Tala Farodast

Tala Farodast is a live instrumental recording by Indian classical musicians Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha. The performance features Shankar on sitar and Rakha on tabla. The recording captures a collaborative improvisation in the Hindustani classical tradition. The piece adheres to the raga system and explores rhythmic cycles (tala) characteristic of North Indian classical music.

The track was released in 1967. It appears on the album West Meets East, Volume 2, a collaboration between Ravi Shankar and Western classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Angel Records issued the album. The duration of Tala Farodast is 6 minutes and 48 seconds. The MusicBrainz Identifier (MBID) for the recording is c5bb5b27-a296-412f-b403-0463e456e669.

Ravi Shankar structures the performance around a melodic framework, while Alla Rakha provides rhythmic accompaniment and improvisation on the tabla. The piece does not follow a fixed composition but instead develops through spontaneous interaction between the two artists. The recording exemplifies the alap-jor-jhala progression, though it omits formal delineation of these sections.

The context of the release places Tala Farodast within a broader effort to introduce Indian classical music to Western audiences during the mid-20th century. The album West Meets East, Volume 2 received critical attention for its cross-cultural synthesis. Specific details about the recording venue or exact performance date remain unconfirmed in available sources.