Krsna Kirtana Songs
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Chapter 26: Introduction to Obscure
Talas
This entire unit of miscellaneous and obscure talas may or may not be covered depending on who is the
teacher. Unlike Unit Two talas which is found most
frequently in folk, semi-classical and classical settings, these talas are not as famous. Most of these talas
featured here are the talas emanating from an ancient
drum known as the pakhawaj. Pakhawaj
bols are significantly different from that of the tabla.
Tabla bols show an extreme
tolerance to vowel sounds. When speaking fast phrases, ge
will begin to sound like ga. They are almost
interchangeable. In pakhawaj, this is not the case. Kā and ka are entirely two different bols. Kā is the pakhawaj tā, while ka is
like the tabla bol ka. To
make matters even more confusing, kā and tā are both used! Unlike tabla,
real pakhawaj playing is not based on thekas. Rather, they are based on thappis or a generalized format
of the tala based on the tali-khali
form. Pakhawaj playing is indeed very difficult,
which contributes to its decline from the musical scene.
Unlike Unit Two, this unit will have talas in their form with important notes on how they are
played. If playing common Indian classical musical forms or folk rhythms, most
of this chapter may not be of any use. Still, its good to appreciate the
complexity of rhythm. Especially considering that in the Vedic ages, talas would go as far as 108 matras
per cycle!
One good pointer to note is that almost all pakhawaj talas have dhi-nana ka dhet or titakata gadigana phrases used.
UPDATED: June 20, 2009