The tabla is a percussion instrument often used in Hindustani Classical Music and in other traditional music of the Indian sub continent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres.
The main drum is called a tabla or dayan and is played with the dominant hand. Its shell is cylindrical and made out of wood, and its tight skin produces a distinct pitch when struck. Cylindrical wood blocks, known as ghatta, are inserted between the strap and the shell allowing tension to be adjusted by their vertical positioning. Fine tuning is achieved while striking vertically on the braided portion of the head using a small, heavy hammer.
The larger, low pitched drum, called bayan, has a bowl-shaped metal shell. Its membrane is looser than that of the tabla, enabling the player to manipulate the drum's pitch with his or her hand in performance. The term tabla is said to be derived from an Arabic word, tabl, which simply means drum. The playing technique is complex and involves extensive use of the fingers and palms in various configurations to create a wide variety of different sounds and rhythms.
During the period under consideration, the popularity of table as a teaching discipline has risen in SIFAS. Gurus Sarfaraz Ahmed and Sailen Choudhury taught the tabla until 2007, after which Guru Mihir Kundu joined SIFAS. With the rise in the number students, a second table teacher, Chiradeep Banerjee, joined SIFAS in 2014. SIFAS now has a third teacher, Guru Supriyo Bannerjee from July 2018.
The main drum is called a tabla or dayan and is played with the dominant hand. Its shell is cylindrical and made out of wood, and its tight skin produces a distinct pitch when struck. Cylindrical wood blocks, known as ghatta, are inserted between the strap and the shell allowing tension to be adjusted by their vertical positioning. Fine tuning is achieved while striking vertically on the braided portion of the head using a small, heavy hammer.
The larger, low pitched drum, called bayan, has a bowl-shaped metal shell. Its membrane is looser than that of the tabla, enabling the player to manipulate the drum's pitch with his or her hand in performance. The term tabla is said to be derived from an Arabic word, tabl, which simply means drum. The playing technique is complex and involves extensive use of the fingers and palms in various configurations to create a wide variety of different sounds and rhythms.
During the period under consideration, the popularity of table as a teaching discipline has risen in SIFAS. Gurus Sarfaraz Ahmed and Sailen Choudhury taught the tabla until 2007, after which Guru Mihir Kundu joined SIFAS. With the rise in the number students, a second table teacher, Chiradeep Banerjee, joined SIFAS in 2014. SIFAS now has a third teacher, Guru Supriyo Bannerjee from July 2018.
TUTORS
Guru Mihir Kundu
TABLA Room No 03-06 |
Guru Mihir's initial Tabla training was from Shri Sabyasachi Sengupta and went on to do his Guru Sishya Parampara under the tabla maestro Pt. Sankha Chatterjee. He is equally adept in three Gharanas -Farukhabad, Punjab and Delhi because of his training in Pt. Sankha Chatterjee School of Music. A regular artiste in All India Radio and Doordarshan, he has received the prestigious JADUBHATTA award from Saltlake Cultural Association (Kolkata) and TALMANI award from SURSINGER SAMSAD (Mumbai). Mihir also holds the title of SANGEET VISHARAD and Sangeet Vibhakar from Lucknow BhatKhande Sangeet Vidyapith. He has shared the stage with many distinguished artistes such as Pt. Jagadish Prasad, Pt. Ajoy Pohankar,Pt. V.G Jog, Pt. Kartic Kumar, Pt. Samaresh Chowdhury, Pt.Amiya Ranjan Bannerjee, Pt. Manilal Nag, Ustad AliAhamad Hussain (to name only a few) in India and abroad. Guru Mihir has performed extensively in India, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy and South East Asia.
Guru Mihir joined SIFAS in 2007. |
Guru Supriyo Banerjee
TABLA Room No 03-01 |
Hailing from a musical family, Supriyo Bannerjee started learning Tabla from his father late Ganapati Banerjee. Under the tutelage of Tabla Maestro Pandit Ananda Gopal Bandopadhyay, Supriyo has been taking lessons since 1991. He has worked as a Tabla teacher in Sakhri Begum Memorial Trust and accompanied Ustad Rashid Khan, also known internationally as a Youth Icon of Indian Classical music.
He has received an honorary position and was recruited as a Tabla teacher in Belur Math Veda Vidyalaya and has performed in many concerts within Indian such as Golpark Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, Belur Math and internationally in Singapore, Malaysia and Germany. He was also awarded the National Scholarship from Ministry of Culture, Government of India in 2007. He is an accomplished Tabla player, dynamically adept as a soloist and accompanying artist for classical, commercial, Carnatic and fusion music, and has a unique style of playing which blends different Gharanas. Guru Supriyo joined SIFAS in July 2018. |