Hailed as a ‘Queen of tabla’ and a ‘percussion phenomenon’, Anuradha Pal is one of the most talented and best known female tabla artistes in the world. A living legend in her own right, Anuradha is also a composer of repute. Her continuous innovations and creative projects have earned the soloist a well-deserved reputation as a trendsetter.
A recent accomplishment of hers which is worth mentioning, given the forthcoming centenary of Ustad Alla Rakha is the Taal Smaran to Ustad Allah Rakha. To celebrate the legendary guru, Ustad Alla Rakha’s 100th birthday on April 29, 2019, she was joined by 175 tabla students and 40 tabla teachers performing on one stage for the first time ever, for a capacity audience of 2,000 people at Suresh Bhat Hall, Nagpur, in December 2018.
Anuradha also does ‘Self-jugalbandis’ — a feat which is rare and unique in her field. A graded artist of Doordarshan, AIR and ICCR, she holds a masters degree in music and has taught at Ivy League universities in USA. She has also founded the first all-female classical music band, Stree Shakti.
- Speaking about her plans for furture, Anuradha says, “I am presently revamping Anuradha Pal’s Tabla Academy (APTA) in Andheri (west), Mumbai into a Musical centre, complete with accommodation and practice facilities for deserving Indian and international students to stay and learn peacefully in my Residency Gurukul from August 2019 onwards, with the blessings of God and my parents. I want to collaborate more with young and veteran Indian classical and folk musicians, international greats like Yo Yo Ma, Yanni, Sting, Peter Gabriel and artistes from cross genres and performing someday, at the Royal Albert Hall, the Acropolis and such great venues.”
Among a long list of achievements are her successful collaborations with various genres of music. In fusion albums like Get Recharged ! and Recharge Plus! , she has composed the tracks and played multi-percussion like djembe, darabuka, bongo, udu, kanjira, uduku and more.
Anuradha has composed and performed the entire background score on tabla for M F Husain’s film Gaja Gamini in 2000. This was the first time ever in any film ever, when the entire background score has been composed and played by only one musician, using one instrument, namely the tabla.
Learning experiences
However, the climb to the top was not easy for Anuradha. Talking of this journey, she says, “I am just a very dedicated student of music, in search of excellence in my art and life. I have miles to go before I sleep, and my best is yet to come. I started learning vocal classical music when I was six. To develop a strong foundation in laya and sur , I expressed a desire to learn tabla, but was flatly refused as tabla has always been a male preserve and requires lot of strength and perseverance. From the time I started performing at the age of ten to the age of 16 when I was performing at the international stage, I have always faced discrimination. I overcame all that with equanimity and resolve to improve through introspection and humility.” Also, not belonging to a musicians family put her at a disadvantage. “All through my school days, I was laughed at and ostracised by people around me. But I continued with intense practise schedules called ‘chilla’ of 40 days of 10 hours of practice every day, all through our summer vacation. My professionally accomplished parents Ila and Devinder Pal encouraged me to look beyond the discrimination and nepotism and focus on the superb, exacting training of tabla legends Ustad Alla Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain.”
She says the experience of performing alongside great artistes was enriching and a valuable learning experience. “Further, accompanying legendary musicians like Pandit Jasraj, Girija Devi, Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez in concert tours around the world, have honed and chiselled my skills and inspired me to learn, nurture, adopt and adapt to different genres of music ranging from Hindustani to Carnatic to jazz to new age fusion with jazz, Flamenco, African to Latin music.”
Talking of her connection with Carnatic music, she says, “I have the greatest respect and admiration for the technically perfect and invigorating Carnatic system and have fortunately studied taal shastras from great percussionists, Umayalpuram Sivaramanji and Vikku Vinayakramji. My own guru, Ustad Alla Rakha was among the first Hindustani percussionist to integrate the Carnatic tala shastra with tabla, followed by Zakir bhai . Tonnes of self study of korvais , mathematical equations and Carnatic tradition and collaborations have further enriched me.”
Having endured gender bias and believing that ‘You must be the change that you want see’, she formed Anuradha Pal’s Stree Shakti band in 1996 to create a platform of equal opportunity and representation of the best women percussionists, instrumentalists and vocalists from Carnatic and Hindustani Music traditions.
