A toddler from Karnataka's Uttara Kannada district has found a place in the India Book of Records for reciting and playing 12 taals on the tabla.
Swarshri Hegde, who is 2 years and 10 months old, hails from Honnavar in Uttara Kannada. A video of her performance, shared on X by user Adarsh Hegde, congratulated the child for the feat and said she had made it into the record book at such a young age.
The 1 minute 39 second clip shows the toddler seated on a stage covered with a red striped mat, in front of a tabla set. A harmonium and microphones are placed nearby.
A banner in the background indicates a music programme in Kannada. The child, dressed in white, is seen working her way through the rhythmic patterns, a task that normally demands years of disciplined training.
The feat is notable because a taal, the rhythmic cycle that forms the backbone of Hindustani classical music, has to be recited as well as played. Tabla players learn to speak the syllables, known as bols, in a fixed sequence before reproducing them on the drums.
Each taal has its own number of beats, divisions and pattern of claps and waves, and maintaining the cycle requires a firm sense of rhythm and memory. Managing it accurately for 12 different taals is considered demanding even for older students.
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The clip has drawn an outpouring of congratulatory messages. Child prodigies in music are not new to India, where tabla, sitar and vocal talents have often been spotted at a very young age.
Several young performers from Karnataka and Maharashtra have earned records over the years for long-duration or multi-taal performances.
Enthusiasts say early exposure to rhythm, usually in a household where music is practised daily, often plays a major role in shaping such talent. would firm up the story, and I can draft an update once you have a quote or the certificate details.
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