Robin Sukhadia

Robin Sukhadia (aka tablapusher) is a student of tabla, the classical drums of North India. A Fulbright scholar, Robin has been focused on music education for the underserved around the world. 

How would you describe yourself as a creative?

Music, and especially north Indian classical music, inspires my imagination and all the art that I make. It’s the versatile language of tabla, with its capacity to rapidly translate any rhythm or musical idea, that drives my creative process. When I hear anything, I hear it through the language of tabla, and it reflects back out in my compositions and music. This lens filters all of my work and the actual collaborative process of making music.

My creative process is also centered around technology and electronic music composition, which has allowed me to flex so many of the rigid rules that I think sometimes confines classical traditions. Hip hop, jazz, electronic dance music and cinematic scores are all major influences on creativity. Software like Ableton has enabled me to converge so many of my sonic influences into new sounds and compositions.

Sometimes, I feel attuned to Bollywood golden era music like Mukesh, Rafi, RD Burman, and Asha Bhosle. Sometimes, I am hearing drum and bass, hip hop, trap, and Steve Reich. Sometimes, I want to be emotionally moved through Beethoven, Chopin, DeBussy, Kaushiki Chakrabarty, Ali Akbar Khan, and Nikhil Banerjee. Those divergent interests can come together seamlessly using Ableton.

Still, it’s the instrumental practice of learning and performing tabla that I always return to. I find comfort and familiarity in all the cultural aspects of studying the instrument, and that has helped me feel more connected to India and my South Asian roots, despite living far away from India and not being able to visit often enough. I’m grateful to my teacher Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri for giving me this gateway. The quarantine and the restrictions on mobility have put me back in touch with the introspective side of tabla, and for that I am grateful. I have been making more time to study and practice, everyday.

…it’s the instrumental practice of learning and performing tabla that I always return to. I find comfort and familiarity in all the cultural aspects of studying the instrument, and that has helped me feel more connected to India and my South Asian roots…

 Where do you find inspiration as a musician?

I draw my inspiration from artists that converge a wide range of media and influences to create something new. Musicians like bjork, Fela Kuti, Talvin Singh, Brittany Howard, Tame Impala, The War on Drugs, Beck and Khruagbin are among my favorites. At the same time, I always go back to the masters of Indian Classical music to ground myself. Artists like Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Kishori Amonkar and Hariprasad Chaurasia never get old for me. I’m very much drawn to architecture, geometry, technology, and animation. So, I like to play video games too! Those visuals and non-linear story telling forms find their way into my craft too. The visual is important to sonic storytelling, and so I love to play with visuals to accompany my music. Lately, I have been learning how to manipulate visuals through Ableton, and I see so many possibilities.

I’m riveted by science fiction and writings that help to deconstruct our present times, where artificial intelligence and bio tech are converging in ways that will push humanity forward and backwards. I’m currently reading the epic sci fi novel The Dark Forest, the second book in the Three Body Problem trilogy written by Lui Cixin. It’s tremendously relevant, as humanity is facing an invisible enemy that threatens our existence. I recently re-read George Orwell’s 1984 and it was far more terrifying than when I read it in middle school. These are visionary and sobering writings, but they help with understanding where humanity is right now and what may be coming. They give us tools to deal with loss and to understand what is at stake. We will need new tools, new ways of thinking to make sense of the increasing complexity of life, driven by algorithms and machine learning. Tabla and Indian classical music serve as that kind of tool for me. This instrument and artform are reflections of a form of thinking and language that is very sophisticated and futuristic, while also being ancient. 

I’m grateful too to Neelanjana, who feeds me literary material to digest constantly. I can’t keep up with her voracious ability to read, but what I do digest influences me deeply. Being a parent of very young children has rekindled my love of pure play and exploration. Going from the very serious process of scoring a film to just making legos and playing Minecraft has helped to disarm me and open up new channels of creativity. The innovation and ingenuity that my children demonstrate help me see a different way to create everyday.

Outside of my purely creative musical practice, I draw inspiration from my work in the arts and arts education. I serve as an Advancement Officer for the Colburn School, considered among the foremost institutions for music in the country. Working there for the past 3 years, I have been surrounded by extraordinarily talented youth, studying western classical music, jazz, and dance at the highest levels. I visit the Broad Museum and MOCA, our neighboring institutions, regularly and love seeing contemporary art. All of that informs my practice. 

How do our current times affect you creatively and as a family?

This is a time of much needed critical thinking, especially as we think of the oppression of Black people in this country and our complicity in that oppression as South Asians. I am thinking of the role South Asians played in oppressing and exploiting Ugandans leading to the rise of Idi Amin. I’m thinking of the poor laborers who work as underpaid employees in countless South Asian owned motels and convenience stores across the country (my own family ran a motel in Ohio when I was growing up). Throughout my life, I have heard racist and derogatory language towards Black people from my own family and community. I have struggled with how to erase that conditioning and continue that work as a privileged South Asian American. I struggle today with educating them about how we must change. I know we South Asians have much work to do. During this period of time, we have an opportunity to look inward and make much needed adjustments.

