Check out this lassie performing indic tabla solo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcNmzekgUsQ
The guy playing harmonium for the backgroung nagma (melodic metronome) sound like he’s doing a Cajun riff.
Enjoy.
A lady once lent me her tabla, but couldn’t show me anything about how to play them, so I messed around with them for a while, but had never actually seen them played, only heard them on recordings. I always wanted to learn to make that deep, whooping sound on the bass but could never figure out how it was done. Looks like this lady has all the moves down.
djm
djm, when you play congas and you left elbow the vellum as you strike it with your right hand - well a similar thing is happening when you play the bass of the tabla pair. The curved or cobraed middle or index finger of the left hand strikes the drum while the left hand heel contacts also. Often we use a tad talcum to facilitate sliding of the heel. (Must not get talcum on the black spot though. Bad)
Yes, thx Tal, I can see that method in the clip. This was over 30 years ago when I tried the tabla. I have never seen real congas except in pictures. I will stick, now, with the instruments I already can’t play. 
djm
Cool, but Mango Lassi is tastier…
I cant figure out if Tal and DJM are related, they look very similar on their avatars!
He has thicker ankles.
djm
I was an owl before he! DJM is a copy owl thassall! Even his claim about not playing instruments well is an aneamic parody of my incomparable modesty …
Its twue! Its twue! 
djm
Be aware that there are a few stops and starts in this solo. Don’t be misled by that. The whole thing is about 8 minutes.
Of course the guy on harmonium isn’t playing Cajun but it has that sound. Any comments from persons more familiar with Cajun? Thx.
I read this and thought it was the beginning of a limerick - read the second line and discovered the meter was wrong.
Then I realized it was a serious comment.
It really should have been a limerick.
A lady once lent me her tabla
To beat out a rhythm most fabla
I managed the plink
But the whoop made me think
So I sent them back to where she habla
(yeah, well, at least it rhymes)
djm
Can’t resist. If only I could.
A lady once lent me her tabla.
In percussion I’m only a dabla.
I tasted defeat–
By these drums I was beat,
and was pelted with fruit by the rabla.
(from bad to badder).
from ROFL to ROFLMAO
It does remind me of Cajun music, but I don’t know if I’d call it a “riff”.
Is it supposed to be a drone? It really distracts me from her tabla
work… Is there a less distracting instrument that is usually used for
the nagma?
P.S., I was in the British Museum last month, and in a large hall was a
man of Indic decent teaching people to play frame drums. The drums
used were similar to a bodhran, but shallower and with some sort of
shells or bells stringed along the frame to create a “snare” sound. I
kept wanting to call these “tabla”, though I know that’s not right.
Anybody know what these are called?
There’s a guy playing those on the Bela Fleck DVD, “Live at the Quick”.
ITs a melodic loop he is playing. A simple tune with “hooks” in the right places to reflect the taal (rhythm) core. It actually helps the drummer keep in time when she is doing improvisations that stretch the outer limit of the rhythmic structure.
Indian fiddles (sarangi, dilruba, esraaj) often do this stuff for the tabla solo players.
I sometimes play a large flute while my tabla master practises his cycles. IT does wonders for timing on flute to maintain a precisely timed melodic loop in the face of complex rhythmic patterns and turns. Like he will be doing 8 cycles of 10 in a 16 beat cycle composition, then back to 16 beat cycle payttern, then a foray into 4 times 12 beat cycles (notionally 3 X 16) and back to 16. This could go on and on for an hour getting faster and faster.
Lucky for me he has a sense of humour …
That’s Sandip Burman. Like everyone else on that CD, he is
awesome! I love the Flecktones trying to keep up with his bol…
IT does wonders for timing on flute to maintain a precisely timed melodic loop in the face of complex rhythmic patterns and turns.
I can imagine! I have a hard time following the rhythm on the
melodium, with the long tones. I’ll have to listen again, and try
to see where he breaks it up.