Bandaged Bear Appeal

Sydney’s own King of Tabla

by music and music lovers. My mother is a vocalist and my father is a tabla player. They both worked hard in our community to ensure the coming generations understood their heritage and culture. I would say that set the foundation of my musical journey.”

Aman recalls playing the tabla spontaneously from the age of seven. Noticing his keen interest, his father enrolled him in formal tabla training where he learnt under the guidance of his father, Amrit Pal and Guru, Ustad Tari Khan. “I credit everything I am today to my Guru and my father.”

Aman’s first solo performance was at a private function ‘Shri Baba Hari Vallabh’ in Jalandhar, India when he was just 17 years old. “I performed in front of a large audience and felt extremely honoured by the audience reception and acknowledgement that evening.”

Now Aman wants to share his passion of music and his love for the tabla and harmonium with as many people who are willing to learn.

“The tabla and harmonium are special musical instruments which are unique to our heritage, and with Australia being so multicultural, I truly believe we can build more awareness about our tradition and history through music.”

“There is definitely plenty of hidden talent across Australia and we want to bring these individuals forward and give them the skills and tools they need to progress their musical aspirations further.”

Aman runs tabla and harmonium classes and provides vocal training for all age groups. Whilst most classes take place in Toongabie and Penrith, Aman also travels to students with exceptional circumstances.

With many concerts across Sydney already to his credit, Aman is now looking forward to the COVID-19 restrictions easing to entertain and teach broader audience segments.

“Ek Umeed, Ranjish Hi Sahi – Ek Shaam Mehdi Hassan ke Naam” was a sell-out, and left the audience fully mesmerised. In keeping with his promise, the concert featured new and rising stars in Sydney. We now look forward to the next instalment of Ek Umeed in November this year.

“Music is my life and I don’t know what I would do without music. It definitely kept me going during the pandemic, and I was heartened to see that many people also turned to music during this time to find peace of mind and as a form or relaxation from their day to day challenges.”