Engineering in Tabla

   Engineering in Tabla

    Sadanand Naiampali hails from Udipi, Mangalore, in Karnataka, but he was born 

and brought up in Mumbai. At the age of 9-10 years he started learning the tabla. 

However priority was always education and perhaps because his parents wanted 

him to be an engineer, he followed their dictates. He didn’t feel that he was cut out 

to be an engineer though but he couldn’t voice his opinion and he thought parents 

knew better. So he completed his graduation in Metallurgy and joined Mukand Iron 

and later Greaves Cotton. Then he started his own unit, a foundry which did non-ferrous

 casting work, high grade X-ray and sonography testing of castings, but that came 

to an end when he came back to his first love, the tabla. 

     During the first 6 yrs of training he used to be with his guru Pandit 

Taranathji everyday from Monday to Saturday for four hours a day after 

school, but when he reached home he would complete his homework. 

By the age of 16 he had reached quite a high level of proficiency and won the ‘All India Radio competition’ held on a national 

level. When he was in Jaihind College, Mumbai, he won the Inter- University Competition in Delhi, in which tabla players from 

top universities participated and the competition judge Pandit Chaturlal, eminent tabla player of yesteryear, said that “he is the

 most accomplished young tabla player of India.” Thereafter he was selected for a Europe Tour as part of the student delegation,

 sponsored by Ministry of Education and UNESCO.

        On his return however it was back to education and he went to Pune to do his engineering in metallurgy. This and his 

subsequent employment and business endeavor led to a long gap of over 20 years in his tabla playing as well as learning. 

He lost contact with his Guruji and was totally cut off from tabla, which really speaking was the most critical years for any 

youngster, as that was the time to put your efforts, sharpening and honing skills but alas it was not to be. The one day 

something snapped and he decided to pick up from where he had left off. He started playing the tabla again, training hard 

and because of his previous background was able to start all over again performing with top Indian and International artistes. 

He wrote two highly successful books on learning the table and also started teaching. 

Here Sadanand Naimpali talks to C P Joseph about his first love, his Guruji, the author in him and other aspects of his 

unconventional life.

How and when did you start playing tabla again?

At the age of around 40 something turned in my head and metallurgy was jettisoned out from my mind, it was totally out and I started playing tabla again. Fortunately people had heard my tabla playing when I was a youngster and because I used to play with number of artists accompanying them and I had achieved quite a high level of proficiency. So getting back into tabla was just a matter of time. I had to just sit and try to redevelop my skills and stamina once again. And that was the difficult part as after a gap of 20 years I found that I couldn’t concentrate and play for five minutes, my train of thoughts were drying up, I had no stamina, I literally had to start from scratch. That’s when I decided to audition for All India Radio, because that would give me a lot of practice and then slowly step by step things started happening.

What difficulties did you face making a comeback and what went through your mind during the period?

Well, the difficulty was not with the industry but difficulty was within myself, because as I told you psychologically that period of 20 to 22 yrs tabla was almost totally out of my life, so when I started playing although the hands shills were not disturbed, but the train of thoughts were missing. While playing tabla you know you got to have this continuous mechanism going in your mind and that gets translated into playing so that was missing. So that had to be developed and that happened gradually and the best way I found was to teach and to recollect what I had learned. You will be surprised, when I resumed tabla I was done with my engineering and today I am such a changed man. So that period of getting back to the concert platform was around one and half and two years for me to develop the ability to sit down and play a concert for three and half hours but it happened as I told you by the process of recapitulating what I had learned and because I started teaching youngsters, in early 80’s and that time I could see my Guruji teaching me and then things started happening… some of those students are still with me.

Tell us about your Guruji.

Well I have had only one Guruji, because he was so knowledgeable and wise and because of his nature I did not think of going to anyone else…I didn’t find anything wanting in him, he give me everything I needed, so there was no question of another Guruji. To me and maybe to all of my gurubandhus he was like a parent who took care of us, in the way he taught us, imparted his knowledge and the way he took us through our years with him, it was more of training of the ethos of playing tabla…how to interact with the artist, who are the people who matter to us the most and how to be down to earth and not to put on airs, all that and at the same time he taught us tabla of all gharanas…there are about six gharanas in tabla and most Gurus teach tabla pertaining to what they have learned from their gharanas. But my Guruji Taranathji such an erudite person, he learned from so many ustads and he passed on all of it to us.

Which other player do you admire the most?

I would consider Ustad Zhakir Hussain, because apart from the content of his playing, the way he exudes his personality and the way he wins over the crowd that is something remarkable, because a person like me, when I start playing I don’t keep an eye on this fellow that fellow because you know I’m lost in what I’m doing and I don’t go out to impress the audience, but that is me I’m not cut out to be that way, it is only Zakhir Hussain who can do all this things, he just plays his tabla and he plays it so well and he is admired also for other aspects, the way he interacts with the crowd, the way he keeps them in high spirits, everything and he is such a down to earth person…all that has made him what he is today.

