Meet the Kartalisic who can tap dance with his fingers.
Young engineer Sagar Patel from Ahmedabad was on a trip to Jaisalmer and there he saw few artist of Rajasthan playing Kartaal which got his attention. After the show on his request the artist gave him a pair of Kartaal.
Somewhere my heart was like ‘Babu tum yeh nahi karpaogey’ but when I returned back to Ahmedabad I started practicing on my own with the help of videos available online, says sagar.
I must admit in the beginning when I was learning it was quite hard to get my hands to correct gestures but after a lot of hustling and practice I was able to achieve correct finger balancing, positioning and technique.
During lockdown I was left with nothing, had no human interaction this gave me ample of time to practice. I started collaborating with different artists to create series of videos showcasing khartaal to demonstrate its virtuosity, Shares 28 year old karlaalist.
Khartaal is the smallest and oldest musical instrument known to mankind in our Indian culture and yet many are not even aware of it. It looks simple but needs great amount of agility to play the simplest of rhythm. It’s not just about hitting two wooden pieces to create a tone but to get the required sound with the help of different hand gestures and arm moments.
Sagar is also part of Ektara group which brings out best of Sufi, Gazal Bhajan, Kalaam and kawaali using tradional instruments to bring mellifluous experience for their audience.
Sagar says, Khartal is the most versatile and portable percussion instrument in the world and I want to showcase and teach the flair of these pocket sized clappers. My aim is to popularize this unknown instrument to various music communities and demonstrate how it can be played with almost any genre or style of music.
I believe in due time this instrument has potential to go global due to its simplistic design and portable size. It’s literally a drum set in my pocket.
It all started with a passion but I truly cannot live without khartaal. It never leaves my pocket. Ask anyone who knows me personally, I take it everywhere I go; practically I can jam with anyone any time!
