Taal

Taal is a love letter to the tabla, the musical drum from India traditionally used as accompaniment as well as a solo melodic instrument in its own right; it is also a homage to several poets and musicians and their ideas of rhythmic cycles, such as Gabriela Mistral, Rabindranath Tagore, Annie Besant, Violeta Parra, Stella Díaz Varin and Zakir Hussain.

         The word “tala” is a verb in Spanish that refers to the act of felling a tree to clear the land. As Mistral very likely knew from her readings of the theosophy and Indian philosophies she loved, it is also a noun in Sanskrit that refers to the rhythmic cycles of beats and their metrical structure, which forms the basis of music in both the Hindustani music of the North, and the Carnatic music of the South of India. Traditionally this has meant a marking of time with the palms of the hands. In the transliteration from Sanskrit, Taal, the title of this book, can also be written as Tala.

A single word as destruction (felling trees) and creation (making music): a lovely paradox.

This book is a a diary of impressions as I learned an instrument, a focusing of attention to give order to thoughts as rhythm (and thus give order to life), and a song of passion for education in the rich sense of a relation between learning and teaching, between absorption and transmission of beauty and experience. It is composed of diverse genres, including essays, poems, stories and a letter, and is organized in seven sections which correspond to the seven matras of Rupak Taal (Tin Tin Na / Dhin Na / Dhin Na). The visual format of the book plays with elements on the left-hand pages (which correspond to the left “bayan” drum) and the right-hand pages (which correspond to the right “dayan” drum). The book is accompanied by an album of songs.