THE PURCHASE OF A TABLA SET, PART TWO

At around ten in the morning, Chandran and I went to a music shop in Triplicane, a neighborhood in Eastern Chennai, just minutes from Marina Beach. The owner of the shop, Abdul Karim has been a tabla crafter his whole life. Not surprisingly, his father owned the shop before him, and his grandfather owned it before his father. For Abdul Karim, this is a familial trade: making drums is in his blood.

Interestingly enough, Abdul’s son is not going to take over the business, but rather his daughter is. To be honest, the details of why or how that decision was made were ambivalent. I was very curious to find out, but in India, questions pertinent to the structure of a family business might be deemed inappropriate. Abdul did say his son was studying to be an engineer, but again, I wonder if that disappoints Abdul or not. In hindsight, I regret not asking those specific questions, but recognize that it was a sticky situation.

Regardless, it was really amazing to hear that his daughter would eventually run the business. I think that is reflective how the rigidity of the social structure of instrument craftsmen has changed dramatically over the years. I cannot imagine that in 1908, or 1808 for that matter, a daughter would take over a family trade; then again, it might not be as uncommon as I think it is.

The shop was a standard, dusty drum shop. There were wooden drum shells stacked and scattered throughout the narrow room. On the left-hand wall, there was a very high shell overflowing with all sorts of percussion instruments. Although they specialize in tabla, mridangam and dholak drums, there were about a half-dozen sitars/sarods (stringed instruments). In the shop, they craft all of the wooden shells and heads: so everything for the tabla (right) drum is made on site. For the duggi (left) drum, they buy the metal shells from a famous drum shop in Hydrabad.

There was no religious iconography in the shop; but, that makes perfect sense, as Abdul and his family are Muslims. (I have visited larger music shops in Chennai that are owned by Hindus, and thus have various religious figures and pictures scattered throughout the shop). Abdul’s shop also serves as the family’s home: everyone lives upstairs.

Chandran has known Abdul for over fifteen years; so that worked to my benefit when negotiating the price of the drums. After spending some time in the shop, I concluded that it would be best to get a cooper duggi. The drum is absolutely beautiful, as it has been hand-hammered with an imperfectly perfect pattern of indentations to augment the sound. The tabla (right) drums are more nondescript: aside from the pitch of the drum, there is not a tremendous range of kinds of tabla, unlike the several choices of materials for the shell of a duggi (left) drum. I decided to get a tabla (right) drum tuned to C. After having played on the drums for several days, I am really happy with my decision, as they sound incredible!

These drums would cost five, maybe even ten times as much in New York City. I actually have shipped my tabla set home, and they already arrived safely thanks to DHL. I cannot wait to play them more upon my return.

In all truth, I did not realize that there was such a diversity of materials to make a tabla, and it was a real treat to have such an extensive look into the crafting of a tabla set. Learning about Abdul’s background was insightful, to say the least. I am eager to meet a Muslim tabla craftsman in Morocco: I wonder how, if at all, the making of a tabla differs in North Africa from that of in South India.

Here are a few videos; I will post pictures as soon as possible. Thanks!