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Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi, both the Guru and father of Ustad Zakir Hussain,
cannot be described by any single title.
Zakir , himself is fit to be called the Father of Tabla,
hence Ustad Alla Rakha , can perhaps aptly be called the Grandfather of Tabla!
AllaRakha , was born on April 29th, 1919 atRatangarh, near Jammu in India.
During his childhood, his musical fires were stoked by the
travelling musicians passing through the Jammu region.
Fuelled by an ardent desire to learn music, he ran away
from home to his uncle in Lahore (now in Pakistan).
The uncle not only provided him with food and shelter,
but also gave him his first formal lessons in music.
His innate talent in music was quickly evident to everyone and
he was put under the tutelage of Mia Kadur Baksh for tabla and
Mia Ashiq Ali Khan of Patiala Gharana, for vocal.
In 1936, Alla Rakha started working at All India Radio
in Delhi with the famous broadcaster Z. A. Bokhari.
During his seven years in AIR, he served in a number of other locations
as a percussionist of high repute.
However, probably in search of greater challenges,
he left AIR in 1943 and joined the film industry.
He composed and performed music for cinema.
He was a dexterous vocalist, harmonium player and a composer.
But the relative freedom of cinema was only in the working methods;
his heart pined for the 'musical freedom for experimentation'
which cinema could not provide him and he moved on to classical music.
Ustad AllaRakha, as he became known, made his mark as a world class percussionist
with his early East-West collaboration with American jazz drummer Buddy Rich.
He is widely acclaimed for his outstanding work with two eminent Sitariyas,
Ustad Vilayat Khan and Pt. Ravi Shankar.
Today, Ustad Alla Rakha is lovingly known as Abbaji by the musical fraternity
as his illustrious sons Ustad Zakir Hussain and Ustad Fazal Qureshi
have achieved great heights in Hindutani classical music.
The Government of India, in recognition of his outstanding merit
conferred the Padmashri award on him in 1977.
Later the Sangeet Natak Academy Award also came his way in 1982.
Before his time, the tabla player usually played the secondary role
of an accompanist to the lead musician or vocalist.
Abbaji's prime contribution to the field was a new style of playing the tabla
which elevated the tabla player to the stature of a primary soloist
rather than being relegated as an accompanist.
In later years, looking back on his life-time achievements, Abbaji appeared content.
On Feb 3rd, 2000, the fingers which had been incessantly
drumming magic out of the tabla for millions of awartans, ultimately came to their last Sam.
He had breathed his last, but his legacy lives today on in the thousands
of tabla performers giving solo performances, a feat rarely known before his time.
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Maestros
of India
