They say only magicians and musicians can levitate—one with their bodies, the other with their souls. But when two of India’s most gifted Pied Pipers come together, their music becomes magic, elevating you to a realm of beauty and wonder. Percussionists Bickram Ghosh and Taufiq Qureshi believe that there should be something organic, even inevitable, about creating music. There should be a “bond, a dialogue and a story told through rhythm”, they say. That story now has a name—RamTa—their first collaborative album. They will perform it at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) on September 13.
The performance is not just about music. It is the culmination of a friendship that stretches across generations. “Bickram da and I have known each other for many years now,” says Qureshi. “His father Shankar ji and my father were very close. So this is not just a professional collaboration. It’s almost like two families coming together.”
The duo has performed together in various countries, concerts and festivals. “We had been collaborating for a while and every time we met, we would plan to do something together,” says Qureshi. “One day, when I was in Kolkata for a concert, Bickram da said, ‘We always talk, but don’t do anything.’ So I suggested we start right then. I was at the studio, so I laid down some ideas. He added his own, and over two days we worked on our music. Later, I took the files back to Mumbai and [fine-tuned them]. And that’s how RamTa was born.” According to Ghosh, it is an album born out of their shared love for rhythm, melody and “the sheer joy of making music together”.
At the NMACC concert, there will be many percussion instruments, the two tell THE WEEK—taiko drums, tabla, djembe—other than vocal percussion. Qureshi talks about how important improvisation is to their music. “Of course, the raag, the taal and the main melody heads are fixed while working on the structure,” he says. “But whatever happens within that framework is spontaneous. The fixed parts will be presented live and the reaction of the audience will determine how it all comes together.”
For both musicians, it is a sense of kinship that gives RamTa (a combination of raag and taal) its heartbeat. Both come from music royalty. As the son of Pandit Shankar Ghosh, one of the most revered tabla maestros of the 20th century, Bickram Ghosh grew up in an environment where beats were as natural as breath. His early years were marked by rigorous training in classical forms, but he was never content to remain within the confines of tradition. He became known for stretching the boundaries of tabla and blending it with Carnatic patterns, jazz and other global rhythms. His collaborations span from George Harrison of The Beatles to Pandit Ravi Shankar and his fusion ensembles fit as easily in stadiums as sabhas. The tabla, says Ghosh, has travelled with him into many worlds—classical, fusion and films—and every time, it has shown him a new face. “I don’t see boundaries in music,” he says. “I see possibilities.”
Qureshi’s background is just as illustrious. As the son of Ustad Alla Rakha and brother of Ustad Zakir Hussain, he was born into the epicentre of Indian percussion. He says the influence of his father and brother has played a huge role in shaping his music. “My favourite jam session was one with my late brother, 12 years older to me,” he says. “He taught me so much that I carry with me.” But instead of choosing the easy path, he decided to take a detour. Drawn to the djembe—an African hand drum—he began adapting its tonalities to the syntax of Indian rhythm. “I always felt the djembe had tremendous potential in Indian music,” he says. This innovation, once considered radical, is now recognised as Qureshi’s signature contribution.
Ghosh and Qureshi bring this willingness to honour tradition without being bound by it to their new album. As Ghosh puts it, “Classical percussion is deeply rooted in tradition, but it also lends itself to experimentation. With RamTa, we wanted to bridge the classical and the contemporary, and yet stay true to our essence.”
The music flowed naturally because they did not want to overthink, says Qureshi. The sessions were less about rehearsed structures and more about spontaneous conversation. Each track became an exploration of what can happen when two masters make music that is sometimes playful, sometimes intense, always immersive. “It is like any good dialogue,” says Ghosh. “You listen as much as you speak. The tabla says something, the djembe responds. Sometimes it is agreement, sometimes it is challenge. That is what keeps the music alive.”
What makes RamTa resonate is the way both artistes view rhythm not as craft but as life-force. They believe it belongs to everyone. The NMACC concert offers the audience an opportunity to step inside a conversation between two masters—one where every beat is both question and answer. “We are inviting the audience to experience rhythm as we feel it—intimate, joyful and boundless,” says Ghosh. In today’s musical landscape, where fusion often risks becoming gimmick, RamTa stands apart. It is neither an escape from classical discipline nor a dalliance with the exotic. It is an honest conversation between traditions, instruments and personalities, reminding us that rhythm, in its purest form, is universal and unconfined.
For Ghosh and Qureshi, the project is also deeply personal. It is a chance to honour their parents’ legacies, while carving out one of their own. A conversation that began decades ago with their fathers has now found a new voice in RamTa. And for the audience, the message is clear: music is not something you hear, it is something you feel.