Electronic dance music moves to a new beat in night clubs—the tabla
In the mid-1990s, musician Talvin Singh amped up the sound of his tabla in UK clubs, going head to head with either an electronic DJ set or a live punk band. Over a decade later, the tabla has surfaced in night clubs in India, as a full-bodied foil to the sound of electronica. So, once a month, tabla player Dibyajyoti Dutta, better known as JONQui, flies down from Mumbai to perform at a Delhi hot spot, his live percussion a distinct spice to the waves of progressive house music emanating from the DJ’s console.

JONQui is seen across clubs in Mumbai like the Blue Frog and Zenzi and at Smoke House Grill in Delhi, playing a live percussive set with DJs such as Nikhil Chinappa, Cheenu, Pearl, Suketu and Akbar Sami. The electro-live percussion night has become a regular feature at clubs across the country, including Shalom (Delhi), Blue Frog (Mumbai) and Roxy (Kolkata). Shalom, which promotes Asian sounds, holds such an event every week.

“Tabla adds a live element to the DJ set. It adds a lot of texture to a club event,” says Tapan Raj, of the duo MiDival Punditz. The musicians recently travelled across nine cities in the country to promote their latest album Hello Hello. Their gigs featured a jugalbandi with New York-based tabla maestro Karsh Kale, who has been playing the tabla for over a decade now.

“Playing the tabla with a DJ set is not about layering its beats over electronic music. It is an entire process of adapting to the sound and adding to the overall attitude. There is a musical interaction that goes on between two musicians doing two different things at the same time,” says Kale. Acts like Blot and Jalebee Cartel have also taken to such live jamming.

... contd.