Nikhil Paralikar, known as 'The Tabla Guy,' is a tabla player and content creator famous for his reels on fusion music. With a strong foundation in classical music, he transitioned into a career as a musician, gaining popularity through tabla covers of popular songs on Instagram. Presently, he has a base of 358K followers on Instagram apart from which, he organises master classes and workshops as well.


Following an impressive debut mini-show in Bangalore, he caught the attention of Bollywood celebrities like Armaan Malik, and Vishal Dadlani, and international artists like DJ Snake. Collaborating with industry heavyweights, Nikhil has contributed to hits like 'Aaja Na Ferrari Mein' and a tabla cover for 'Highway.'


In a conversation with ABP Live over a video call, Nikhil talked about his journey, his collaboration with Spotify and his skills in creating fusion music.


Here are some excerpts from the interview:


1. How did you start with your Instagram handle- The Tabla Guy?


The Tabla Guy started six to seven years ago and it was on a very random day that this thing came to my mind that I wanted to have a page name of this sort. I am classically trained, so I always loved to experiment, especially in music. One fine day I started jamming tabla with different genres of music and preferrrably English. Once that was done, I started posting these covers on Instagram and back then IG videos used to be just 15 seconds. So, that's how it started off and I got good responses and recognition from the artists who made those tracks.






2. How long have you been trained in classical music?


I am still training and it's a journey but rigorously I have trained for 15-16 years.


3. In your reels, you also sing at times. So, have you been trained in music as well?


I have technically not learnt singing, but my sister has, and my father, has taken classes as both of them sing beautifully and I used to listen to those classes. It was always there in the subconscious mind and I love singing. so, playing and singing is also something that I have experimented and I love doing that.






4. What made you come up with the idea of jamming tabla with Bollywood and Western music?


I am somebody who loves to create something new, something different.


5. Have you ever faced any criticism while doing these renditions?


Definitely. There was a phase when people thought 'ye kitna hi kar lega' with an instrument. But, now things have changed. Classical music is coming back and this is so evident that literally the Gen-Zs want to listen to it which I think is a big thing because they are running the trend and they love to listen to classical music.


Recently, I have started a master class and there are so many Gen-Zs who have participated to learn tabla. So, I think it's amazing. If you do anything, people will talk, and they will criticize; you just have to keep going.


6. How many instruments do you know to play?


I think I can play any instrument that is played by hand- like darbuka is something that I play apart from tabla, but if there is any other instrument like the bongo set or any other similar instrument, I can play that as well because my foundation in tabla is so strong. 






7. Can you share something about your reel-tabla rhythms across all generations?


That was a branded reel by Spotify where we wanted to show people how tabla can be used in all genres of music. They have a playlist and that was an exciting project. When I was recording this at the studio, we were shifting between genres in a period of one hour and it takes to process and play all that. It was challenging but it was amazing.