Ed Hanley started out as a self taught guitar player who wanted to shift to drums and percussion. Encouraged by a neighbor, he first heard a recording by Pandit Ravi Shankar and immediately was charmed by the accompanying sound of Tabla played by Ustad Allah Rakha. He began taking Tabla lessons from Ritesh Das which he continued for 10 years. He then went to the Ali Akbar College of Music in California. It was followed by four months lessons from Pandit Anindo Chaterjee at Kolkata and then most recently from Pandit Suresh Talwalkar at Pune. Talking about his decision to pursue and practice Indian classical music, Ed Hanley speaks mainly about the excitement of learning a different musical language. He found it as enchanting as poetry. Furthermore, the sheer depth and the vastness appealed to his impressionable mind. Ed also sounds keyed up talking about the origin of the music and the instrument.
