tappa - by neela bhagwat
vimal aga
However Sadarang the khayal composer belonged to mid 18th century. To be
precise, he belongs to the period of Mohammad Shah Rangeela, which is 1712
to 1748.The Tappas from Bengal are dated back to the same period. In fact,
it was Ramanidhi Gupta alias Nidhubabu who was inspired to compose Tappas
after listening to them from people in Chapra, a town in Bihar. This was
around 1739. He had a huge following. Dasharathi Roy, alias Dashubabu, Hari
Thakur, Kali Mirza, Shridhar Kathak, Neelkanth Mukhopadhyay, Ramaprasad Sen
and Ravindranath Tagore are some of the names to mentioned here.
One is inclined to think that the classical version of Punjabi Tappa
composed by Shourimiyan and the Bengali Tappa, which also is a classical
form, existed simultaneously, but independently of each other. Their
characteristics are different. The Punjabi Tappa clearly shows the same
features, as the Khayal.The Bengali Tappa deserves a separate chapter by
itself. One can however, try to trace the history of Punjabi Tappa, which
has two streams .One is found in the Gwalior gharana and the other in the
Benaras gharana. Ghulam Nabi seems to be in the fourth generation from
Sadarang, the khayal composer. Ghulam Nabi alias Shourimiyan lived in
Lucknow.
The origin of the term Tappa, is the word " tap ", which means” all of a
sudden ". As such the rendering of the form involves sudden movement of
musical phrases and words. Generally it is believed that the rendering of
Tappa involves a lot of fast taans alone. However, one comes across a lot of
meends, i.e. curves in most of the compositions. The famous Tappas like
Miyan Janewale, Chal Pehchani, Lal wala Jobana, Dil Baharenda are
interspersed with a lot of meends as well.
One comes across three major ragas used for Tappa compositions. They are
Kafi, Khamaj and Bhairavi.These ragas don't seem to have the possibilities
for the slow tempo Bada khayals. There are Thumris and Taranas in them.
Shourimiyan thought of using these ragas because of the intensity of
emotions that they lend themselves to. Tappa too is a love song, like
Thumri. Directness of expression is also common to both the forms, since
they draw upon the folk songs.
One finds Tappas set to a few taals, like Teental, Punjabi and Pashto.
Occasionally Deepchandi also is used. The version of Teental used for Tappa
is known as Sitarkhani.The space for 4 beats is filled with 3 bols. For
example instead of dha dhin dhin dha, one plays dha -dhin- dha. Punjabi is
in a way an embellished version of Teental.
Pashto can be said to be a version of the taal Roopak.The seven beats of
Roopak undergo a shift of emphasis.Thus ti ti na , dhi na dhi na is changed
to tin-ta tirakita, dhi na na.The distance between the first and the second
beat is that of one and a half beats.That gives a longer space for the word
to go ahead .The rhythmic wave sounds emotive and beautiful.
The composed form of Tappa arrives on the first beat of the taal, with a
part of the word i.e. the bol to be emphasized in the composition and not a
single syllable. In this Tappa follows into the footsteps of khayal
logically, so since the composer Shourimiyan was a khayal singer. The form
of Khayal of the Gwalior style is a blending of raga, taal and the poem. A
musical phrase in a raga, a rhythmic wave in the taal and a word in the poem
are woven together and a word, a complete word is chosen to emphasize the
emotive content for the first beat, technically known as the sam. The famous
Kafi Tappa Miya Janewale has the " sam" on "wale" and the Khamaj Tappa Chal
Pehchani has it on “ chani”.
There are khayals which have Tappa-like tans woven around the words. Bada
khayal in raga Bilaval, Miya suna ja and Chota khayal in raga Bhoop, Tanu
mainu Jobandave. There is a Tappa in raga Yaman Kalyan Ari o mendhi ankhadi,
which is an exception. As such Tappa is a fast -moving song with a short
duration of about seven minutes, which can be composed in any raga. The
three ragas mentioned above, are more a matter of practice, not a rigid
rule. Creative urges can never be bound by rigid rules even in the
traditional art of Hindustani Classical Music.
Tappa comes into being through a blending of short tans woven around the
words, meends ie. curves, khatkas, murkis {these are combinations of 3/4
notes occurring together with chiseled cuts}, rhythmic waves and pauses.
There is a frequent use of certain musical phrases in the rendering of
Tappas: 1] mpddpmp, pdnndpd, dnssndn, 2} pdpddnndpd, dndnnssndn 3} srs- nsn-
dnd- pdp -mpm-gmg -rgr--srs 4} straightforward ascendance and decendence in
the raga in question for example, srgmpdns - sndpmgrs. 5} Descending
patterns like - ssndpm, nsndpm, ddpmgr, and ppmgrs.
Tappa is attractive in its form and content as well. The protagonist of
Tappa is a heroine deeply in love with the hero. She speaks about her
surrender in such charming musical phrases that convey great
self-confidence. {Vari Jandi Mai Tere Shoname - raga Khamaj}. Perhaps it is
the strong willed woman in Punjab that is reflected in the art -form of
Tappa.
The musicians of the Gwalior Gharana, descendents of Shourimiyan, seem to
have enjoyed singing the form of tappa so much that they have composed some
of the verses from Geet govind, by the poet Jaidev of the 12th century, in
Tappa style. Mainly it was the contribution of Bade Balkrishnabuwa.
