Lucknow, Sep 19 (Inditop.com) The musician who created it calls it the “world’s largest tabla”. It is 35 inches tall and weighs over 30 kg. Now the percussion instrument is about to make itself heard.
G.S. Misra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi district, is all set for the first performance with his invention.
“Within a month, I will give my first performance with the tabla I have designed. It is the world’s largest tabla. Normally, the tabla height ranges from 10 to 11 inches,” Misra told reporters in Varanasi, some 250 km from Lucknow.
“If all goes well, it would be either in Varanasi or Lucknow, I will give the stage performance that will be dedicated to physically challenged children,” added Misra, who has been playing tabla for nearly 40 years.
Asked what triggered the idea, Misra, 50, said, “I am in the habit of experimenting with musical instruments to produce different notes from them.”
“It was around two years back that I decided to experiment with the tabla so that I could change the bass of the musical instrument. And now I am satisfied that my efforts have yielded results. The tabla designed by me can produce different musical notes, including classical, drum, fusion or spiritual.”
Misra, who started playing the tabla at the age of nine, has given a number of stage shows in India and abroad. Several music bands in Peru and Germany have appreciated his invention, he says.
“In fact, a Peru-based band has invited me to give the first performance from my unique tabla in their country,” said Misra, who comes from a family of musicians.
Misra has been featured in a number of television shows, radio programmes and also runs a music institute in Varanasi, where he imparts free training to aspiring musicians.
“I have been running the Sharda Sangeet Bhawan Institute – named after my mother who was a trained sitar player – for the last 20 years. The only criteria I have set for enrolling students is they need to be passionate about music and should be from poor families,” said Misra.
rounak