Tabla

The tabla is a pair of drums: the smaller wooden dayan played with the right hand, and the metal or clay bayan played with the left.

Each drumhead carries a black tuning paste that gives a clear pitched ring. Fingers and palm produce a vocabulary of distinct strokes, and pressure from the left hand bends the bass note up and down.

The tabla keeps and elaborates the taal, the rhythmic cycle. It accompanies vocal and instrumental music, and is also played solo.

The instrument is documented in north India from the eighteenth century, and distinct playing traditions grew up in Delhi, Lucknow, Farrukhabad, Ajrara, Benares and Punjab.