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Drums

On the tape, I hear one tabla player, someone else on the bass-style drum, then probably a third person switching back and forth. The tape was labeled "Billy, Mickey, and Ali Akbar Kahn, 9/15/68". Kahn was a sarrod player, not a percussionist. Speculation that this was recorded at the school/studio that Kahn and Gosh ran in San Rafael around that time seems plausible. In September of 1968 the Grateful Dead played a concert at the Berkeley Community Theater. Before the concert the drummers had planned a surprise for the audience. During part of "Alligator", the G.D. amps rolled apart and two risers rolled on stage between Mickey and Bill. On them were Shankar Ghosh and Vince Delgado, a fine dumbec player and a student of Shankar's. The four men sat and fixed compositions together, taking a rhythmic journey through many "Tals" or time cycles. Ali Akbar Khan composed the closing compositions for them and when they were finished, the applause was deafening. (excerpt from the United Artists Diga Rhythm Band bio, May 1976) https://www.dead.net/features/blair-jackson/blair-s-golden-road-blog-ravi-shankar-and-dead

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