You never know with whom – or for whom – Suphala will be playing next! The wild haired beauty has played the tabla with artistes from Yoko Ono to Norah Jones, from Eddie Brickell to Timbaland. Her audiences have included such notables as Salman Rushdie, artist Francesco Clemente and the Hip Hop mogul Damon Dash. She also holds the notoriety of being the first female musician to play in a public concert with all male musicians in post-Taliban, a real no-no in Kabul.
“Local musicians who had fled during Taliban rule, had come back to live, teach, and perform in Kabul,” she recalls. “The musicians – all men – treated me very well and I connected with the tabla players in particular since we shared a common language. They had never seen a female playing tabla, or maybe any instrument, but as soon as we sat down to play or recite rhythms, we shared smiles.”
Suphala (whose last name is Patankar and whose parents hail from Maharashtra) means ‘fruitful’ or ‘the giver of good fruits’ in Sanskrit – and she’s certainly done that through the tabla. Growing up in a family of engineers and doctors in Minneapolis, Suphala nevertheless heard a different drummer in her head. She had learnt western piano from the age of four and heard the tabla first on the Indian classical music records often played in her home. She became enamored with the tabla, going on to learn from the iconic maestros Ustad Allarakha and Zakir Husain.
“It was amazing – and a great privilege,” says Suphala. “Of course it is intimidating learning from such great maestros, but I also know how fortunate I am.”
She was lucky enough to have been the Ustad’s student when he was in his 70’s and had the time to teach. She recalls, “I stayed with him in Bombay so not only would I go to class with him but also sit with him in the balcony every morning and we would have our chai together, and if he felt inspired, he would start reciting a rhythm to me. I managed to spend a lot of quality time with him – it was great just being around your guru as much as possible, because you never know when they’ll be inspired to teach you something.”
Living in New York where so many styles of music intersect, Suphala found her own unique voice, collaborating with many eclectic artistes. With three CDs to her credit, this recording artist, composer and producer has taken the tabla on a wild east-west ride. Calling her the ‘Tabla Goddess’, the St. Petersburg Times wrote: “This Indian-American beauty plays those two small drums like Bruce Lee in a fistfight – with fast hands and furious beauty.”
Suphala records from her home studio via a computer, software and a microphone and of course her tabla. She says: “It’s nice to roll out of bed and start working or practicing at any moment that I’m inspired to.”
Her earlier album, ‘The Now’, featured Norah Jones, Vernon Reid and Antonio Banderas, and in her new album ‘Blueprint’ she collaborates with Edie Brickell, Rakesh Chaurasia, Harper Simon, Mazz Swift, and David Gotay.
“There is a good community of musicians in NYC, and my collaborators are my friends,” she says. “I like collaborating with all sorts of artistes, whether it’s Yoko Ono or Timbaland. I learn something new each time.”
Suphala’s composing happens with a random musical idea and she heads to the studio to lay it down, performing the rhythms first on keyboard or the actual instruments. She says, “Then I call in my favorite musicians to play the parts and give it a human, organic feel. Each track is a recorded idea that we can interpret and perform live in an infinite number of ways.”
India is increasingly a part of her life and she visits during concert season to listen and learn and maybe even get an impromptu lesson from her guru, Zakir Husain. She says, “It might be any city in the States or in India – and we have a lesson whenever he finds time.” The last lesson was while having coffee at Pete’s Coffee in San Francisco. A year later he gave her another lesson while waiting at a recording studio and simply said, “Pete’s Coffee!” Laughs Suphala, “I had to recall that lesson from a year ago and give it back to him. You really have to be on your toes!”
© Lavina Melwani
Photos courtesy: Suphala
