For several days after the large Guru poornima concert, intimate baithak style concerts are held where everyone from beginners to professional artists display their musical prowess. The seniors play full length solos, while many of the young students get their first taste of performing. It can be daunting to perform in front of a room full of tabla players, but as American disciple Brian Knutzel shares “I've never experienced such a warm crowd of musicians."

Last year we got a chance to hear some pure gharanedar solos. At Rhythm Riders, tabla players are trained in three gharanas: Ajrada, Delhi and Punjab (the gharanas that Guruji formally learned) as well as learning some of countless composition by Pandit Divyang Vakil himself. To highlight the differences between each style, some of the professional tabla players performed solos comprised only of bols from one particular style.