as by giving weight and Te Re by touching lightly only Indian even though tabla is a derivation of and rapidly. The case is exactly with TA and NA. tabal. Again the professor of Abannadha Vadya These are the special knowledge of teacher’s of Indian art and music university of khairagarh, school which is learnt with firm attendance to the Pandit Harishchandra Shreevastav propounds service of the teacher. Likewise NA is a negative that the origin of tabla may be of more than 350 note while TA is a positive note for which it is in years hence which was of more useful to Kheyal Dhaa, TA is being used. So it is “GE + TA = rendering and to playing of sitar. Later on it was DHAA and TING + GHA = DHING. accepted as an unitary instrument and became Importance of Tal (beats) in Tabla: popular. According to him tabla though bears the influence of pakhauja, has become one in itself. In Kheyal playing pakhauja has been replaced with tabla for convenience. Therefore Another view testifies the origin of tabla with the ‘bol’ of tabla trital, jhamptal, rupak, ektal, from a beat note called “Samval” which has a dadra and kahrwa tals are formulated. “Sabda dual note of nagara (drum). A group of musicians Kalpa druma”, the famous Lexicon pronounces:” provide a connotation for tabla as “tab- bhi-bola” origins of musical instruments are from Tal without which means tabla came into being after splitting which songs are bereft of beauty or splendor. of an abaannadha instrument. Many other musicians are of opinion that since the famous TA is known as male and LA is known pakhauja player Ustad Sudhir Khan Dhadi is as female. TA emanated from Lord Shiva’s regarded as the initiator of tabla . it is very likely “Tandav” dance and LA is from mother Parvati’s that tabla came from splitting of pakhauja. With graceful motion. Bhagban Das’s opinion one tends to believe in Role of theka (stress of the tip of the finger) this theory. After all now as it stands more in music: research in this matter has become a challenge to “Theka” of every tal is not appropriate musicians young and enthusiastic. note for every song as it is not suitable for Voice (Vanee) of the tabla: a few instances- invocation of proper emotional content and flavor. a) 10 note sequence are created for tabla, Therefore theka is to be chosen while listening to i.e (with left hand) (1) ka- ke- kat (2) ge (3) ghe. the music. Hence the beat notes of dhumali, trital, (With right hand) (4) ta bana (5) tin (6) tun or din adha and kaharwa can be changed at the time of (7) te (8) te or re (with both hands) (9) ta+ ge= playing. The player has to choose the variation dhaa (10) tin + ghe =dhin other dual notes by himself to the tunes of song or music. This is sequences are -kredhe tete, kredhaan, kraan, important and more pertaining to the song dhaa kede, treke, dhere kete, dinged dina etc. sequences in cinema. FEBRUARY-MARCH - 2019 37 ISSN 0970-8669 Odisha Review Schools (Gharana) of Abannadha Abid Hussain, Ustad Mune Khan, Ustad instruments with special variations: Ujid Hussain are considered as the After introduction of tabla as a musical master tabla players of this gharana.