Introduction to Tabla Gharanas

If you spend any time around tabla players, you will soon hear them talking about gharānās.

"He’s from Punjab gharana." or "That composition is from the Dilli gharana." or "Which gharana do you study in?"

A tabla gharānā (घराना) is a lineage, or “school” of tabla players. And for much of its history, classical tabla evolved through these mostly hereditary lineages, beginning with Siddhar Khan of the Dilli gharana, sometime in the 1700s. Eventually, there came to be six widely recognized gharanas: Dilli, Lucknow, Ajrara, Farrukhabad, Benares, and Punjab.

Most of modern tabla’s huge repertoire of compositions and styles grew out of these gharanas. The first two, Dilli and Lucknow, were especially important. But each of the gharanas developed their own influential approaches to style and composition.

In modern times, most scholars and musicians agree that the gharana tradition has greatly declined, both as a culture, and in its traditional influence on modern tabla.

The gharana system which used to produce masters who were unique as artists, and yet had a particular gharana baj (style), has been mostly finished for decades. And most of today’s tabla players do not come from any of the original family lines.

Yet many of the gharanas’ compositions, techniques, and styles continue to be played by today’s players. And most players are still trained in one of the major gharanas—and will proudly tell you so—as one’s lineage and guru are still important for both identity and credibility.

With such a complex history, many students and listeners are confused about the gharanas, about what exactly a gharana is, how one gharana differs from another, or if the gharanas really matter anymore.

To answer these questions in any depth is beyond the scope of this website. Even for players, it can take years of study before there is any understanding.

But here we can look at a basic definition of gharana, with some brief discussions of its history, and its most prominent characteristics and issues. But keep in mind that we can only touch the surface of this vast subject.

A Basic Definition of Gharana

The word gharana comes from the Hindi word ghar (घर), which means "home" or "house". So the literal meaning of gharana might be "household", "family", or "lineage".

In the world of classical Indian music, a gharana refers to an oral lineage, or school, of musicianship. In addition to tabla gharanas, there are gharanas of vocal and instrumental music, as well as gharanas of dance, such as kathak.

But as mentioned earlier, gharanas are very complex. And scholars and musicians disagree about exactly how to define a gharana.

For our purposes, I won’t get into the scholarly debates about what defines a gharana. Instead I’ll outline a more basic definition which includes some points made by my teacher Chhotelal Misra in his theory book Tal Prabandh.

To start, I’ll paraphrase a definition I first found in James Kippen’s The Tabla of Lucknow (cited from Silver), and which was accepted by my own teacher Chhotelal Misra:

A gharana is a musical lineage which orally passes on musical techniques, compositions, theories, and cultural information from generation to generation.

And for tabla gharanas in particular, Chhotelal emphasized the following requirements:

• Unique material
• A particular baj (playing style)
• A particular rendition of bol (fingering of strokes)

Below are some general discussions of these elements, and baj is discussed in more depth in the next section.

The Guru-Shishya Tradition

The guru-shishya ("master-disciple") relationship is at the heart of the gharana tradition. Traditionally, knowledge and guidance is passed orally from teacher to student over the course of a long, close relationship which may last 15 to 20 years or more.

In the past, students often lived with their teachers, spending much of their days practicing and listening to music, and often acting as servants. Today, this kind of relationship is rare.

Whenever possible, students were the sons of teachers. If no son could carry on the tradition, then relatives of the family were given preference. A son of the original family line who goes on to represent the gharana is called a khalifa in Muslim traditions (all of the major tabla gharanas were founded by Muslims except for Benares).

Today, few of the original gharana family lines have prominent artists. Sabir Khan of the Farrukhabad gharana is the last remaining direct descendant of any gharana’s original family line who is also a prominent and recognized master. Ilmas Hussain Khan of the Lucknow gharana (son of Afaq Hussain and direct descendant of founder Mian Bakhshu Khan) is known and respected among musicians, but is not well known by the public.

Despite the loss of family lines, all of the gharanas have prominent exponents and lineages outside of the family line. In fact, in the modern era, it is the non-hereditary performers who have been the most influential.

