15-yr-old tabla artiste bags special prize, has performed globally too

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 26

The Shri Ram Hall was resonated by the sounds of tabla as young talented table players touched the tabla dayans. The powerful notes set the mood and everyone was transfixed. As the 144th Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan has started, the three-day music contest that was commenced on Tuesday ended today with the artistes performing percussion instruments.

The only female player in the junior category also showcased her skills. Ineassa Dassani from Gurugram said she had come here (sammelan) for the first time. She won a special prize for her heart-whelming performance. She started at the age of six years and the zeal to learn something new pushed her towards learning tabla. She said none in her family was into music. “My brother did learn Piano but he didn’t continue,” she said. When she was asked, why tabla? 15-year-old Dassani said: “One rarely sees a girl performing table. Usually, instruments such as sitar and flute are seen in the hands of a woman, hence, I wanted to learn something different.”

The young player said she had played tabla in three national-level competitions and a few international-level competitions too in Russia and Spain. However, the kind of competition she faced at the sammelan was totally different. “It was tough here, I was nervous,” she said.|

Hemant (12) performed teen taal on tabla. He said his whole family was into music and his father Jia Lal was a professor of tabla at a private college.

“I started learning when I was three and learned it from my uncle Tilak Raj,” he said.

In the junior category, the first prize was won by Deepak Gouri, who played chaar taal on tabla. He is from Jalandhar. Aayush Savdekar from Gurugram, Haryana, won the second prize as he performed chaar taal ki swari. Amritsar lad Varinder Singh, who stood third, also gave another level to teen taal on tabla.

Young artistes from across the country took part in the event. The performers came from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, and Maharashtra and presented various ragas and played various instruments during the three days. Baba Harivallabh started the event in the memory of his guru, Swami Tulsagiri, and hermits used to attend it then. Baba Harivallabh ran the event for 10 years till his death in 1885, after which it was renamed after him.