Which is your style of playing tabla?

Actually developing of your own style is not something which is done with intent, you can’t say now that I have developed it, it just happens and when suddenly you hear your recording of how you played 10 or 15 yrs back and the way you are playing today, you find that the change has sort of metamorphosed over time into a different you. So when you are an artist with your own standing, you take things that appeal to you from your heart or soul because art comes from within you, irrespective of what gharana you trained in, ultimately you play what you fancy and feel will bring out the best of your ability. On stage it is generally the sort of understanding between artists, even if I am playing solo the freedom to improvise is there but generally you let what is within you to flow.

One memorable performance that you would like to share with us?

Well there are many many performances and many many recollections but it takes time to remember of one. I will tell you the latest; I performed in Pune, that was on 17th of July, the function was organized by a music circle comprising of students of tabla, various gurus, performers, connoisseurs, and that was the occasion I got a chance to give free reign to my imagination and my talents. Whatever I wanted to display, whatever I learned from my gurus, special things which are generally not played for laymen audiences, who wouldn’t understand the mathematics of tabla and it was for 100% audience of tabla players, people with the ability to discern the tabla’s nuances. That was one performance that gave me immense satisfaction, where I could put across my rendition of all that I had learnt, from my Guruji, from other Ustads and at last giving a concert that was fulfilling for me and was appreciated by everybody.

You also play the pakhwaj, when did you learn to play it?

Well my Guruji was both a tabla and pakhwaj player. He had formal training from the pakhwaj player Babu Rao Gokhale of Panse gharana, he used to play pakhawaj and accompanied many of the dhrupad artists, the Dagar brothers and others. So he also taught me pakhwaj and but I couldn’t take it to the level of my tabla playing, because pakhwaj playing is generally with full palms, whereas in tabla you use only fingers. And also pakhwaj is horizontally played instrument while tabla is vertically played instrument. So if you practice pakhwaj a lot, it affects on your skills of playing tabla. So as you said I’m also a pakhwaj player not a pakhwaj player. I don’t take it as seriously as I take tabla. Another reason is that 7 years back I had frozen shoulder and I ignored it, I didn’t realize what it was. But later it became severe and the MRI showed that there was muscle tear and liquid collection and at that time I had to give full rest to my hands, but I love pakhwaj playing and today I play pakhwaj as and when the occasion demands. I have set up my own percussion assemble which I call ‘Lay Taal Sanwad’, where I play pakhwaj and my students play tabla and then there is mridangam, ghatam and morsing and I have also introduced folk rhythm where sometimes I take dholki, sometimes I take dholak, sometimes the halgi and you know different folk instruments.

What changes do you see in people learning tabla now compared to when you started learning? 

I have found that the level of interaction with younger generation is increasing. Younger people are starting to take to classical music, they may not learn the finer intricacies of the art, but they are starting to like it and classical music is something that takes time to grow on you. So I’m happy that the younger generation is doing that. Not only that, you know, a lot of development has taken place in relation with mixing the different genres of music like Western, Carnatic, Hindustani, you know and folk. So with the result you have a new dimension where people get together, you have like sort of platform coming up that you look at and you find it very interesting and there is another angle, it is not uni-dimensional anymore, it is not just Hindustani classical music anymore, of course it is there, Hindustani classical music will never die, but now it has got influence of others genres of music, so it is all for the betterment of the musical scene. 

What is your take on fusion music? 

Yah, if it is sensible, if it is not confusion, I’m for it. So if fusion music gives something relevant to you to think and to absorb and work over it, then its good.

What do you think of present Bollywood music compared to the old film songs? 

Oh I prefer to listen to old songs of Lata Mangeshkar , Talat Mehboob or Mohmmad Rafi . But there are songs today also which fascinates me. I like Lata Mangeshkar’s song from ‘Amar Prem’ that is ‘rehna biti jaye’ and ‘Ae mere dil kahi’ that of Talat Mehboob and even like the ghazal from “Guide” of Mohommad Rafi. But unfortunately I’m not much attentive to the lyrics I’m more enjoying the music. I think my generation was one which was luckiest because we had the best music directors like Madan Mohan, S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman, Shri Ram Chandra of old…we had the best music in film and in classical music like Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Vilayat Khan besides so many performers, we had the best of everything which is lacking today.

You have written a book on learning tabla, how did you come about writing this book? 

