Tala
Manjedar Gats in Tintal (16 Beats)
In North Indian classical music, tabla soloing is an art. A tabla soloist present different compositions that are remembered in a spoken language, whose ‘words’ are called boles (Dha, dhe, ne, te, re etc.).
A gat (pronounced similarly to “gut”) is a type of musical composition in North Indian classical music. What it represents is different for different types of music. In sitar playing, for example, a gat is a melody, like the main melody in a verse of a song. In drumming, it is a drum composition that uses boles in a poetic way. A gat is like a poem for the tabla or the older pakawaj drum. It’s difficult to explain, but better represented by examples.
Here are seven examples of a particular kind of gat called a “manjedar gat”. This type of gat is best described by listening to the video above. It begins at a particular speed, then the number of sub-beats in each beat increases with the ending being played double speed. It is best to look at the examples to get an idea of what a manjedar gat is.
Each one of the seven examples below is 16 beats long (4 lines – 4 beats each line)
Example No. 1
Composed by Villayat Ali Khan, the founder of the Farrukhabad gharana.
From the book Vintage Tabla Repertory by Gert-Matthias Wegner
Starts out in 3s (three sub-beats per beat), the third line (beat 9) is in 4s (four sub-beats per beat), and the last line is in 8s (with 3 sub-beats overriding the last four sub-beats of beat 16 (takite).
Example No. 2
Ajrada manjedar gat composed by Shaikh Abdul Karim Khan.
From the book Vintage Tabla Repertory
Starts out in 3s, the third line (beat 9) is in 4s, and the last line is in 8s
Example No. 3
Farukhabad gharana manjedar gat from Swapan Chaudhuri
First two lines are in 3s, beat 9 and 10 are in 6s, beats 11 and 12 are in 3s, and the last line is in 6s.
Example No. 4
Farukhabad gharana – Variation of gat #3 (above) from Swapan Chaudhuri
First line is in 3s, the second line plus the first two beats of the third line are in 4s. Beats 11 and 12 are in 3s and the last line (a repeat of the last line from gat #3 above) are in 6s.
Example No. 5
Manjedar gat by Villayat Ali Khan, the founder of the Farrukhabad gharana from the Vintage Tabla Repertory
Switches from 3s to 4s at beat 9, then at beat 12, switches to 6s.
Example No. 6
Farukhabad gharana
Starts out in 3s, the third line (beat 9) is in 4s, and the last line is in 6s
Example No. 7
Farukhabad gharana
Starts out with a three-note patern in 4s contained in lines 1 and 2. Now, beats 9 through 13 contain the same pattern as lines 1 and 2, only in 6s. Finally, the last 3 beats are a repeat of beats 1 through 6 in double time.
