Tabla & Pakhavaj sites

The Tabla Site

David Courtney's excellent resource for the tabla. From there one can link to other tabla sites, as well as discuss tabla matters through the "TablaForum" group.

Pakhawaj.net

My good friend the excellent pakhavaj player Ed Pias put this site together. Many wonderful audio clips are provided, along with useful information on some of the pakhavaj greats.

Multi-percussionist Pete Lockett is based in London, England. He plays everything, and has played with everyone. He is an impressive tabla player who offers lots of audio samples plus downloadable lessons and video on how to play the drums.

Percussionist.net (Mativetsky)

Montrealer, Shawn Mativetsky's site on tabla has some good information on Sharda Sahai and the Benares gharana, a great links page, and descriptions of bols and beginner compositions. It is offered in both English and French.

A nice site from Jim Feist in Cincinnati. Jim is a student of my friend Yogesh Samsi, and as he demonstrates with his many audio and video clips he plays very well.

Tabla Online

An attractive site by Sandeep Virdee dedicated to news and information about tabla. Good on interviews with and articles about popular tabla personalities.

Hindustani music

Toronto Gharana

A Hindustani music resource conceived and built by John Campana and Eric Parker. It is home to a group of my friends here in Toronto with whom I meet regularly to listen to, perform, and discuss Hindustani music.

An extensive archive of articles by Rajan Parrikar, illustrated with excellent audio clips. Parrikar is both knowledgeable and articulate, and has provided some of the best insights into the nature and structure of Hindustani rag. Be sure to visit the Vijaya Parrikar Library (created in memory of his mother) to gain direct access to audio clips of many great artists.

Patrick Moutal generously provides access to many excellent recordings from his collection, and offers articles (in French) on many aspects of rag. There is little tabla solo, but be sure to look for the video of Alla Rakha performing in jhaptal.

Many audio samples from 78 rpm recordings of the great vocalists of the early 20th century are available from this site.

Searchable audio archives offer some wonderful old performances, though there seems to be little tabla solo. Search for "Thirakwa" and one can hear a recording of a tintal solo from about 1936.

SwarGanga

An interesting site that gives information about hundreds of rags, as well as a few tals. There are also audio clips demonstration melodic structures.

SwaraTala

Fascinating interviews with musicians by the knowledgable expert Deepak Raja in an attractive blog format.

Sarangi.info

Beautifully constructed site with lots of information and excellent audio clips.

Sarangi

My friend Nicolas Magriel's site is a storehouse of knowledge about the sarangi and its great players.

A site dedicated to the music of Pakistan. Be sure to visit the Music Room. Currently there is a tabla solo by Altaf Hussain "Tafo" Khan of Lahore, a player who took the "ten finger" style to the extreme and developed an extraordinarily rapid manner of execution.

A spectacular archive of films sponsored by the Government of India. Regarding tabla, look in particular for the 1971 film of Ahmedjan Thirakwa (14 mins) and the 1970 film of Alla Rakha (13 mins). Other films are available, such as Mani Kaul's excellent Dhrupad (70 mins) featuring Z.M. and F.M Dagar, as well as documentaries and dramatizations of the lives of Birju Maharaj, Amir Khan, Malikarjun Mansoor, Bhimsen Joshi, Siddheswari Devi, Girija Devi, Begum Akhtar, Ravi Shankar, and Amjad Ali Khan. The best way to access these is to choose "Music of India" from the Category field, then click on the search button.

A site with information on the films of Arundhati Sen and her husband, Daniel Neuman. Shujaat Khan is featured in two, and I am especially fond of the one on the Agra vocal gharana with the late Yunus Hussain Khan. Daniel Neuman, whose work had a great influence on me when I began ethnographic research in Lucknow, has also conducted research called the Rajasthan Atlas Project, soon to be published (2005). Featured are the communities of Langas and Manganiyars whose music and musicians were such important ingredients of the Hindustani music tradition.