The Influence of Important Artists

The gharanas have always been influenced, expanded, and sometimes significantly changed, by their most prominent and creative artists. This is true whether or not they are members of the original family line.

In recent times, the majority of India’s most famous and influential tabla players have been non-hereditary exponents.

The Farrukhabad gharana, for example, has been strongly influenced by Ahmedjan Thirakwa, Amir Hussain, and Jnan Prakash Ghosh. None of these artists were direct descendants of the original Farrukhabad gharana family.

Another highly influential, non-hereditary player was Ustad Alla Rakha of the Punjab gharana, who redefined the gharana by creating his own distinct style. His son Zakir Hussain became the most popular tabla player of his generation, and further expanded and solidified this new style as The Punjab gharana. The older Punjab style is seldom heard in India anymore.

In Benares, the most prominent and influential players of the last few generations have all been outside the original family line. They include Kante Maharaj, Anokhelal Misra, Kishan Maharaj, and Samta Prasad.

And the Lucknow gharana’s most famous exponent of recent decades has been Swapan Chaudhuri. A non-hereditary exponent from Kolkata, Swapan is one of the top performers of his generation.

Distinct Lineages within a Gharana

Because gharanas are continually redefined and expanded by these prominent players, there are often significant differences between major lineages of the same gharana, though they share a common core of material.

These may include differences in technique and general style, different phrases used in common compositions, which areas of the repertoire are emphasized, and different compositions from other lineages.

As mentioned above, the lineage of Alla Rakha is significantly different from other Punjab lineages, though they share a core body of material.

Students of Jnan Prakash Ghosh of the Farrukhabad gharana have differences in style and repertoire from students of Keramatullah Khan, the former khalifa of the Farrukhabad gharana (Jyan Prakash studied with Kermatullah, and also with Kermatullah’s father, Masit Khan).

And in Benares, there are significant differences between the lineages of Anokhelal Misra, Samta Prasad, and Kanthe Maharaj.

This is perfectly natural and, in fact, unavoidable in an oral tradition where every great master is an interpreter of his own tradition. Like spoken languages, gharana traditions are constantly evolving.

Secrecy in Gharanas

Historically, gharana members have been very secretive of their material. This secrecy is not only felt by "outsiders", but also within the gharanas.

Even today, many traditional gurus will only share certain compositions or techniques with special students, hopefully a son or close relative. The teacher must feel that the student is worthy of such material. And complaints from prominent students that their teacher would "not give me everything" are still heard today.

This behavior is common in oral traditions from many cultures. One cannot risk losing one’s knowledge to outsiders, or risk "corrupting" it by members who are not capable of carrying on the tradition as it should be.

For classical Indian music gharanas, secrecy also once served a more practical purpose: it gave a musician his identity. This identity was crucial for respect and recognition, and played a role in the competition for patronage at the courts which employed musicians.

But that time has long past. And in the world’s largest democracy, you might expect that the most popular classical music genre would be openly shared and taught. Yet attitudes of secrecy remain common among many musicians.

Unfortunately, because of this secrecy, a great deal of knowledge has been lost. This loss has come from broken blood lines, or because there were no students who were seen as worthy enough to receive the knowledge. Instead of writing this knowledge down, or passing it on to others outside the gharana, it has simply been lost.

Indians themselves have spoken out most of all against gharana secrecy. In his book Tabla: Rare Compositions of The Great Masters, written in 2014, Pandit Vijay Shankar Mishra makes a point echoed by many others:

The tendency of hedging and withholding knowledge has been one the greatest misfortunes of Indian music. As a result, many brilliant compositions have died along with their composers. (p. v)

Today’s generation of players is more open minded, and the open nature of the internet and modern communications is quickly taking some traditional knowledge out of the masters’ control. But secrecy and personal politics remain a problem in the culture.

Gharana Prejudice

Another unfortunate legacy of the gharanas is the open prejudice against other gharanas and styles. When there is a difference in technique, theory, or composition, it is still common to say that differing opinions are "wrong", or that only their way is "correct".

My personal opinion is that this culture of prejudice is one of the more harmful aspects of the tradition, and one that all students should be aware of. It promotes a tribal attitude, and a tendency to criticize and reject, rather than simply listen with an open ear.

