Pakhawaj is a barrel shaped percussion instrument which is similar to mridangam. It is famous in North India. It is widely used for orissi dancers (see the mardala) and sometimes for kathak. It is the standard percussion instrument in dhrupad. As with the tabla, the pakhawaj rhythms are taught by a series of mnemonic syllables known as bol. The mridangam is a percussion instrument from South India. ... Odissi (or Orissi) is the traditional style of dance which originated in the temples of the state of Orissa in Eastern India, where it was performed by the devdasis. ... The Mardala is a double-sided percussion instrument of Orissa, India. ... Kathak is one of the eight classical dance forms of India, the only one from North India. ... Dhrupad is the oldest surviving genre of classical singing in India; most forms of Indian classical music, including Carnatic_music or South Indian and Hindustani Khayal, are derived from it, albeit at different epochs. ... a typical set of Tabla, black spots called Syahi The tabla is a widely popular South Asian percussion instrument used in the classical, popular and religious music of the northern Indian subcontinent. ... The bol is one of the most important parts of Indian rhythm. ...

Some of the great pakhawaj players include Kudau Singh, Nana Panse, Purushottam Das, Pagal Das, Amarnath Misra, Bhai Nasira, Talib Hussain Khan, Ambadas Agle, Tota Ram Sharma, Ayodhya Prasad, Gopal Das, Ramashish Pathak, Laxmi Narayan Pawar, Arjun Shejwal, Ramji Upadhyaya, Kelucharan Mahapatra, Taranath Rao, Ravi Bellare, Vasant Rao and Chatrapati Singh. Taranath Ram Rao Hattiangadi (1915-1991) was a performer and pedagogue of Indian classical percussion, revered for his knowledge of rare talas and old compositons. ...

Some of the top younger pakhawaj players include; Mohan Shyam Sharma, Manik Munde, Dal Chaand Sharma, Radhey Shyam Sharma, Ravikant Mahapatra, Fateh Singh, Philip Hollenbeck, Gregg Johnson, Peter Fagiola, Jeff Feldman, Leonice Shinneman, John Boswell, Rishabh Dhar, Durga Prasad Mojumdar, Chitrangana Agle, Bhavani Shankar, Akilesh Gundecha, Ashutosh Upadhyaya, Shrikant Misra and Udhav Shinde.

Below are some brief examples of pakhawaj bols (sounds) and parans (compositions). NOTE-the dashes in the examples work as spacers between individual beats, not as cyclical divisions. Also, please note that bols differ between different gharanas(literally house or lineage, but basically this term is used to describe different styles of playing) Also, within a style, the technique for playing certain bols may vary from composition to composition.

Each rhythmic cycle, or 'tal' has a basic pattern that goes with it called 'theka'. Below are examples of some thekas from different tals, and a few short compositions in those tals.

Theka in 'Chautal', 12 matras (beats), divided in 6 groups of 2, its bols are:

Dha | Dha | Dhin | Ta | kite | Dha | Dhin | Ta | tita | kata | gadi | gena

An example of a pakhawaj piece in Chautal, composed by Guru Purushottam Das of Nathadvara:

DhakitaDha | kitakita | DhaDhakita | krDhakita | DhakitaDha | titakatagadigena | Dha-kita | DhakitaDha | titakatagadigena | Dha-kita | DhakitaDha | titakatagadigena | [Dha]

Tal 'Dhammar', 14 matras, divided 5-2-3-4, its bols are:

Ka | dhi | ta | dhi | ta | Dha |- |Ga | ti | ta | ti | ta | Ta | - |

An example of a pakhawaj piece in Dhammar Tal, in the Kudau Singh style:

Ka-tite | gegetita | kaTakaTa | gegetita | kaTagege | titakaTa | gegetita | gadigena | Dha-kaTa | gegetita | gadigena | Dha-kata | gegetita | gadigena | {Dha}

'Trital', or 'Teental', also referred to as 'Adi' in dhrupad. 16 matras, divided 4+4+4+4, its bls are:

Dha | Dhete | Dhete | Dha | Dha | Dhete | Dhete | Dha | Ka | tete | tete | Ta | tita | kata | gadi | gena|

An example of a pakhawaj "Uthan" in Trital, composed by Guru Purushottam Das of Nathadvara:

DhetDhet | dhitatita | Dhagatita | Tagatita | Dhagin-ta | genaNage | titakata | gadigena | DhaDha | trekaDhet | Tage-na | Dha-treka | Dhet-tage | -naDha- | trekaDhet | Tage-na | {Dha}

See photos of pakhawaj players and hear sound clips of pakhawaj at www.pakhawaj.net and www.kippen.org Search for CDs of any of the pakhawaj players mentioned at www.khazana.com