Badal Roy: The Tabla's Unseen Hand in the Jazz Revolution

Words by Raahim Nadeem

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This is a rare vintage poster for the National Dance Ensemble from Pakistan when they made their grand debut performance in New York City in 1973 at the Hulu Theatre in Madison Square Garden. The show featured celebrated Kathak dancer Nahid Siddiqui who rose to fame in the 70s but in the late 70s, martial law was declared in Pakistan and dancing was banned. She left Pakistan and relocated to London but was told she couldn't dance anywhere in the world without the permission from the government of Pakistan. Siddiqui defied these rules though and continued to dance. "How can you ban beauty?" asked Siddiqui. (Available now as print)

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Recommended Reads:

The Complex History of Dance for Women in Pakistan

The Heirlooms We Don’t Inherit

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Badal Roy: The Tabla's Unseen Hand in the Jazz Revolution

Badal Roy

It's a curious whisper that runs through the grand narratives of history, the almost-inaudible footnote that, upon closer listening, reveals itself to be a crucial melody. When we conjure the seismic shifts of the 1960s jazz revolution, our minds instinctively paint a familiar canvas: the soaring saxophone of Coltrane, the enigmatic trumpet of Miles, Gillespie’s bebop fireworks. These are the titans, the architects of a new sonic landscape. Yet, behind the clamor and the brilliance, in the very undercurrents of this audacious music, lay the subtle, almost spectral influence of a man who arrived from a world seemingly distant from the smoky clubs of Greenwich Village: Badal Roy, a tabla virtuoso whose hands, steeped in the rhythms of the Subcontinent, helped to sculpt a sound that blurred the edges of tradition and forged something entirely new. His story is a testament to the unpredictable nature of artistic evolution, a reminder that innovation often blossoms in the most unexpected corners of the world and through the most unconventional paths.