Ektaal
Ektālएक ताल
12 matras · 6 vibhags · 4 claps, 2 waves
Vilambit, Drut
Sourcing
The structure and theka on this page come from the sources this project works from. A note with no source number is still being checked.
Demo sound: manjira samples recorded by Tejus and Geetha for Tabla Focus.
Theka
ClapWave (khali)
Keeping it
Clap on 1, 5, 9 and 11. Wave on 3 and 7. Nothing structural falls on the other matras.
Structure
Six 2-matra cells alternate tali/khali as X-0-2-0-3-4: the two khali cells (3 and 7) each open with a damped 'Kat'/'Dhage' region, splitting the cycle into a symmetric front and back. The two Tirekite figures (matras 4 and 10) are the practical orientation cues — the first resolves into 'Tu Na' (tali 2, matras 5-6), the second into 'Dhin Na' (tali 4, matras 11-12) which returns to sam.
Because the skeleton is so even, in ati-vilambit (very slow) khyal players open each matra into 4 sub-pulses and change the final 'Na' to 'Dha' so singers can tell matra 12 from matra 6 — the tala is easy to get lost in precisely because of its regularity.
Origins
Ektaal is the TABLA/khyal counterpart of the older DHRUPAD/pakhawaj Chautaal: both are 12 matras in 6 cells of 2, but Ektaal is the modern khyal theka while Chautaal is the pakhawaj dhrupad theka.
Often misread
Ektaal and Chautaal are the same because both are 12 beats in 6 twos.
In the six-vibhaag reading encoded here the skeleton is identical to Ektaal's, tali/khali map included (X 0 2 0 3 4 at matras 1/3/5/7/9/11); the two differ in theka and idiom — Chautaal is a pakhawaj/dhrupad theka, Ektaal a tabla/khyal theka. Chautaal is also commonly given as 4+4+2+2 with four tali and no khali (see Keeping it).