Im sure there is no such thing as rubber headed tablas, they would cease to be tablas if the head was rubber, plus it wouldn't sound anywhere near what tablas sound like.
I've never heard of those,however,synthetic materials have been successfully used in the manufacture of heads for many other drums.plastic has replaced calfskin for drumset heads.As a drumset player who playes tabla,this subject is of interest to me,but from the opposite side of the fence:I would be interested in trying a tom tom head (plastic) w/craftmanship consistent w/ a tabla skin.esp.the bayan but with the gaub/shyahi on the under side(like a dholak).It (the black dot) could also be made of synthetic materials.I think a plastic tabla head might work.They already make a fiberglass drumset skin(Fiberskyn)that has the look,feel &sound of real skin.Remo should get together with a tabla puddi maker and make a proto type.I'd buy 1.
My only concern with this not working well would be sliding your wrist. I've never met a synth drum skin that was as porous feeling as the skin of a bayan head, that quality is important in using your wrist. Is there anyway the dayans gab could be on the inside? Im interested becuase I seem to sweat sort of a lot, its alright, but my head wears away faster than my teachers.
Hi monk, i have the same problem, talcum powder works miracles for that, but you have to clean the head regulary otherwise the sound is muffled.
Interesting idea, putting the syahi inside the drum, but im not sure it would work; firstly your hand wouldn't make contact with the syahi, so you would not produce the same sounds as playing normally. .etc
A syahi cannot be produced from any other material than which it is made from, and cannot be made in mass production,(which is the main reason why synthetic heads are made). This is because the recepys are secrets of the craftsman, and they have to made by hand.
Personally I woulnd never buy a tabla made from synthetic materials, least of all from Remo.
And I don't think there would be any use in making synthetic tablas since the ones in use are allready as advanced as can get. Besides synthetics can never beat the real thing.
I agree.I would just like to see what would happen if the principals behind the design of tabla heads (especially the shyahi) could be applied to a regular plastic drum head.I don't know much about dholaks but the 1 that I have from Trinidad has black stuff on the inside of the bass-side skin enabling you to produce the same type of pitch-bending as on a bayan.So it's telling me that it would work on either side.Although I've never changed the skin on that drum so I'm not 100%certain what's going on inside there.
With regards to the syahi on the underside of the head, a store here in Montreal (les Trouvailles Chandel) has both tablas and daggas (bayans) with the syahis on the inside! And they sound pretty much the same as regular tablas; it's quite strange! I don't know where he gets them from. .
The quality of the drums, though, is medium-high. Not really super-pro drums.
I can imagine the syahi on the dagga not mattering if it was on the outside or the inside, the purpose of it doesnt rely on any of your fingers directly touching it. But the Tabla drum is where I am suspicious of the sound and feel, Im not sure my hand would quite know how to play a tabla head that was bare on the outside, at least fora while before I got used to it.
Look in chandrakantha.com's suppliers database, it's in there in the Canada section. You can email the owner even (Rajinder).
I tried the tabla a little in the store, and yes, it does feel strange not being able to touch the syahi, but it IS possible to play NA. . your finger knows where it has to go
I've seen a few tabla with rubber skins in shops here in Australia - they look like kids toys, and they didn't sound very good. i think the drums themselves were fairly cheap and crappy too though.
