Lesson 11: Tisra Jati

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Lesson 11: Tisra Jati

UNDERSTANDING TALA JATIS

In South Indian music, the focus of their music is the rhythm. Their tala formation is one of the most systematic and most difficult forms to comprehend or to write down. For this reason, the talas have been put into “castes” of jatis. The jati of a tala indicates a multiple of the number of a matras for a specific tala. It is not just any multiple. The multiple describes the general flow of the tala. There are five jatis, although two will be relevant for mridanga study.

The last four lessons, we’ve dealt with two matra numbers: sixteen and eight. For the most part, we saw that the tala divisions were broken down into fours. Tintal had 4+4+4+4 count. Kaherva tala and bhajani tala had 4+4, while Prabhupada tala had 4+2+2. Since the key number and multiple for these sixteen and eight matra talas are four, these talas fit in a category known as catastra jati – multiple of four.

The talas that we will be studying today are triadic in nature. They are based on the multiple of three. These talas are in a jati called the tisra jati. We will look at three talas of the tisra jati.

DADRA TALA

X			0
1	2	3	4	5	6
dhā	dhin	nā	dhā	ti	tā

This tala is six matras long. It is divided 3+3, with tali on the sam and khali on matra 4. This is the Indian equivalent to the “waltz” rhythm in Western music.

This tala is a symmetrical tala. (ta ti na, ta ti na)

This tala is used in semi-classical performances.

AUDIO CLIP: Lesson 11 Dadra Tala Practice

BANGLA EKTAL

gha

tā

gha

tā

gha

tā

Bangla Ektal (Bengali Ektal) has twelve beats. This is the tala commonly used in Bengali bhajans. This is the tala used in the song “Namamisvaram Saccidananda Rupam.”

This is also a symmetrical tala. This is divided 3+3+6, with tali on sam and matra 4, and khali on matra 7. Matra 7, with its khali effect, can be substituted with gin. Recall from Lesson 3, “gin” was a baya bol that was produced by playing “ga” and sliding across the head of the baya.

AUDIO CLIP: Lesson 11 Bangla Ektal Practice

KHEMTA TALA

Another well-known six beat cycle used in folk music, especially in Gujarat, is known as “khemta tala.” This has the same tala structure like dadra tala. However, unlike dadra tala, the way the rhythm makes good use of half-matras in matras 2 and 5 of this cycle. Also, keep note of the “kat” bol. If you recall from Lesson 4, “kat” is a combination bol using “ka” and “ti” together.

X				0
1	2		3	4	5		6
dhin	tā	dhin	tā	kat	tā	kat	tā

AUDIO CLIP: Lesson 11 Khemta Tala Practice

AUDIO CLIP: Lesson 11 Summary