As a kid when I was learning tabla, my Guruji didn’t believe in writing down anything, he discouraged it, but then there were other boys who were insisting and when he taught they would be writing…he used to tell me, now this composition is in 3 taal, now you tell me how would you play it in ajab taal, 3 taal is the cycle of 16 beats and ajab taal is a cycle of 10 beats and then he use to guide me, now this portion is here, this portion will come here, how would you do it?  So it should come into taal which is in the multiples of 10, so that sort of thing was ingrained my mind and I didn’t feel the absence of anything written. In those days I could play the recital of a concert just at the snap of of your fingers but when I started taking tabla seriously as a profession, that wouldn’t come back and then when I started teaching and then I started writing down for the students. And later on my bunch of papers kept piling up. Then I decided why not, if it’s helping someone why not produce it. So with that intention I took it to the publishing house called Popular Prakashan, Mr Ramdas Bhatkal is the chief there and I showed it to him and he was very enthusiastic about it, in fact he suggested the title of my first book ‘Theory and practice of Tabla’….I used to sit on the computer and type and there were diagrams and one of my students who was an artist helped and then I followed up with Ustad Zakhir Hussain to write a foreword and he was more enthusiastic then me and he said sure I will write a foreword, and I’m glad to say that in the past 6 -7 years the book has been doing very well. I also brought out an instructional CD with my first book that covered allthe lessons. Then I decided to write the second book which I titled as ‘Tabla for Advanced Students’ because the first book was for beginners.

Do you think that today there is more money in live performance?  

What I don’t like about being a musician is when people put up a price on everything, when you are in the market, they ask you how much will you charge and that is something even today I can’t answer, because I never thought of tabla as money making career,  I used to be busy with my engineering  but today it is happening, today if somebody asks me I’m lost for words, I say you give me whatever you feel, but it is unfortunate that barring the elite, the second level of musicians, monetarily they don’t get what they deserve…you find somebody organizing a music festival of three days or even one day, and it costs 50,000 for a hall only for a 3 hours session , he pays 15 to 20 thousand for the sound system, he pays at least 10 to 15 thousand for the invitation cards another 5 thousand for the garlands and the tea, but for a musicians he will ask first how much will you charge if I tell 25,000 then they will say, this much, and say but sir our budget is limited, then ultimately he will end up paying me 2500, so you can see, although the organization wants me to perform, they want me on their stage, but still 99% of his arrangements is for other expenses, and the 1 % or maybe less, is allocated for the musicians. I m not telling my personal experience but this is what everyone has to say.

What is your take on piracy?

Well actually speaking piracy hasn’t hurt my performances because I haven’t reached that level but I can say this, an artist who are in demand commercially, if they think their CDs will not sell then naturally that affects their creative skills, and people who bring out the CDs will think that he is not much saleable artist but actually it is because of piracy, people must be having that song and listening to it, while they think that the artist’s market has gone down. So this thing as such needs to be rooted out because at one way it ruins the life of the artist, secondly, it affects the sales growth of the company and lastly the quality of pirated copies are not good. Quality of production of their cassettes or CDs highlights the true ability of the performer. So according to me piracy has to be rooted out, whether it’s in my interest or not.

Tell us something about Amad Prathistha? 

Aamad Prathistha, see well what happened was when I turned 60 my students wanted to organize a big event and wanted to give me a purse. So I told them not to give me a purse but collect the money and see that it is utilized for the promotion of music, so that is how the idea was born. So they established the trust called Aamad Prathistha, with the purpose of promoting music in general but percussion in particular. So we set certain aims and objectives that would benefit the propagation of music and also the upliftment of the artistic community in general. We started having programs every quarter providing a platform for budding artists and paid them what we could reasonably afford to pay them. We also have one annual concert were we try to raise money for our aims and objectives through sponsors and with the aim of having competitions for budding table students, workshops and lecture demonstrations for their education. Once a year we also pay a lump sum payment to one artist who is unable to play, sing and perform because of his physical disability, old age or any other problem. That may not be enough for his whole life but that is a small amount of contribution from our side.

Name someone who has made a lasting impression on you?

My Guruji Pt. Taranathji.

If you were the Prime Minister of India, what is the first thing you would do?

Well I’m not a politician. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer that but as a musician I would like to give as much allocation for the upliftment of music, for easing the difficulties of musicians in India.

Your Favorite holiday spot?

My home because that’s where I’m at ease.

Are you superstitious?

I use to be but not now.

What is your favorite timepass?

My favorite pass time is tabla, I don’t consider tabla as my profession, it is my life.

You never leave home without?

Whenever I leave home I see I have my credit card and identification card.

The best gift you ever got in life?

My wife.

Your favorite quote that symbolizes your whole life and journey?

Be the change that you want the world to be. You try to change yourself and you try to change your outlook and the world will change by you.

Your favorite phrase?

Shabaas.