Lāszlō Hortobāgyi (Hortator):
Tārang Ang
(1992-2020)

Let's mention some of the great progenitors in near chronological order:
Shankar Rao Kapileshwāri, U. Abdul Karim Khān, Manohār G. Barwe, Jnan Prakāsh Ghosh, Harihar Rao, Pt.Kamalesh Maitra, Janardhan Abhyānkar, H.P.Rāmamurthy of Gānayogi Panchsāra Gāwāi, Milind Tulānkār, Sanjīv Kanitkār, etc. etc. who played this peculiar instrument to a high standard in classical times of Hindusthān Sangīt.
The term tārang ('wave') has also been applied to all tuned percussion instruments in general, e.g. kashuta-tārang, jal-tārang, duggi-tārang, loah-tārang, bul-bul tārang, etc.etc.

The classical musical emergence of tablā-tārang, along with its rudimentary applications in the travelling dance theatres of the time (e.g. Uday Shankar), dates from the early 20th century, with its distinctive acoustic sound based on the development of evolving tablā-manufacturing techniques and the training of multi-layered (goat) skins preparations.

The construction and composition of the "eye" (quasi speaker membrane) - the āk - found on most Indian percussion instruments is what makes them unique and tunable, and this artisanal technique has also made the tablā-tārang possible. Its classical composition, rice mucus, carbon black, bronze dust, is now used with all kinds of synthetic additives (see also the spread of teflon jawari for stringed instruments, along with the Lignum Vitae (greenheart) mania.
It is important to emphasize that this is the way to achieve the fine tuning of these melody tablā-s with shruti in classical performances, from which pitch sets (sampūrna, shādava, audava) can be created according to the rāga groups (jāti) to be performed.

As a late percussion of the gamelān structure that developed in Java and Bali under the influence of medieval Indian music, a polyrhythmic and microtonal melodic structure formation is being developed in Hindusthān.

In contrast to the one-dimensional (non-rotating, polarity not changer ) conga and other "West Indian" or jazzie percussion playing styles, the equally periodic tablā sangat that accompany classical tablā-tārang performances add an additional temporal and struktural layer of polyphony to the existing polyrhythmic fabric.

I mean, once upon a time, in the closed performances of the Mahārāja courts of classical times, especially those with Hindu roots.
In its current growing popularity, its use - with the loss of the essential shruti tuning - necessarily leads to the world of the operatic spectacle (spectaculum), already depicted in film scores, alongside the plague of pleasant sounding and handling types of metaldrums. Then came the electronic or sample-based tablā-tārang headpads, where, however, the option of cent tuning was left out of the development. Well done...
Further consideration of polyphonic polyrhythm structured with possible A. I. or granulated tārang sample- synthesis softwer, with consciousness-expanding and art form-enriching, was omitted.

This instrument use transfiguration in our time is aligned with the currently proliferating and increasingly popular claptrap hokum "world music" zombie-practice for example in the West Javanese gamelan-degung, 'whiplash'-type Tablā Sammelan-s of India or Cambodian Pin Peat performances, too.

(Lāszlō Hortobāgyi (Hortator)

Tablā-tārang: eL-Hortobāgyi & Tibla T. Mōtyān
The instrument consists of 12 differently sized and multilayered leather-prepared tablā-s, some of which were made in the manufacture of Senior Quasim Khān Niyāzi and a few in Hathras.
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