A couple of months down the line, we’ll welcome one of Pune’s and Maharashtra’s most important festivals, The 10 days of Ganpati Bappa. And this’ll be the second year when we won’t be able to witness the magic of Dhol-Tasha, one of the most uplifting, enthralling and rhythmic events of the city. So we decided to revisit our experiences with these Pathak’s and help you relive those times as well even if it’s virtual.

A few years ago, Taal Inc. made a documentary exploring religious, social and cultural aspects of this tradition and here we re-share it with you to get an in depth perspective on the same.

The Dhol-Tasha tradition is one of the most beautiful examples of inclusiveness as it allows people from all ages, gender and walks of life to join as participants, creating a Rhythm Ensemble which showcases the diversity of the tradition wonderfully. These participants also give it their heart and soul. Once they join the troupe, they start to learn this instrument from the very basics. Much like any drum, they learn the Bass(thoka) and Tone(thapi) and combinations of these low and high pitch sounds make the final Rhythm(Theka) and even though we at Taal Inc. have the Best Drum Classes in Pune, these participants learning the to play the drums at the pathak can certainly give us a good competition and all this while tying these really heavy dhols around their waist. That’s the magic of music, once the rhythm takes over, your mind, body and soul are all aligned in perfect sync.

The origin of the rhythms of dhol-tasha trace back to some rhythms played on the tabla and the professional players have now converted them into some amazing dhol tasha rhythms and not just that but they also play more than 21 foot tapping rhythms some which find their roots in parts of Rajasthan and Gujrat as well. Over the years, we have also added some of these rhythms in our repertoire of Drum Circle Rhythms and be it Corporate Drumming sessions or Drumming Circles for Healing everyone seems to love these rhythms.

Even though playing in a Dhol-Tasha pathak requires an immense amount of physical and mental energy, the belief that playing the drums is a spiritual experience makes every participant in the pathak endure it with a smile on their face and playing it with a group makes it even more powerful, satisfying and sacred much like a Drum Circle or any group drumming activity.
And finally, here’s the documentary which was mentioned earlier:

-Aman Joshi
Taal Inc. Drum Circle Facilitator