In terms of music and creativity, these times of isolation have forced me to be more introspective. As a musician that thrives on interaction and the expansive canvas of a live stage performance, it has been difficult at times for me to deal with this situation. That said, I am so grateful that I have a vibrant creative practice. Tabla, which is at its core very inward looking and meditative, is especially made for these times. I am always thinking about how to converge my personal creative journey with parenting, and how to introduce my children to my own passions. I feel a great responsibility to take this time to really teach them the indigenous knowledge that I am lucky to have. I sit nightly with my children to practice piano and tabla, and introduce them to my record collection. I have been giving my sons small doses of the exceptional Indian classical performances that are online and telling them about the basics. My father has been teaching my son sargam, the vocal language behind raga and melody, and he’s absorbing it beautifully. I am relishing having this kind of time to do that, and to do it consistently every day.

Working full time, and raising two small boys has been challenging but in a good way. Neela and I are both embracing homeschooling and we take it day to day. I’m teaching Kailash more about Ableton and Serato too, and teaching him that music can be experienced through not only Alexa, but vinyls and mp3s. He’s getting more comfortable with all these modalities, and I see him connecting the dots. It’s far more than I ever did at that age.

How has being confined in your physical movement affected you as a musician, performer and student?

I have been finding more time to practice tabla, and even more rewarding, making more time to teach my kids about the artform. My older son Kailash is reciting bols and I am playing taal games with him to help him understand the structure of tabla and Hindustani classical music. He sits in my lap when I take Zoom lessons with my Guru. Baby Kabir also bangs on the drums and sees/hears me practicing. I’m hoping something is seeping in!

As a performer, it has been disheartening to not be able to be on stage surrounded by an audience of listeners. A few major concerts and collaborations were cancelled that I had been looking forward to for a long time. Summer is always an exciting time for performing and this will be the first one in a long time when I probably won’t have any stage concerts.

When I think more deeply about what we are enduring, I remember that this is the isolation and space/time that I have been asking for so that I could deepen my practice of tabla. Since having children, time has become even more precious, and it has been difficult to find the time to return to the intensity of practice that I once had.

On the other hand, the isolation and over reliance on online media is fast becoming sterile. I thrive on interaction, and my creative process has always relied on the inspiration I gain from meeting others, sharing music, improvising and imagining new directions. So, I have been turning inward which is actually what tabla most requires. 

I just finished scoring a short film that will be premiered at the 150 Media gallery in Chicago. Shot by Christopher Andrew , the film is an abstract time lapsed meditation on nature and the seasons, culminating with breathtaking visuals of the aurora borealis. I scored the film with Indian classical instrumentation including bansuri played by Sheela Bringi. It was so much fun working on this unique project, and I look forward to how it is received when it is projected.

Are there artists and creatives from the South Asian diaspora that are inspiring you right now?

I’m drawing so much inspiration from my fellow South Asians at this time, who I feel are being more engaged, more giving, and less performative. My own tabla teacher, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, is teaching extensively from his living room, with hundreds of students from around the world now able to interact with him in real time through Zoom. The lessons, offered through the Ali Akbar College of Music, have been sublime and have connected me more deeply with a community of tabla students around the world.

I’m drawing so much inspiration from my fellow South Asians at this time, who I feel are being more engaged, more giving, and less performative.

Ustad Zakir Hussain has also been teaching via Instagram and Facebook, and that too has been phenomenal. I am seeing in both masters a sensitivity to these times and an increased openness to questions and a focus on explaining how tabla can be very healing right now. It has been quite sweet to experience. The rigor of the lessons too is also heightened, as I am seeing that both masters are revealing the inner workings of tabla compositions in a fresh way, some of which are extremely rare and complex. There is an energy to the art and teaching right now that really is reflecting what we know art has the power to do: give us great solace and community in the darkest of times.

There is an energy to the art and teaching right now that really is reflecting what we know art has the power to do: give us great solace and community in the darkest of times.

Sheela Bringi, a wonderful bansuri/harp player based in Colorado, has also been offering weekly meditative sound sessions and they have been wonderful to experience. The Ali Akbar College of Music has been releasing monthly archival concerts of very high quality, which have been exceptional as well.

What are you looking forward to in 6 months time?

Over the next 6 months and beyond, I’ll be overseeing the fabrication and installation of an incredible public arts sculpture entitled Ruupaywa Songs of the Watershed by Chicago-based artist Walter Kitundu. This project is especially important to me because of its aim to honor the voices of indigenous people in a deeply thoughtful way.

I’m also working intensely on arranging and producing 5 tracks of original music for my band Sadubas (The Sadhus of Bass) with my longtime collaborator, Ameet Mehta. Our music converges Bollywood psychedelia and Indian classical music with breaks. Each of the tracks will have videos featuring footage I shot on my travels to India over the years.

I’m also very much looking forward to seeing my sons grow and grow together as loving siblings. Quarantine hasn’t been easy for parents, but the joy of spending so much quality time together has been priceless. The days are long, but the highlights are the moments we are having together as a family.

I hope that within 6 months, we as a society and civilization have come to our senses about understanding that we must change our relationship with nature and with one another. We must have more humility, more compassion and more acceptance of science over ideology. Survival as a species is what is at stake, and the next 6 months are crucial. With the eruption of violence in recent weeks, we are facing an even harder upward climb. So much of the trauma against Blacks and minorities that has been repressed for many, many years, is exploding over the surface of a false veneer. The arts will play a big role in this process, but it will take time. Combined with the pandemic, we are in a very serious situation.