What is your Tabla?

Today’s cartoon was inspired by a story on NPR about The Tabla Master Who Jammed With The Grateful Dead:

In the 1960s, Western musicians were becoming interested in Indian music, and Hussain found himself working on a sitar record with George Harrison. He told the Beatle about his dream to get into rock.
“And he said, ‘Well, look. You want to play drums and all, but the reason why you’re sitting next to me is because you represent a culture that I really adore, and that’s what you bring to this table,’ ” Hussain says.
Harrison reminded Hussain that his competition in the rock world was stiff. ” ‘And if you want to be just one of the thousand and be somebody that you are not, that’s entirely up to you. But if you want to take all these incredible [drummers] — Elvin Jones or Tony Williams or Ringo and everybody — and make that part of your music, just imagine how unique your music will be.’ And it made total sense.”