In modern days, one comes across Tappas, composed by Late Pt. Sharatchandra
Arolkar and Pt. Kumar Gandharva .The history of the form tells us not to
associate the form with any single language. What is essential is the
technique of weaving the musical phrases around a word. Once one achieves
mastery over it, one can use the form to convey restful emotions in
rest-free manner and bring together, depth of feelings and scintillating
fast movement. That may be a challenge to a musician in the modern
fast-moving culture.
Here is a list of singers whose Tappa singing is available in the form of
recordings:
1. Siddheshvari Devi 2. Krishnarao Shankar Pandit 3. Laxman K Pandit 4. Jal
K Balaporia 5. Malini Rajurkar 6. Shard Sathe 7. Neela Bhagwat 8. Rajan and
Sajan Mishra 9. Chhannolal Mishra 10. Kalpana Jhokarkar 11. Shubhada
Paradkar 12. Vasantrao Deshpande 13. Vijay Koparkar.
posted from dhadkan.com. the original URL is
http://www.dhadkan.com/classic/index.htm
Ajay P Nerurkar
: posted from dhadkan.com. the original URL is
: http://www.dhadkan.com/classic/index.htm
I congratulate you for posting the source of this article, because
such courtesies are becoming increasingly rare in this age. Let me
point you to the following URL:
http://www.dhadkan.com/cgi-bin/dhadkan/profiles.cgi?artistID=1220&jnd=C
This is a savage mutilation of an article on Khaprumama Parvatkar that
I had translated a few years ago from the Marathi original by Gopalkrishna
Bhobe. Dr. Rajan Parrikar has had occasion to re-post it to RMIC recently.
dhadkan.com has not acknowledged the source of the article and a part of
me is grateful to them for that, so terrible is their reworking of it.
For the sake of comparison, I reproduce a paragraph from the dhadkan.com
article below. Notice that it includes the phrase "solutions to the intricacies
of Tala", which to a lay reader like you and me makes no sense whatsoever.
Ajay
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Initially, Layabhaskar used to play the Sarangi. He received his preliminary
training in Sarangi from his uncle Raghuvir Parvatkar and in Pakhawaj from his
cousins, Harishchandra and Ramkrishna Parvatkar. Even as a young child, Khapru
was interested in experimentation and innovation, immersing himself in research
on Tala Shastra. In the year 1919, he presented his solutions to the
intricacies of Tala, at a symposium organized by the late Pt. Vishnu Digambar
Paluskar. In 1921, musicians like Pt. Bhaskarbuva Bakhle applauded his mastery
of Laya. In 1933, he excelled himself in a mehfil comprising eminent musicians
of the stature of Alladiya Khan, Vilayat Hussain Khan and Faiyyaz Khan among
others. Here, he successfully built a difficult Theka of thirteen matras,
topping it off with a Tihai. At another mehfil, he produced a difficult
composition with a Tihai comprising three Dhas around a Theka of 13-« beats.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sajjad Khaliq
: The origin of the term Tappa, is the word " tap ", which means all of a
: sudden ".
I believe that "tap" in Punjabi means to jump.
--
Sajjad Khaliq / Hamilton / Ontario / Canada
bdixit
Rajurkar, one of the better known contemporary singer of tappas, the meaning of
word "tappa." She said that the practical meaning of "tappa" is "to sing a
group of notes in a stepwise and a rapid fassion." ......Balwant Dixit
vimal aga wrote:
--
Balwant N. Dixit
University of Pittsburgh
541-2 Salk Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Tel No:(412) 648-8582
FAX No:(412) 648-8475
Sambit Basu
>It is difficult to identify the exact date of the birth of this form.
>However Sadarang the khayal composer belonged to mid 18th century. To be
>precise, he belongs to the period of Mohammad Shah Rangeela, which is 1712
>to 1748.The Tappas from Bengal are dated back to the same period. In fact,
>it was Ramanidhi Gupta alias Nidhubabu who was inspired to compose Tappas
>after listening to them from people in Chapra, a town in Bihar. This was
>around 1739. He had a huge following. Dasharathi Roy, alias Dashubabu, Hari
>Thakur, Kali Mirza, Shridhar Kathak, Neelkanth Mukhopadhyay, Ramaprasad Sen
>and Ravindranath Tagore are some of the names to mentioned here.
Rabindranath composed a few songs which resemble tappa and
definitely motivated by Bengali tappa, but he himself didn't
call them tappa, instead these are called "tappanga". Like
all Rabindranath-songs, they are very tightly composed meaning
that the singer does not have much (almost any) freedom to
improvise.
>One is inclined to think that the classical version of Punjabi Tappa
>composed by Shourimiyan and the Bengali Tappa, which also is a classical
>form, existed simultaneously, but independently of each other.
Not really. The music historians roots bengali tappa in this
genealogical tree: Puanjabi Camel-drivers songa > Punjabi Tappa
> Ghulam Nabi (Shori Mian) > Ramnidhi Gupta (Nidhubabu).
The Bengali tappa is different from the mainstream tappa in its
strong and poetic lyrics and less taan. The murkis are also
less granular. Again, the music historians speculate that
Nidhubabu gave up the dominance of fast taans and highly
granular murkis in order to make the lyrics clearly audible
and understandable.
And Bengali tappa is classified more in the semi-classical genre
than in the classical-genre.
- Sambit
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