NARAYAN BADYA BHANDAR was started in Kolkata by Shyamal Das's grandfather about 50 years ago and the shop has been providing some of the best tablas to a lot of tabla players and maestros across the globe. These days the company is managed by Shyamal Das. He takes care of every aspect of tabla making to make sure that each set is a great set.
Shyamal Das says that they mostly use the tender hide of the sacrificial goats. The making of the shell is also a very important part and this techinique has been very well taken care of at NARAYAN BADYA BHANDAR. The precision of the making and shaping of the gaab modifies the tabla’s natural overtones, resulting in the clarity of pitch and variety of tonal possibilities unique to the instrument and this is what differentiates a great tabla maker from an ordinary one.
Some of the known names who buy from Shyamal Das are Shankar Ghosh, Anindo Chatterjee, Kumar Bose, Swapan Chowdhury, Tanmoy Bose, Sabir Khan and Shubhankar Banerjee. Narayan Badya Bhandar also makes several other percussion instruments, like pakhawaj, mridangam, khol, dholak, kanjira, etc. Please do let us know if you require anything which is not listed here.
