Tala in Thumri is mostly based on the formal tinatala pattern. The nineteenth century bandisa thuman relied almost entirely on the formal tinatala. Thumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music. It became popular during the 19th century in the Lucknow court of nawab Wajid Ali Shah.
Thumri is indeed a diversified form of classical music, with the incorporation of the brilliant combinations of bandishes of various ranges, taals and another innovative version of bandish, bol-banav in slow tempo (vilambit laya). The text of Thumri is romantic or devotional in nature, and usually revolves around a girl`s love for Krishna. Some bandisa thumans were rendered in "Punjabi tinatala." This version of folk origin was to later play a bigger role in the bola-banao thuman. The bandisa thuman was a genre for the medium to fast tempo, with an explicit rhythm. In its version, it also drew a lively interaction between the poetic-melodic and rhythmic elements. This equation between the different elements changed dramatically as the tempo of the bandisa thuman slowed down. The bola-banao thuman took over and drifted closer to folk genres. Rhythm was now downgraded to the back seat.
Drifting apart from the multiple nomenclatures and multiple versions, the bola-banao thuman primarily uses cancara or dipacandi of 14 beats in 3+4+3+4 subdivision, keherva of eight beats in 4+4 subdivision, dadra of six beats in 3+3 subdivision, and tmatala of 16 beats, rendered in a stylized, or probably folk manner. This account of tmatala is, presently known by several names like sitarakhani, addha, punjabi, and qawwali. This idiom is an asymmetrical and dented interpretation of the symmetrical [4+4+4+4] subdivision of the tola. The sitarakhani, addha, Punjabi, qawwali, generally played in medium tempo, interprets the 4-beat subdivision in the tala as an 8-beat subdivision, and renders it with percussion strokes falling on the 1st, 4th and 7th markers of the notionally 8-beat subdivisions. This interpretation of the tmatala brings its rhythmic experience remarkably close to the 14-beat dipacandi.
Amongst the talas used in the thuman genre, dadam of six beats poses a special problem because this happens also to be the name of a genre of vocal music belonging to the thumari family.
