Delhi gharana (tabla)

The Delhi or Dilli gharana is the oldest of the tabla traditions and is widely described as the fountainhead from which the other main schools descend. It is the tradition in which the tabla established a repertoire of its own, distinct from the older pakhawaj, and in which the two central improvisatory forms of solo tabla — peshkar and qayada — took shape.

The tradition is traced to Sidhar Khan Dhadi, active in Delhi in the early eighteenth century and the earliest name attached to the tabla in the historical record; some accounts go further and describe him as the instrument's inventor, a claim that cannot be settled from surviving evidence. He came out of the pakhawaj line of Lala Bhavanidas. No exact founding date survives; the tradition is generally placed in the eighteenth century, and one account sets it in the reign of Muhammad Shah. "Dhadhi" refers to a community of hereditary entertainers.

Most of the other principal tabla gharanas descend from this one. Bakshu Ji, a nephew and student of Sidhar Khan, founded the Lucknow tradition; Miru Khan and Kallu Khan, students of Sitab Khan of this line, founded Ajrara; the Farrukhabad, Benares and Punjab schools are likewise treated as later branches or offshoots.

Among its twentieth-century masters were the brothers Nathu Khan (1875-1940), Gamay Khan (1883-1958) and Munnu Khan; Gamay Khan's son Inam Ali Khan (1924-1986); Latif Ahmed Khan (1942-1989), who studied with both Gamay Khan and Inam Ali Khan; Chatur Lal (1924-1966), a student of Haji Mohammad Khan and Hafiz Miyan; and Shafaat Ahmed Khan (1954-2005).

Delhi playing is classed as bandh baj, the "closed" manner, in contrast to the open, resonant khula baj of the Punjab and Farrukhabad schools. Its other common name, do ungliyon ka baj, describes its signature technique: the strokes on the syahi (the black tuning patch of the right-hand drum) are taken chiefly with the first two fingers, producing light, precise, tightly controlled sound. The bayan, the bass drum, is used sparingly rather than for sweeping bass effects.

The school is known above all for its very large stock of qayadas — a theme with systematically developed variations — along with rela (a fast, continuous weave of strokes), mukhda and mohra (short phrases that lead into the sam). Compositions favour chatushra jati, groupings of two, four and eight. The recurring syllables are dha, dhage, ta, tita, kita, dhin and na. Much of this material is now standard introductory repertoire for tabla students of every gharana.