The Delhi gharana, also called the Dilli gharana, is a school of tabla playing that began in Delhi with Siddhar Khan Dhadhi in the first half of the 18th century, by the account of the historian Aneesh Pradhan. Many regard it as the oldest tabla gharana and the fountainhead of most of the rest, though DigiTabla notes that the Punjab gharana developed on its own. James Kippen counts Delhi among six tabla gharanas he calls widely recognised.

Sources spell the founder Siddhar, Sidhar or Sudhar Khan, and the surname Dhadhi or Dhari. SwarGanga and DigiTabla put his birth at about 1700, Skidmore College course notes on Gottlieb's recordings place it in the late 1700s, and no source fixes a founding year. Pradhan calls him the earliest known tabla player. He learnt the pakhawaj, the barrel drum, before he turned to the tabla. SwarGanga credits his work on the chanti, the rim of the right drum, with making the tabla a regular accompaniment for khayal singing.

Musicians call the Delhi style kinar baj, the rim style, because the main stroke of the right hand falls at the edge of the drumhead. Many phrases use only the index and middle fingers, which gives the second name, do ungliyon ka baj, the style of two fingers. Pradhan describes Delhi as a band baj, a quieter and closed style, set against the more resonant and open khula baj. DigiTabla calls that distinction loose, and gharanas differ in how much of each they teach. The qaida, a theme played with set variations, sits at the centre of the repertoire, beside peshkar and rela, and most tabla players, whatever their gharana, treat a grounding in Delhi qaidas as essential.

Delhi and Ajrara make up the Dilli baj, against the Purab or eastern baj of Lucknow, Benares and Farrukhabad. The Ajrara and Lucknow gharanas both descend from the Delhi line. Pradhan names Natthu Khan as a significant exponent of the gharana. Inam Ali Khan, son of Gamay Khan, recorded for Gottlieb's survey of solo tabla in Bombay in 1971, and the Skidmore notes call him khalifa, or head, of the gharana.

Key exponents

  • Siddhar Khan Dhadhi, founder, born about 1700 by SwarGanga's and DigiTabla's account
  • Bugra Khan, son of the founder by SwarGanga's account
  • Sitab Khan, disciple of Bugra Khan and teacher of the Ajrara founders by SwarGanga's account
  • Natthu Khan, exponent of the gharana, 1875 to 1940
  • Gamay Khan, father of Inam Ali Khan, 1883 to 1958
  • Inam Ali Khan, khalifa of the gharana, 1924 to 1986 by Pradhan's account (the Skidmore notes give 1990)

Sources

  • Aneesh Pradhan, Tabla performances by maestros of the Delhi gharana, Scroll.in (2016)
  • SwarGanga Music Foundation, Artistbase entry on Siddhar Khan (n.d.)
  • DigiTabla, Dilli Gharana, Baj and Six Gharanas reference pages (n.d.)
  • Robert S. Gottlieb, Solo Tabla Drumming of North India (1993), through Skidmore College course notes
  • James Kippen, The Tabla of Lucknow (1988)
Sign in to follow