The tabla is the most important and popular drum in North Indian classical music. This book aims to increase our understanding of the Lucknow tabla-playing tradition by showing what distinguishes it from other styles both musically and technically and by analysing the processes involved in composition and improvisation. In conjunction with the musical discussion James Kippen considers the socio-musical development of Lucknow from the late eighteenth century to the present day and analyses several important aspects of the lives of a particular group of hereditary musicians connected with Lucknow who specialize in the tabla.