Play it like a lady

The beating of drums or the bol of the tabla are typically sounds, which are associated with machismo or a display of male strength. However, percussion is no longer a completely male-centric art. Several women have entered the field and are making their own mark. Now, some of them are about to come together to create a blend of talas in  a programme in the city —Women of Rhythms. The objective of the programme is not just to portray their mastery in their art, but also to bring focus to the fact that women are completely capable of playing percussive instruments—something that they have been struggling to prove.

Take Chitrangana Agle Reshwal, for instance, whose father initially refused to teach her the pakhavaj, despite her being part of the fifth generation of a family of pakhavaj players. “When I first went to my father and asked to learn, he said that he wouldn’t teach a girl to play the instrument,” she recalls. However, the maestro kept practising secretly, until she finally won him over. “I would listen to him teaching my brothers and I would later practise when only my mother was home. Then one day, my father came upon me practising in the music room and was astonished at the progress I had made without any form of guidance. He began officially teaching me after that,” she adds proudly.

Chitrangana was not the only one to face family opposition. Ghatam exponent Sukanya Ramgopalan had to face a similar stigma when she first decided to play the mridangam, and then the ghatam. “I first began learning Carnatic vocals and then violin, but my fascination had always been percussions. So, I started learning the mridangam and then the ghatam, to my father’s displeasure. Later, though, he came around, and would even accompany me to concerts and even critique my performances,” she says with an air of nostalgia.

Sukanya, not only had to contend with the male-dominated field where, often male vocalists or mridangam players would refuse to play with a female artiste, but also the fact that the ghatam is not a principle instrument. “I created the ghatatarang, wherein I arrange six to eight ghatams, each tuned to a note. I can play an entire raga in this way. It is very difficult, since I have to keep turning around, but it brings the instrument to the centre stage,” says the maestro.

Shiksha Bali, Drummer

While being a centre of attention was never a problem for drummer Shiksha Bali, who shot to fame as one of the few female drummers in the country, her plight was of a different sort. “When anyone thinks of me, the tag female becomes more important than drummer. I could go up on stage and do a terrible job and they would still say ‘bravo’, simply because I’m a woman. I want to be known as a good drummer, not just a woman drummer,” she laments, adding that she had never though she was doing something unusual when she first took up drumming.

Despite the fact that the women come from varied backgrounds, they are confident that their sound is an integrated one. Chitrangada says, “Rhythm or tala is a universal language, only our techniques are different, according to the instrument that we play, so it is quite easy to blend the sounds and make it a compact programme.”

Sukanya goes a step further to add that the programme is a revolution as far as events of this nature are concerned. “I am truly looking forward to sharing the stage with maestros like Summathi Ramamohana Rao, Anuradha Pal and the others,” she signs off.

The Women of Rhythm concert will be taking place on December 15, 7.30 pm onwards, at YB Chavan Auditorium, Nariman Point, opposite Mantralaya
Tickets: Rs 300