Playable heritage game

Tabla Bol Rhythm

Also known as तबला

The tabla is a pair of hand drums of South Asia: a small treble drum, the dayan, and a larger bass drum, the bayan. Every stroke has a spoken name called a bol, and a rhythmic cycle called a taal is learned by saying the bols before playing them.

Play the preview About this tradition

Tabla Bol Rhythm: photograph by Adbh266 — Photo: Adbh266, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons

Tabla Bol Rhythm: the game in attract mode

Live previewPlay

Runs in your browser, works offline once loaded.

How to play

Listen: the pads light up as the computer plays one phrase of the cycle.
Echo: strike the same pads on the same beats when it is your turn.
The chart shows every beat of the cycle with its bol; the first beat of each section is marked.
Choose a ten-beat, a seven-beat or an eight-beat cycle.

Rules at a glance

Jhaptal has ten beats grouped 2+3+2+3; rupak has seven grouped 3+2+2, and its first beat is the open one; keherwa has eight beats.
Dha, Dhin and Ge are deep strokes with the bass drum; Tin, Na and Ti are strokes of the small drum.
Timing is judged against the cycle; wrong or extra strokes cost points.

About the tradition

Tabla is played across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, in accompaniment to song, instrument and dance as well as solo. Students traditionally learn the bols by voice first, and a fixed pattern called a theka marks the cycle.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of South Asia.

Credits

Cycles: South Asian tradition, simplified patterns written for this game
Photo: Adbh266, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons
Text: CC BY-SA 4.0, World Heritage Games.

Sources

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tabla_set_Music_Instrument.jpg

Get the app

Tabla Bol Rhythm is one of 10 drums and rhythms in the Drum Music of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Live on Google Play. Submitted to the App Store; in review, and the store link appears here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 10 drums and rhythms in the app

In review on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

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