I had no idea what a tabla drum was until last night, when I went to see the touring trio Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, and Zakir Hussain at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center. I had enjoyed listening to Bela’s bluegrass banjo and Edgar’s classical cello in the past, so the addition of the Zakir’s worldly tabla was an interesting, but pleasant surprise. So after listening to this Indian native entertain a crowd for two hours with his drumming skills, I had to find out more about that instrument. Before you read on, take a moment to listen and see Zakir’s mastery on the table drums here.

As you probably noticed from the video, tablas are hand drums that require extensive use of the fingers and palms in different configurations to make for a wide variety of upbeat sounds (I must say that the speed at which Zakir is able to coordinate his fingers and palms to make rhythmic percussion is quite impressive!) There are two drums in a set of tablas. The smaller one is called a dayan and has a high pitch tone. The larger one is called a bayan and has a much deeper bass tone. The combination of the two drums makes for a great mix of melodies and a fascinating performance.

Although there has been some debate over the actual origin of the instrument, it holds deep north Indian roots dating back to as early as the 13^th century. The drums are still commonly played today, so may be we all will have a chance to tap our hands to the beats of Indian performers during our trip!

-Emily Schaapveld