Tabla with a tale to tell
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In the ongoing series on accompanists, meet Debasish Adhikari, tabla exponent.
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Debashish Adhikari
Being born into a musical family doesn't automatically exempt you from the draw of popular music. Ask Debasish Adhikari, tabla exponent, who began training at age seven under his father, Ananda Mohan Adhiakari, a percussionist of the Farukhabad gharana and a disciple of Ustad Karamatullah Khan. Growing up in Kolkata, Debashish later came under the tutelage of Ustad Sabir Khan (Karamatullah's son). Then he want to Mumbai, and was "bitten by the film music bug." Debasish worked with Bappi Lahiri for some time, but eventually returned to classical music. "I moved to Delhi, because after Kolkata, this is the city with scope to perform."
That was in 1996. "The first two-three years were sheer struggle. I even played in jagrans and local Ramlilas to make ends meet." Sarod exponent Pandit Sunil Mukherjee helped Debasish get a foothold. "He taught me how to accompany." Debasish, who works as a teacher in DAV School, Vikaspuri, is all praise for his school principal. "Not all principals appreciate the arts, but she always encourages me to move ahead, keep up my riyaaz."
Debasish's dream is to accompany stalwarts like Pandit Ravi Shankar and Amjad Ali Khan one day. Regularly accompanying the Jharkhand-based instrumentalists the Kedia Brothers, he feels if every raga has a mood of its own, then the percussionist must strive to reproduce that mood through the drum's bols. While he would like to return to playing for dance, which he left over a decade ago, his favourite is accompanying vocal music. Busy performing now, he adds, "Whatever I am today is because of the support of my wife Jhuma."
ANJANA RAJAN
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