I’ve huge respect for the mridangam; it’s versatile: Bickram Ghosh

I have spent most of my career trying to break the myth that tabla is a mere accompaniment to a musical ensemble — the tabla is the most versatile musical instrument in the world,” begins Bickram Ghosh, acclaimed tabla maestro, on his recent trip to Chennai for a concert. “Its capacity to produce sounds using techniques that are diametrically opposite is amazing. A pair of tabla is like the yin and yang,” he continues. The sahitya or literature associated with the drum goes back to over 100 years when

music

was very hierarchical, and “the tabla bore the brunt of that. It is being broken; before Zakir Hussain’s generation, my dad (Pandit Shankar Ghosh) broke it, now, I am doing it. Twenty years ago, right here at the Music Academy, I had the tabla sitting in the middle,” says Bickram, “We are in the age of the emancipation of the tabla — it is everywhere, tabla artistes are popular like never before — and the world thinks of it as an instrument that fits in everywhere.”

“The

mridangam

is my second favourite instrument,” smiles Bickram, “but only because I am a tabla player. The mridangam is also extremely versatile, has incredible content, and in the southern part of India, you cannot do without the mridangam. I’m so taken with it that I learnt the intricacies of the mridangam on the tabla, and I try to I swap around the sounds. I have huge respect for the mridangam,” he says, “India is a powerhouse of drumming. It’s not just a folk tradition here, it’s a classical-cum-folk tradition — so you have a huge gamut of drums that are
folk drums, many of which have become classical drums over generations.”

But why are there no takers for tabla among the younger generation? “Professional tabla playing is not a very old tradition. But there are exceptional talents out there. I just hope they have the vision and find the voice to break the box,” opines Bickram, “Some spend their lives fitting in, some fitting out. I’d have done some 1000 shows with Pt Ravi Shankar and could have continued to do so, but I wanted a signature. Like for instance here, you had U Shrinivas... he could carry the mandolin’s resonance much further because he had it electricalised. So, breaking the mould is essential to make a mark as a musician.”

But aren’t multi-sound electrical instruments and the percussion making traditional instruments like the tabla redundant? “See, I’m onto scoring music for my 35th film now, and I know what programming music is about — how instead of an 80-piece orchestra, one guy is sitting and downloading all the sounds. I am currently doing a film called Avijaatrik — it’s an opportunity to go totally acoustic, which is a pleasure. I have always believed, and now I am convinced — you cannot replace these instruments. We probably have a generation who grew up listening to electronic sounds — virtual instruments — the sounds imitated on a keyboard or iPad. But I believe in energy flows. You sit in front of a person playing the tabla or the sarod — you see his movements, see him sweating, the person’s hand, his energy — how can you swap all that? It can be done, but it will never be the same experience,” explains Bickram passionately.

“Virtually simulated tabla sounds are not good,” he continues, “It cannot be replicated. I have a handsonic, but the other day, I was telling the Roland (instrument makers) guys that hopefully, in my lifetime, you won’t do enough research to replicate the exact sounds — right now, it’s nowhere near. So, if it’s a Madonna track — go ahead and use the handsonic; you don’t need a great player there. But how are you going to replicate a Umayalpuram Sivaraman or a Karaikudi Mani with a virtually simulated mridangam? It’s impossible. A machine may do it faster, but it can’t substitute,” Bickram signs off.