The tabla baj that is today associated with the city of Benares was developed over two hundred years ago by the legendary Pandit Ram Sahai. A child prodigy in his native city, he became a disciple of Ustad Modhu Khan (grandson of Sidhar Khan of Delhi) a musician in the royal court of Nawab Asafuddaula in Lucknow. During his twelve year apprenticeship with Modhu Khan, Ram Sahai amassed a prodigious repertoire of compositions and mastered the art of improvised elaborations on a given theme. When he was 21 years of age he made his debut performance at the court of Nawab Wazir Ali and accomplished the astounding feat of playing a tabla solo which continued uninterrupted for seven consecutive nights without repetition of a single piece.

In the middle of his career Ram Sahai retired from public life and turned his attention to the creation of a new style of tabla playing. Through major changes in the position of the hand on the drum and a more efficient use of the fingers he increased the tabla’s range of tone and dynamics. In addition to composing numerous pieces in the existing forms he introduced several new types of compositions which have come to be associated exclusively with the Benares baj.

The new style was eminently suitable not only for solo playing, but for any type of music from heavy classical dhrupad singing (usually accompanied by the pakhawaj drum), to the lighter forms of thumri and tappa, to all styles of instrumental music, and lastly, to Kathak dance.

Ram Sahai’s innovations and the devotion to musical excellence of his descendants has produced what is today one of the most respected and popular tabla styles in India. The names of Pandit Durga Sahai, Pandit Kanthe Maharaj and Pandit Anokhelal Misra are remembered with awe and reverence by Indian musicians as being among the greatest virtuosi of recent times. Since their passing the high standards of the tradition have been preserved by the present generation of Benares players which includes such contemporary greats as Pandit Sharda Sahai, Pandit Kishan Maharaj and the late Pandit Shamta Prasad. A genealogical chart showing some of the outstanding members of the Benares baj is presented below.

In the Benares baj, the art of solo tabla performance is greatly respected and very highly developed. There are more than twenty forms of composition in use, many of them unique to this tradition. Some are theme and variation forms which require spontaneous composition by the performer, while many others involve sophisticated compositional techniques with finished pieces handed down from generation to generation. In addition, there is a well defined procedure for joining the various types of compositions to form a logical and pleasing performance.

A tabla solo is traditionally played in a sixteen beat tala, a rhythmic cycle, known as tin tal. Throughout a performance an aural outline of this tala is maintained by means of a cyclic melody known as a lahara.