Hello friends!

Taking a brief vacation from the world of swars, we now enter the world of tala. Rhythm. In the world of swars, every note can be played freely without any troubles. One can hold a note as long as one wishes to. However, in the world of rhythm, the swars are played in a constraint. The constraint where they cannot go out too freely. Of course, the swars enjoy the same priviledges inside the world of tala; they can wear ornaments of meend, gamaka and do beautiful tans with the use of kans-swars at times. But all that must fit in rhythm. All of that must be in the tala.

What is tala? "Tala" literally translated to "clap." When you hear a good performance, one claps in sync with the performance. This is a tala. When one taps their foot on the ground keeping time while a recording is going on, this is tala. When the heart is heard beating, that repitive beat going on a cycle is the tala. Tala, just like sur, is a facet of nature. How can we talk about one aspect mother nature without talking about the other?

In the musical sense, tala is a rhythmic cycle. A rhythmic cycle is defined by the number of beats used. The word for "beat" is "matra." The matra is a simplest unit of time. If you were to count 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3, you see that one cycle has 3 beats to it. The example showed four cycles of three beats.

We can say that the cycle has three matras in it. (3 matras/cycle). There are 4 cycles. The word for one completed cycle is avartana.

Such is the nature of the tala. In North Indian classical music, it is said that there are talas which range as low as 3 matras to long talas bearing 108 matras per cycle! Most of those talas have been lost through time. Right now, the highest known cycle is 23 beat tala known as Magdha Tala. Imagine trying to sing a song in that kind of tala!

Nonetheless, there are many talas which are used commonly today in North Indian classical. The common meters are the 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 matra talas. Before looking at these, let's examine the talas further.

Each tala can be played on a percussion instrument such as the tabla or pakhawaj. In order to understand how a tala is played, it is important to use bols or syllables that represent the various sounds of the tabla or pakhawaj. Studying the bols itself requires for a good tabla lesson! Anyone intereseted?

The BASIC repsentation of the tala using bols is known as the theka. The word "theka" means "support" in Hindi. The theka shows the tala in the most simplest manner. For instance, here is a 16 matra tintal. This tala, FYI, is used in songs like Man Tadpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj, Madhuban Mein Radhika Nache Re, the ending part of Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera from Swades.

Dha Dhin Dhin Dha | Dha Dhin Dhin Dha | Dha Tin Tin Ta | Ta Dhin Dhin Dha.

To be continued....

credit-kishore_bhakta

I am glad you all liked this posting! I have yet to complete it though.

Answers to few questions:

The sam is the first matra of any cycle. In all talas, the sam is matra 1. It has two functions.

1) Denoting a new cycle
2) Act as a point of resolution. When playing a piece, whether it is fast or slow, this point is where the piece is centered upon.

There are two more elements of the tala. It is called the khali and tali.

Tali = matra which is more accented
Khali = least accented.

In episode of the SRGMP, AS made a point about importance of picking a tala properly. There are many songs which pick up from Khali or any other point in the tala and some songs which pick up from the sam. In Western music, starting anywhere else other than the sam is known as "upbeats."

In MOST talas, the sam will bear the tali. One notable exception to the rule is the 7 beat rupaka tala. This tala is found in songs like "teri bindiya re" (Abhiman), "tere mere milan ki yeh raina" (Abhiman), "saawan ke jhoole pade" (song Rakhtima sang. Film: Jurmana). The sam is actually a khali!

What is tali and khali in the bigger picture? It shows the structure of the tala. A tala can be defined two ways. One by the theka and the other way is by the "tala structure."

TALA DIAGRAMS:

Here is a tala diagram for Rupaka Tala. Remember, it has 7 matras.

The THEKA for RUPAKA TALA is


This slide I made for my tabla students last year.



(Just letting you all know... I made a small mistake in preparing this image. The first matra is supposed to be 0, not X)


Hope everyone can read this properly:
Line 1 = Tala numbers: X = sam IF accent is present.
0 = Khali
2,3,4..... = points of tali. These number do not correspond to intensity of the tala. They simple represent where the tali is found.

Wherever the tali is hit, a division (|) takes place. The space between any two divisions is known as the vibhaga (bhaga = "part/episode/division"). Here, there are three vibhagas. Inside vibhaga 1, there are 3 matras. In vibhaga 2, there are 2 matras. Same with vibhaga 3. Hence in defining tala structure, it is said that the tala structure is 3+2+2; khali on sam (matra 1), tali on matras 4 (3+1) and 6 (3+2+1).

When you talk about the tala orally, then you count out loud

1(wave) - 2 - 3 - 4 (clap) - 5 - 6 (clap) - 7 - 1(wave)....

Hence the "clap" is the "tali."

Line 3 was the theka using the tabla bols. See how 3+2+2 with sam being khali on rupak tala functions! Now, there is another 7 matra tala known as "tivra tala" commonly used in pakhawaj compositions. It is also divided 3+2+2, but the sam is a forceful tali, unlike rupak tala.


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In filmi, folk, and lighter classical forms, kaherva tala (8 matras) and dadra tala (6 matras) is used. Since a larger arena of music uses these talas, it is difficult to define the true original theka, even more with kaherva! Therefore, if you know you will accompanying someone in Kaherva, get a good idea on which form ("prakar") will you be playing. Prakar is a rendition of the theka. Most people play prakars of talas instead of thekas.

In classical music, Tintal (16 matras) reigns over Kaherva (8). Dipachandi (14 matras) over Rupaka Tala (7). Ektala (12 matras) over Dadra Tala (6 matras). Jhaptala (10 beats) has no "famous" half form.