On May 26th, 2018 I married Theresa. Since tabla is my main creative outlet and I wanted to mark the occasion, at our wedding reception (which I re-recorded for this website) I decided to perform three compositions representing 5/26/18. Because there are two of us (Theresa and me), I factored the number 2 into each number of the date:
5*2=10 Jhaptaal to symbolize the month
26/2=13 Jaymangal Taal to symbolize the day
18/2=9 (for this one I perform a composition in Vlambit Tintaal playing 9 notes per beat to symbolize the year)

The composition in 10 beats Jhaptaal is an opening preparatory composition called Peshkar. It symbolizes the beginning of our marriage.

The composition in 13 beats is a tukra I wrote. It is based on a little gem from my Polish heritage which goes: “ra ra sis boom bah, hit em on the head with a keilbasa.”
In tabla, this becomes: “Ra ra sis boom Dah, terekete tet dha tu na Dha!”
This composition represents heritage, fusion, diversity, and creativity.

The last composition is performed in a 16-beat cycle, but it is originally a composition in a 12-beat cycle (3 notes per beat, 4 cycles), here played as 9 beats against 1 beat which lines up with each other (Taal and Composition) because they each are comprised of 144 beats (16*9=144; 12*3*4=144)
Theresa and I are both independent people, and this composition represents the fusion or harmony of 2 distinct taals.

I am very grateful for Theresa’s support of my practice and glad I was able to share my art with our wedding party.