Kolkata, Jan. 24 -- Eminent tabla maestro Pandit Suresh Talwalkar has observed that for a long time the tabla remained a supporting background character in Hindustani classical concerts, until Ustad Amir Hussain Khan changed the way the instrument was imagined and performed.
Speaking at the Kolkata Literary Meet 2026, focus state being Maharashtra, and continuing the discussion on the state's rich Hindustani classical music legacy, Talwalkar noted that in the earlier period, tabla playing focused mainly on maintaining the theka, a steady rhythmic framework that allowed vocalists to elaborate their khayal or other forms with confort and continuity. "Even though the theka was aesthetically refined, the tabla had not yet evolved a fully devel...