A yogi of the tabla

For some odd reason, the first thought that strikes us when we meet Talvin Singh is how he, with his sharpish beard-and-mustache look, reminds us of Ranvir Singh from Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram Leela. Clearly, ‘tis the season of the mustachioed man. But then the tabla player/ producer has been known as much for his irreverent style — he went through the spiked and blue hair phase for a while — as for his music.

For what it’s worth, it is also extremely relieving to discover, as we sit down to talk to Singh, that he is quite an easy person to talk to. Like a breezy ditty, Singh meanders while answering our questions, and that is welcome music to one’s ears. There’s no curtness, neither is there verbosity.

Singh was in the city last weekend to perform at the Seagram’s 100 Pipers Music Week; but because it’s been quite a few years since he’s visited Bangalore, one wonders if he’s the sort of musician who is particular about the concerts he chooses to perform in. “I am very very particular but then, I have to be particular because the nature of what I do is fragile,” he iterates, adding, “The tabla is an instrument that demands respect, so the setting has to be perfect.” So, as an artiste does he get offended if he has a distracted audience, the sorts who couldn’t be bothered with silencing their phones and answer a call in the middle of a concert? “It depends on the setting really,” he states before recounting one such instance. “I’d recently attended a baithak where the sarangi player answered the phone right in the middle of his performance! I think its  a global problem — this need to answer phones,” quips Singh before moving on to discuss music.

The tabla is my identity
And so we go back to the basics, right back to the tabla and what the instrument really means to him. His reply is instant. “Tabla to me is a yogic instrument. A very complete instrument. And I don’t think there is any percussion instrument that is as complete as the tabla is.”

Referring to it as a relatively new instrument compared to the pakhawaj or the mridangam, Singh is effusive discussing the instrument’s technology. “I think whoever came up with the idea of this technology, of placing the black metallic-sounding syahi  on skin, is brilliant.” “If you think deeply the technology is amazing,” he says before admitting, as almost every classical musician is perforce to do, that he continues to be a student, learning about the instrument every single day. “It is a part of my culture, a part of finding my own identity,” is how he eloquently puts it, adding, “The tabla’s repertoire is so massive, you need many lifetimes to learn it.”

Be that as it may, Singh is happy admitting that the times they are a’changing. In terms that, where earlier the ustads were secretive and frugal with sharing their knowledge of the tabla, today, they are ready to share it with anyone interested in it. “Their attitude today is ‘jitna ho sake, baanth do’,” Singh remarks. “They’ve realised that if they don’t share what they know, the tabla can die.”

Fast forward
Moving on, with a new year right round the corner, it is time to do some crystal ball gazing. What according to Talvin Singh, we ask, is the next big idea in music? Without demurring, Singh says, “Personally, I think music is becoming quieter. I think this whole idea of playing music really loud is old. I am tired of it, people are tired of it. Music’s becoming more acoustic today. Even electronic music, it  is going softer.” Point out, though,  that Indian audiences still enjoy music that’s loud and has got ‘punch’ and Singh readily agrees, going in so far as to say, “I am always left wondering as to why can’t I play subtle music here?”

But then, giving a peek into the master performer he is, he says  with a tinkle in his eyes, “ I never limit myself to only playing music that I think audiences want. Playing what people expect is boring. You’ve always got to give them something different. Jo chalta hain, woh nahin karte. That thinking is the reason for my downfall and my uprise as well.”