I am looking for some info on the best tabla shops in Delhi. A friend of mine wants his grand father to bring a good to very good set of tabla from Delhi next month. Can anyone indicate a good shop where he could go to?
Please leave address and perhpas price.
I have had good experiences with Delhi Musical Stores. They are across the street from the right side wall of Jama Masjid in Old Delhi. As you would be not dealing with any middleman or paying for air-shipping, you might as well get the best he offers. That would be the Gopal Das tablas. There are some BS rumours floating around about Gopal Das, but that sort of thing is par for the course in the business. People are always trying to shoot down the other guy in the Indian music community. I have a pair and they are really first rate. You can get their address from their homepage which is: http://www.indianmusicalinstruments.com/
I got some skins from there and they were great. It's not exactly cheap though - especially if they know you're from abroad. You have to bargain a bit and it's best to take someone local with you. You can send them an email and they'll give you their rates.
Another option of course is Rikhi Ram's music http://rikhiram.org .
Sanjay is a tabla player himself, you won't need to bring anyone for negotiation, you can tell him I recommended him and of course come back and flame me if you don't get what you're looking for, but you will. . .
Lars
rod (Nov 20, 2003 01:23 p.m.):
They all look great but what is the point in showing the product and not showing the prices???
I can't speak for DMS on this question. I can tell you that I don't have prices listed on my site because I did a test when I started the business and what I found out is that a lot of people are "bargain hunters" making decisions solely based on price, but that most serious customers want to know more about quality and will take the time to look through the site, and once they do, they get a sense of the fact that we are about quality. I can tell you that nearly everything in my place is at least 10 to 15% cheaper than other places, so the lack of prices on the site doesn't mean that we're ashamed of our prices. It's also been my experience that when customers go to a page and look only for a price, they tend pop in and pop out of the site quickly, whereas serious customers tend to be very dogged about finding the right instrument and will take time to look around the site. I make no bones about it; I like Inni Singh and I think his prices are hard to beat. Email him for a price and email all the other guys and see the difference. BTW Inni too is a tabla player and a damned fine sitar-wallah.
What's the difference between the two Rikhi Ram stores? It's obvious they are different stores with different addresses but both use the same Pt. Rikhi Ram in the name of their shop. Are both Panditji's family that went separate ways?
Hi, the difference is in quality. Rikhi Ram's music is solely owned by Sanjay Sharma, grandson of Rikhi Ram. I could fill the
page,etc. but really the best thing to do, if you can, is go to each shop and see for yourself if you'll be in Delhi. . .
Lars
Inni Singh at DMS is excellent. They do custom projects as well as large orders. Prices are very reasonable and service is great. Plus world class view of the Jamma Masjid!
