Revision as of 20:49, 9 August 2015

A pronunciation guide

Indians, indeed, South Asians, need not read this guide. They will immediately guess our system, even if they do not know Hindi-Urdu,

For others:

Diacritical marks above vowels double their sound.

A diacritical mark above an ‘ñ’ makes it a nasalised, ‘half’ n as in soNg, briNg, bruNt, caN’t, loNg, ENglish etc.

Capital T and D mean that the T and D are hard, as in the English language.

The capital N denotes a hard n, which non-Indians might find cumbersome. They can stick to the normal n.

Small t and d indicate the soft t and d of Spanish, French and Italian. The d sound is close to the English th (as in THere, THis, THat etc.)

An accentuated é should be pronounced as in French.The S symbol used in some thekas (eg ardhya) is not the English letter S. it is the Sanskrit symbol S (a vowel prolonger) used in the 21st century mainly in Bhojpuri.

Glossary

Some definitions

tãl: (Also spelt taal, tal and tala.) The tãlî (clap) that is given with the hand or by hitting the tablã in order to keep count of time is called tãl. Taal has also been described, correctly, as the Indian system of rhythm. Tal literally means "clap". These claps are first taught on bare hands and then reproduced on the tabla. The essential components of a tãl are: tali (or bhari), khali, vibhag (or ang), matra, bol, theka, lay, sam and avartan.

Thékã: A theka is the use of (dhã, tin etc.) to measure the beats of a taal—so that the total number of beats—tãlis and khãlis—become clear. For each theka certain bol and vibhag (tali, khali) have been laid down by tradition. The pronunciation of these sounds varies somewhat from region to region.

tãlî (sometimes called bhari; in some parts of India it is pronounced Tãlî; people like Agrawal pronounce it tãl) means ‘clap.’ In every taal you have to ‘clap’ on the tabla on certain counts (mentioned in the ‘tãlî’ column of the table on this page).

khãli literally means ‘empty.’ In taals it is the wave of the hands, normally the right hand.

For those who have never learnt the tablã let us make it even simpler.

Before letting students touch the tablã, the teacher makes them memorise the beats of taals by clapping and waving their hands. Thus, while teaching the ék tãl, which has 12 mãtrãs (beats), the teacher recites all the numbers from 1 to 12. In the table on this page we have mentioned 1, 5, 9 and 11 under ‘tãlî.’ Therefore, students clap (typically, they hit the left palm with the right palm) when the teacher chants 1, 5, 9 or 11. And when the teacher calls out ‘3!’ or ‘7!’, both of which have been listed under khãli, the student pulls the right hand away to the right side. This action resembles a ‘wave.’ This ‘clapping’ and ‘waving’ is reproduced on the tablã or other Indian percussion instrument.

avartan: The basic cycle.

bol: A sound. This is not a random sound. A specific sound, of not more than one syllable, is assigned to each stroke played on the instrument. Bol is thus a mnemonic system. It helps the player remember which stroke to play.

jãtî literally means clan. Hindustani taals (tãls) belong to one of the following five jãts or clans, depending on the number of their beats:

tisra: 3 beats or multiples of 3

chatushr : 4 beats or multiples of 4

khañD: 5 beats or multiples of 5

mishr : 7 beats or multiples of 7

sañkîrN: 9 beats or multiples of 9

lay, lai, laya, layé (rhymes with jai): The tempo. The speed at which the tãl is played is its ‘lai’ (pron. luh-eh). There are three kinds of lai: vilambit (lit. prolonged, i.e. slow), madhya (medium) and drut (fast). Ati- means ‘extremely.’

mãtrã (beat): It some taals some matras have been subdivided.

sam: The beginning of a cycle. The first beat of every cycle is normally stressed.

vibhãg/ añg: This is a measure. Each clap or wave indicates a particular section or measure. A measure can consist of any number of beats.

zarb: Hitting, striking the table.

Note

Mr Aamir Raza of the Sur Seva Club, Faisalabad, Pakistan, has made a little list of taals, arranged according to the number of their mãtrãs. His transliteration of taal names from the Hindi (and at least one from Urdu) is so, well, different that it makes us wonder whether he has merely misspelt the word or has told us something that other scholars have not.

His list cannot be ignored because in the sincerity of his quest he reminded us of taals like Mînakshi, Dhaiyã, Ghazaliyã and the tiny Robãnã, which even very detailed Indian lists of taals have omitted.

In the following taals he merely differs from most others in the number of mãtrãs: Adha 14 (does he mean the 16 or 8 beat adhdhã?); Ast Mangal 20; Chotala, 14; Chou 12; Deepchandni (sic), 7; Genesh (sic) Taal, 20; and Indar Taal, 11.

The intriguing taals mentioned by him, with the matras of each, are: Asool Fakhta 5 (sool?); Hori Thmaar 14 (dhamãr?); Qaiad Fardast 19 (qaid, captured or qãyad, leader?); Thmaar 14 (dhamar?); Shankhar Taal 17 (a misspelling of the deity’s name or from the conch shañkh?). Google searches for these taals yielded no results.

Principal source

Ramdas Agrawal, Tablã Taal Sangreh, 1925. Publisher: Dwarka Prasad Agrawal. (11-12, Barandah, Chowk, Allahabad) First impression: 500 copies. Price: Re.1.

Ramdas Agrawal was from Koocha Shyamdas, Badshahi Mandi, Allahabad. Wherever he differs with the majority view, and he often does, both views have been given.

Why this page?

This page was created in order to give laymen just the names and correct pronunciations of the most important taals/ tãls. (However, as the page grows it will have other information as well. It already does.)

Why should Indians, especially those who can read Hindi in Devanagari, need pronunciation guides to their own taals/ tãls? Because of the confusing alternative spellings, in Roman as well as Devanagari.

Hence Indpaedia volunteers, who are not experts either, have constructed this page to the best of their ability. Please guide them through messages sent to the Facebook community, Indpaedia.com.

See also

Raags/ ragas and Thaats: Hindustani

Taal/ tãl: Hindustani