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Tabla, North Indian Hand Drums
In the past few years I have put my tabla skills to use
accompanying Hindu devotional singing (kirtan), working primarily with Gina Sala (www.ginasala.com), a wonderful vocalist who performs and teaches devotional music from around the world. This has been a great opportunity to support a form of community music-making with a high spiritual intention.
Indian rhythm, called taal, can also be a fascinating topic of study. It includes rhythmic cycles of unusual meters and highly developed rhythmic structures, many with complex forms and lots of interesting math.
North Indian Tabla
I fell in love with Indian music when I lived there as a college student in 1979. I was living in Bodh Gaya, studying Buddhism and Indian History as part of a study abroad program offered by Antioch College. On the side I began learning to play the tabla, a set of two small hand drums.
Indian classical music is ancient, spiritual, sophisticated, and challenging. I have studied and practiced tabla for thousands of hours over the course of 25 years, but still feel like a novice in this rich tradition. Some of my teachers have been Benji Werthiemer (benjy@ancient-future.com), John Bergamo (www.talamala-bergamo.com), and the incomparable Zakir Hussain (www.momentrecords.com).
RhythmJoy
Geoff Johns & Carol Lutra-Johns
10354 SW Mukai Circle, Vashon Island, WA, 98070
Tel - 206.567.5822
Designed and programmed by
TerraRhythm
Engineering Global Media for Vibrant Change
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Playing Tabla in the Sunshine
In this example of tabla drum language,
each syllable represents a stroke or combination of strokes on the tabla drums.
tak-gere naga
tak-gere naga gere naga
tete tete gege tete
gere naga dhine naka
tak-kere naka
tak-kere naka kere naka
tete tete gege tete
gere naga dhine naga