Introduction to Rupak Tal

After tintal, rupak tal is perhaps the most popular classical tal. Rupak is common in vocal, instrumental, and tabla solo genres. It is also used in light-classical genres.

Rupak is unusual because it is the only popular tal that begins with a khali vibhag instead of a tali vibhag. So the sam (the 1) of rupak is unstressed instead of stressed.

Because the sam is the most important matra in any tal, and because it is usually a point of stress (tali) and/or resolution, lsteners naturally expect the sam to be stressed.

But because the sam is unstressed in rupak tal, it creates a kind of contrast, or even surprise, for listeners. This is one of the reasons that rupak performances can be so special.

Rupak Tal Structure

Rupak tal has a structure of 3 vibhags (divisions) divided 3–2–2. The vibhags have a tali-khali pattern of khali-tali-tali (unstressed-stressed-stressed):

In written form, this vibhag structure is commonly marked in two ways, 0-1-2 or X-2-3:

0–1–2:

• 0 = khali vibhag
• 1 = first tali vibhag
• 2 = second tali vibhag

X–2–3:

• X = sam (counted as first tali vibhag, even though it is khali)
• 2 = first tali vibhag after sam (thought of as 2)
• 3 = second tali vibhag after sam (thought of as 3)

The two ways of marking the rupak vibhags show us two ways of thinking about its structure. In the first way, the first vibhag is marked as a khali vibhag (0). The second and third vibhags are then seen as the first and second tali vibhags (1 and 2).

In the second way of marking the tal, the first vibhag is marked as sam (X). This emphasizes that the first matra of any tal is always sam, and should be counted as “1”, whether it is khali or tali. In this way of thinking, the next tali vibhag after sam is always marked as 2, then 3, etc.

Both of these ways of marking rupak tal are common (we will use the first on this site). In both cases, the timekeeping pattern of claps and waves should be the same.

Rupak Tal Timekeeping Pattern

For both systems of marking the vibhags (shown above), the timekeeping pattern is the same: wave-clap-clap:

Rupak Tal Timekeeping with Lahra

The video below shows the rupak tal timekeeping pattern with lahra (melodic timekeeping).