Hi Jim,
Many thanks for your respectful and thoughtful reply.

In answer to your questions:

1. There are quite a few tabla players - well-known, and not so well-known, whom I can think of right off the top of my head.

For example - Zakir Hussain (son of the late, great tabla player, Alla Rakha) is well-known for musical collaborations with John McGlaughlin & The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

I think that Zakir Hussain divides his time between California and India.

Tanmoy Bose is another well-known and well-regarded tabla player (and played with the late Ravi Shankar quite a bit toward the end of Ravi Shankar's life).

In terms of lesser known people, many cities in North America and Europe have Indian music 'societies' which host visiting artists (I am a member of one), so contacting one of those may be an option. Often they will have 'Sangeet' in the title (referring to the trinity of singing, music, and dance which make up Classical Indian performing arts).

I could certainly recommend some tablists whom I have seen in concert many times, and who tour regularly.

One thing to be borne in mind is that there are various 'schools' (know as 'Gharanas') of tabla playing, of sitar playing, and so on, and many of these schools claim that their way of doing things is 'correct', according to the strict interpretation of the main Indian Classical musical form, the Raga (sort of equivalent to the Western Classical Music symphony, but with very strict rules of interpretation).

This can often cause 'political' dissension and in-fighting.

I do not say this lightly, as I have been involved with the Indian Classical Music scene in my city, and was a sitar student of a teacher who was the disciple of a very famous sitar player. I have also seen a lot of ICM concerts.

Generally, Western-born musicians playing these instruments are far less political in this way, although they will probably be part of a specific gharana / school, and will follow that school's style of playing.

One of the things I might do if I were PGmusic, would be to contact the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music, in San Rafael, California.

They are generally respected, and I am sure would make several recommendations of good (and affordable!) tabla players.

Here is the URL Ali Akbar Khan College of Music

2. I was thinking of suggesting creating loops, and yes, I think that is a good idea, and would suggest that the loops at the very list consist of the Thekas for the talas I mentioned in my original message, above.

3. I am not sure what you meant when you asked "How do you anticipate tabla sounds integrating with with the predominate western instrument sounds and styles used in Band-in-a-Box?"

The Beatles - and their use of sitar, tabla and other North and South Indican Classical instruments (played by George Harrison and Indian musicians in songs like 'Within You, Without You', 'The Inner Light', 'Love You To', and 'Norwegian Wood') are the best exemplars of how to integrate these instruments with Western music (in this case, Rock music).

Obviously, in creating this cross-pollination of radically different musics, The Beatles really did kick start what we now describe as 'World Music', and there are so many examples today of people combining these two kinds of sounds, that I think PGmusic offering this in BIAB would broaden the sonic and musical palettes for Band In a Box users.

Loreena McKennitt, and Nitin Sawney are a couple of people who immediately spring to mind (although I do not really like their music). McKennitt combines Celtic folk sounds with sitar, and the like, and Nitin Sawney uses electronica, hip-hop, jazz and Indian Classical and Semi-Classical instruments in his music.

And I am sure that there are examples of other, more recent artists who combine Western and Eastern music (particulary with the explosion of interest in Bollywood in the West, over the last 7 or 8 years).

If PGmusic decides to take a closer look at this, I have much more to say and would be glad to contribute thoughts, questions, and so on, in addition to what I have said above.

"If The Beatles or the 60's had a message, it was 'Learn to swim'. And once you've learned - swim!"
John Lennon