Tappa, as a significant genre in Bengali musical styles, reached levels of excellence in lyrics and rendition (gayaki), arguably unmatched in other parts of India.
Hugely popular in the latter half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, tappa was the genre of choice of the wealthy elite as well as the classes with more modest means.
[citation needed] Unfortunately, tappa being mainly a vocal tradition, a lot of priceless material from the body of art has been lost in the passage of time.
Ramkumar Chattopadhyay was perhaps the most significant vocal proponent in recent times,[citation needed] of the tappa style in Bengal, renowned for his semi-humorous and majorly artistic renditions and his comical incorporation of English into the Bengali lyrics, either his own translations or his anecdotal translations based on prior sources, ostensibly for the 'comprehension' of the British 'sahibs' in the British Raj era, but containing many subversive and sarcastic tones in the English transliterations, clearly against the Imperial regime, but subtly put, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the strict and (usually) sensitive colonial government and invite charges of sedition.
Among instrumentalists, sarod player Shekhar Borkar from Pune was the first ever to perform a tappa on an instrument, implementing the Tarankaar Baaz, a style of playing he invented.