Tihai

Tihai (pronounced ti-'ha-yi) is a polyrhythmic technique found in Indian classical music, and often used to conclude a piece. Tihais can be either sung or played on an instrument.

Tihaaee is the repetition of specific group of BOL or BEATS by three times.

Typically, a tihai is used as a rhythmic cadence, i.e. a rhythmic variation that marks the end of a melody or rhythmic composition, creating a transition to another section of the music.

The basic internal format of the tihai is 3 equal repetitions of a rhythmic pattern (or rhythmo-melodic pattern), interspersed with 2 (usually) equal rests.

The ending point of the tihai is calculated to fall on a significant point in the rhythmic cycle (called Tala), most often the first beat (called Sum and pronounced like "some"). The other most common ending point of a tihai is the beginning of the Gat or Bandish, which is often found several beats before the sum.

If the 3 groupings are played with 2 groupings of rests, which are equally long, then the tihai is called Dumdaar.

Otherwise, if there are no rests between the 3 groupings, then the tihai is called Bedumdaar (or shortly, Bedum).

Sometimes, a pattern is played on the tabla that is almost identical to a tihai, except for the fact that it ends on the beat just before the Sum. Such patterns are known as Anagat.

• If the phrase is 16 beats long,
like in the rhythmic cycle called Teental,
the outline of a Anagat Tihai might look like 4 2 4 2 4.

Here, each "4" represents a rhythmic pattern that is 4 beats long,
and each "2" represents a rest that is 2 beats long.
(4+2+4+2+4 = 6+6+4 = 12+4 = 16).

The start of the next phrase fall exactly on the downbeat.

• Another example of Anagat Tihai in a 16 beat phrase might be 2 5 2 5 2 :
2 beats of rhythm with 5 beats of rest between them.
(2+5+2+5+2 = 7+7+2 = 14+2 = 16).

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