Tabla Instructor: Chaz Hastings

Chaz Hastings has been nurturing his passion for tabla since the age of seventeen, and today is one of the most prominent performers and teachers of the instrument in the Pacific Northwest. His personal journeywith music has taken him to India twice and led him to study with a number of invaluable mentors. Thanks to their help, today Chaz is a very versatile performer of tabla, capable of playing in virtually any genre of North Indian classical and beyond. Chaz can be seen playing for khayal, thumri, ghazal, dhrupad, kathak dance, and instrumental music, as well as performing his own solos on tabla. This versatility is rarely found in tabla players of the present generation. Chaz’s natural musical sense has proved him adept at fusion. Since 2006 he has incorporated tabla into such diverse genres as Afro-beat with the Portland band Commotion, Persian and Arabic music with the Shabâva trio, and Cuban music with the Seattle-based band Anjuman.