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Gatka, Silambam, and Tahtib
Fighting Arts of India and the Middle East
There are many arts from around the world that will probably always remain as part of their culture; ones which will never be known to foreigners in the way that arts like karate or tae kwon do are. Gatka, Silambam, and Tahtib are such arts, ancient but enigmatic, known only to their desciples and those foreign men of adventure, like Richard Burton, who would travel to the places where they're practiced.
I first became aware of these arts through my longstanding contacts in the world of Middle Eastern dance. Through video tapes and contact wih people who had traveled abroad, I came to learn of these fighting arts and have since learned some elements from them. Here is some basic information with web resources. I have learned some basics of Gatka, and it is most worthwhile swordwork, with great agility and skill.
Silambam is an Indian style of staff fighting. There are a large number of pre-aranged exercises and two man sets, much like in the Chinese arts. It teaches a progressive series of attack patterns and counters along with evasive stepping patterns. It is radily learned through this method, and is beautiful to see done by skilled players. It is valid both as a sport and seld defense art.
The Tahtib is great fun, using long rattan sticks and dancing solo or in a mock fight (well, usualy a mock fight - sometimes someone will force it to be "real"). The basics of Tahtib are very similar to those demonstrated by Kylindi Iyi on his African Martial Arts tape, but this is no surprise, because of the link through Egypt. The term "Naboot" refers to the staff in both arts. The hanging guard and the overhead exhanges predominate these matches, with much faking and other stylisticic elements that involve energy sensitivity and a counter-for-counter flow. The fight is accompanied by drummers and is an event with its own cerimony and rules and conduct, like a Jogo de Capoiera.
Technically, Gatka is the name of a stick used to practice sword fighting, but the name Gatka also refers to the martial art used by the Sikhs of northern India. These are fierce warriors, and all Sikhs regardless of whether they practice the fighting arts or not carry a knife for religous reasons. The style uses weaving footwork and a variety of sword, knife, stick, and unarmed applications along with spiritual development.
Tahtib - Middle Eastern Stick FightingTahtib is a traditional style of stick fighting and dance from the Middle East. Like other martial arts of the world which are tied cultural to dance and music traditions, such as Brazilian Capoiera and Indonesian Silat, Tahtib is a special art form in that it combines both real combat aspects, and aesthetic aspect, and the concept of The Game or Play. There are five distinct areas of study in Tahtib, and a recognized expert in one may not necessarily know much about another. The modern style of highly choreographed Tahtib dance seen in stage performances in the Middle East is far removed from the wild nature of play seen at festivals and other social gatherings, where real blows get mixed in with the game of fakes and counters.
1) It is practiced as a true martial art from horseback
2) It is practiced as a true martial art on foot
3) It is practiced as a combative dance between men
4) It is practiced as a solo, more social dance by men
5) It is mimicked in a flirty or cute version of the real movements by women
The regular stick, called Asa or Asaya, Shoum or Nabboot, used for Tahtib is about 4 feet long, but when playing from horseback the stick is closer to 12 feet long. The importance of horses, and the realities of fighting from them, are mimicked in the dance. The men charge one another, and then circle in a dynamic spiral, exchanging blows and trying to find the open line on which to attack while covering their own open lines, which is the same way they would fight from horseback. One type of footwork used in dancing the Tahtib is even referred to as “Horse Stepping”.
Notation for Tahtib Music is very simple, and features the tahvol
(bass drum) and oud (shrill pipe). The tahvol is a double sided
drum worn with a shoulder strap so it hags sideways in front of the
drummer, and is played with two sticks. The right hand uses a
heavier stick with a hooked head to beat out the "dooms" which drive
the heartbeat of the rhythm, while the left hand uses a light twig as
a switch to produce rapid fire staccato "kahs". The basic beat
is a slow 4 count which might be noted as:
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Doom - Deep sound from striking center of drum with your right
hand (or with knobbed stick)
Kah - Higher sound from striking the edge of the drum with your left
hand (or with light switch)
In this example, the first line with only the dooms is the heatbeat, the framework to hang anything else off of. The second line gives an example of a basic "filled" version, where you hit all 8 counts.