Though in India after 16 years, Jeffrey M Feldman seems at home, when we meet the kurta-pyjama-clad performer in a suburban hotel. The 67-year-old Los Angeles-based tabla and pakhawaj player was in Mumbai last weekend to perform at a tribute show to his teacher and famous Indian Classical percussion maestro Pandit Taranath Rao (1915-1991) at Tardeo. Having studied under Rao for 12 years in USA, and earlier, with Ustad Alla Rakha and Pandit Harihar Rao, his love for Indian Classical instruments is obvious as he elaborates on taals, khyals, ragas and styles of playing tabla and pakhawaj, despite no knowledge of Hindi. A professor of psychology at LA’s Pierce College, he has co-authored two books — Learning Tabla with Alla Rakha; A Manual of Drumming and Recitation (1983) and The Tabla Legacy of Taranath Rao (2011) — and is now, working on his third. Excerpts from an interview:

Jeffrey Feldman plays the pakhawaj as a tribute to his teacher, Pandit Taranath Rao. Pic/Bipin Kokate