Tappa
टप्पा
Short Punjabi love songs, sung in fast taans that leap around the words
Tappa is a Hindustani vocal form of short Punjabi love songs in fast taans, traced by tradition to camel drivers' songs and to Shori Miyan at the late 18th-century Awadh court.
History & Evolution
The usual account traces tappa to songs sung by camel drivers. Sources place them in Punjab, in the wider Punjab and Sindh region, or as far as Rajasthan, and none cites a contemporary record of the songs. Tradition credits Shori Miyan (Ghulam Nabi, 1742 to 1792), a hereditary musician at the Awadh court of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula, with shaping them into the tappa sung today. Most of the traditional repertoire carries his name: the pen name Shori appears inside the song texts.
The scholar Katherine Schofield is reported to argue from 17th-century texts that tappa was sung in Delhi about a century before it took hold in Lucknow. On that reading Shori Miyan refined a form that already existed.
From Lucknow the form travelled. Shori Miyan's disciple Gamun Miyan is said to have taken it to Banaras, and Gwalior singers worked it into hybrids such as tap-khayal and tap-thumri. In Bengal, Ramnidhi Gupta, known as Nidhu Babu, created a Bengali tappa with a slower pace and softer ornament, a style that later fed into the songs of Tagore.
- 17th century and earlier
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Early Accounts
Katherine Butler Schofield cites the Mirzanama and the Tuhfat al-Hind for tappa in 17th-century Delhi, about a century before it became popular in Lucknow. Gokulnath places tappay sung by courtesans in 16th-century Agra. - Late 18th Century
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Shori Miyan at the Awadh court
At Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula's court in Lucknow, Shori Miyan is credited with shaping the camel drivers' songs into tappa. William Hamilton Bird notices the style within his lifetime, in his Oriental Miscellany of 1789. - Late 18th to early 20th century
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Banaras, Bengal and Gwalior
Gamun Miyan is said to carry tappa to Banaras. Nidhu Babu meets it while working at Chhapra and builds a Bengali tappa. At Gwalior, Nissar Hussain Khan keeps it in his repertoire while living with Shankar Pandit's family from 1886. - 20th century to present
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Gwalior and Banaras singers
Gwalior singers such as Sharadchandra Arolkar and Malini Rajurkar, and Banaras singers such as Siddheshwari Devi and Girija Devi, sing and record tappas. Shanno Khurana of the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana releases an album of tappas, Sufi Raah, in 2006.
Technical Aspects
Zamzama and Taans
The zamzama gives tappa its sound. ITC Sangeet Research Academy describes it as a cluster of notes around a landing note, sung in changing combinations, and calls it integral to tappa. The khatka is a knot of notes sung fast and with force. Banaras singers add the chhut taan, a wide upward leap and quick fall, and avoid the sapaat taan, a straight scalar run that would make a tappa sound like fast khayal.
Vocal Demands
The singer Shashwati Mandal is reported to say tappa needs its own vocal training and firm breath control. A tappa opens straight into quick phrases inside the tala, and a Banaras singer adds that it allows no resting on any single note. Aneesh Pradhan places the skill in building melodic and rhythmic tension and resolving it fast, and values intelligent use of swift phrases above virtuosity.
Texts and Talas
Tappa texts run to two to four lines on love, separation and the wish to meet again, and in a Banaras account the voice is a woman's, whoever sings. Most use Punjabi dialects. The talas carry uneven accents: Punjabi and Sitarkhani, also called Addha, run to 16 matras (beats), and Pashto to 7.
Le chemin de la maîtrise
Suivez ce parcours structuré pour maîtriser cette discipline
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Breath and Speed
Build breath control and speed before learning songs. Practise short, fast runs inside a steady tala cycle, and repeat them until you can hold the pace through a whole tappa. The demands on the voice keep a tappa to about ten minutes, which sets the stamina to aim for.
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Zamzama and Khatka
Learn tappa's ornaments one at a time, starting with the zamzama. Debapriya Adhikary of the Banaras line describes zamzama taans as short figures of four or five notes cut with faster ones. Build each figure from a small cell of notes, then add the faster notes around it. Add the khatka next, then the chhut taan, and keep every figure inside the tala.
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Ragas and Talas
Study tappas in Kafi, Khamaj and Bhairavi, then in other ragas found in named compositions, such as Yaman, Jhinjhoti, Tilang, Des and Pahari. Set each song in its tala, whether Punjabi, Sitarkhani or Pashto, and keep the fast phrases anchored to the cycle. Practise with tabla accompaniment until the uneven accents of these talas feel natural.
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Repertoire
Learn traditional tappas with their short Punjabi texts, most of them attributed to Shori Miyan and signed with his pen name. Sing each text until the words stay clear inside the fast phrases, since the zamzama falls on the words themselves. Note where the signature sits: sources place it in the last line or in the antara, the second section of the song.
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Listening and Performance
Listen to recorded tappas by Gwalior and Banaras singers, among them Malini Rajurkar, Siddheshwari Devi and Girija Devi. Follow the tabla: it holds a steady, restrained cycle under the voice and leaves little room for flourishes or solo passages. Then sing with a tabla player and judge each run by what it adds to the phrase.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I learn tappa singing online with a live teacher?
To learn tappa singing online with a live teacher, take KalaSudha's one-to-one lessons with a vetted musician. Tappa sets a short love song, most often in a Punjabi dialect, to fast taans, quick melodic runs woven around the words.
Its signature ornament is the zamzama, a tight cluster of notes sung around a landing note. Foundation builds breath control and speed before any song, through short, fast runs inside a steady tala, or rhythmic cycle. You book lessons in your own time zone through our online academy. In-person workshops and summer camps follow where enough learners sign up.
Have more questions? Contact our support team and we'll be happy to help!