The roots of this attitude are understandable. The gharanas have historically competed with one another. And certainly many great developments in classical tabla have come from this drive to distinguish one’s self, or one’s gharana, from others.

But when left unchecked, competitive attiutudes can keep students and listeners from appreciating the great variety of the classical tabla repertoire.

The Decline of the Gharana System

According to Chhotelal Misra, Anokhelal Misra felt that gharana-tabla, or gharanedar tabla, was essentially over (note that Anokhelal died in 1958). This was an attitude shared by many traditional players and music connoisseurs of the time.

By now, few would disagree with this opinion.

Chhotelal himself remarked many times that even in Benares, where one can still hear echoes of a traditional style, gharanedar tabla was all but finished.

My understanding of this attitude is that Anokhelal, Chhotelal, and others felt that the gharanas were no longer producing true exponents. Many of today’s traditionalists have similar feelings.

What defines a true exponent of a particular gharana is partly subjective. But we can get an idea by noting that traditionalists often make the same criticisms of today’s players:

• Lack of any distinguishing baj (playing style)
• Less developed sense of bol (depth and variety of traditional phrasing)
• Less use of traditional formulae (approaches to development), especially in accompaniment soloing
• Over-emphasis on technique, speed, and mathematics
• Mixing of techniques and material, including from other gharanas, in haphazard, non-traditional ways. Chhotelal called this “khichri tabla”, meaning “mixture” or “hodgepodge” (khichri is also a kind of food)

These points overlap to some extent, but they are the comments from masters that I have heard, or read, the most.

From these points, we can make at least two general observations about today’s players:

• They are assimilating less deeply the tabla’s traditional language and formulae, whether by choice or because of less time spent training.
• They are following their own, or popular preferences for style, technique, and material, rather than limiting themselves to that of their own gharanas or gurus.

Since tabla gharanas are defined largely by their unique baj (style), technique, and material, we can understand why most people consider gharanedar tabla to be effectively finished.

Reasons for the Gharanas’ Decline

There are many factors which have contributed to the decline of the gharanas. Some of them are obvious, others are less so.

One of the most obvious reasons is that Indian society, and its music communities, have changed so much that almost no one has the time, or the dedication to learn the music as deeply as past generations did.

For India’s music communities themselves, the most fundamental change is that there is no longer a strong support system. The gharanas flourished in the court era, when wealthy patrons could fully support musicians and their families. This left them free to do nothing but play and listen to music.

That world is now gone. Today’s musicians rarely live with their teachers and are often not surrounded by music, or are too busy to be surrounded only by music. And so the crucial musical environment which musicians need no longer exists for most students.

Students also now have to go to school during their music training years, often to prepare for another career. And if successful with music, they feel pressured to have an income from their music at an earlier age, from performing and/or teaching. And so their training ends sooner than in the past.

Another enemy of the gharana system has been technology, especially transportation, communications, and recording technology. When the gharanas were strongest, communication among players of different gharanas was limited. And it was far easier for a guru to control his students (“control” is a word commonly used by gurus themselves).

With time, more and more players were able to listen regularly to other players. With the rise of radio, and then cassette players in India, many students started listening to whomever they wanted. Now, with the internet in their pockets, students can listen to, and learn from countless sources.

All of these changes have meant less time for playing, listening, developing, and living the traditional life of music. When you combine this with today’s pace of life, and its endless technological distractions, you have a very different world than that of the great masters of the past.

Do the Gharanas Really Matter Anymore?

This is not an easy question to answer. Musicians themselves have different opinions about this question. Most seem to agree that the gharanas no longer strictly determine what, or how, modern tabla players play.

But there is also no doubt that most of the tabla’s vast repertoire of compositions, styles, and techniques grew out of the gharanas. And most of India’s prominent players are still trained in one or more of the major gharana lineages. In most cases, a player’s primary teacher will strongly influence his technique, repertoire, and style.

So clearly the gharanas still have some relevance.

Perhaps the more difficult questions to answer are those such as: "How important is it to study in only one gharana?" "And for how long?" "Can I fulfill myself as an artist if I limit myself to one gharana?".

There are no easy answers to these questions, and serious students will have to answer them for themselves.

References