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The Princess of Tabla

© Meenakshi Subramaniam

She is Rimpa Shiva and she is all of 13. At this tender age, this pre-teen has made waves in the world of music. Rimpa has mastered the tabla, the pair of drums used in Indian classical music. The tabla is a very important piece in the Indian classical orchestra. One drum is covered with a metal plate while the other with calf skin. Together, they impart the distinctive sound to Hindustani music.

Tablas were presumably first used during the Mughal period somehwere around the 11th and 12th centuries AD. They attained international fame when the Beatles showed an interest in Indian music and the Swinging Sixties highlighted the Eastern musical influence.

But for Rimpa Shiva, the table is not just another fad. It is her life and soul; and she has found her calling when she first started learning the table at the age of three. With nearly 200 concerts behind her, Rimpa has made a record of sorts by playing with the likes of musical greats like pandit Zakir Hussain, Pandit Hari prasad Chaurasia, the flautist and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

Her guru is her very own father who is also an accomplished musician himself. Rimpa was inducted ito the hallowed circle of his music when she watched him teach students at his music academy. Today, her father is also Rimpa's greatest fan, her avowed critic and PR man all rolled into one. "After all", Rimpa points out, "if my father hadn't sent my recording on an audio cassette to Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, I would never have had the chance to perform at his San Francisco College of Music.

Rimpa is heaping up praises and accolades; but surprisingly none of it has gone to her head. She herself admits that once she touches the table, she can play for hours together without beign conscious of her performance or how she might appear or sound to others. It is this kind of zealou, almost religious dedicatoion to her craft, that Rimpa has come thus far. And she still has a loing way to go...!

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