One of the most iconic musicians of our times, Ustad Alla Rakha took the art of accompaniment to a new level, and in a sense was the first to give tabla the visibility and status it has today. Born on April 29, 1919 in Phagwal, a small village on the Punjab-Jammu border, he was a self-made man, perhaps, carrying musicality from an earlier life. Accompanying Pt Ravi Shankar on the tabla throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Abbaji, as he is universally known, has been the face of the Punjab gharana of tabla, as we know it today, since the 1940s. Not only has he interpreted its traditional “baaj” and added to it; today his army of disciples is keeping the name of Punjab tabla alive, albeit from outside of Punjab.
His was an amazing life – he ran away from home to Lahore to his “chacha” when he was 11. He picked up how to learn the tabla on his own – an amazing incident recounted by Banaras tabla exponent Rohen Bose tells us how he started learning from the great Mian Kader Baksh. An unnamed dhrupad singer was performing, accompanied by an inadequate tabla player – disenchanted, he called out from amongst the audience for someone else to accompany him. The 11-year-old Alla Rakha stood up, and managed so well that the connoisseurs there suggested he learn from the greatest teacher then – Ustad Kader Baksh. When the boy went to learn, he realised that he had seen him in his dreams and learnt from him. Later, he also learnt vocal music from Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan of the Patiala gharana.
Hugely popular, Abbaji had a child like, open, innocent personality, which many said was reflected in his music and creativity. The music he composed for the 35 films through the 1940s was simple, easy to decipher and free of artifice. No wonder, his anniversary was celebrated in style in various ways in different parts of the country. The longest classical music festival in India, Saptak in Ahmedabad in January was dedicated to his memory, the India International Centre in Delhi organised a talk on him, by young Banaras gharana tabla exponent Rohen Bose. In Pune, a two-day tabla extravaganza was held, with performances by seasoned exponents including Pt Suresh Talwalkaer, Pt Swapan Chaudhari, Pt Anindo Chatterji.
One of a kind
Alla Rakha and Pandit Ravi Shankar. Photo The Ravi Shankar Foundation
In his beloved Mumbai, practically the entire musical community came together on 29 April to offer musical homage. The most unique tribute was the six masters of percussion of different “gharanas” playing together – the qaida (composition) was Abbaji’s, but the upaj (improvisation) was unique to each player. The players were Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Akram Khan, Ustad Fazal Qureshi, Pt Yogesh Samsi, Pt Subhankar Banerji and Satyajit Talwalkar.
Pt Nayan Ghosh, an authority on tabla, says, “He was one of the most important figures in the world of tabla. He added enormously to the Punjab gharana “baaj” – he was a master at using the space between two beats. He brought the mathematical angle of tabla playing to the fore, which had earlier been dominated by language and poetry. His pieces had an unmistakeable stamp. He used “laya” and “chhand” (rhythmic metre) in a very distinct way, and the legacy he left behind is an inspiration for all”.
Echoing his view, Pt Ram Kumar Mishra of the Banaras gharana remembers an old association with him. His grandfather Pt Anokhe Lal and Ustad Allah Rakha were contemporaries. Ram Kumar recalls going to Mumbai where he stayed for around two years and also learnt from him. When he went to the Ustad’s house, he was warmly greeted and introduced to his sons. Apparently, Abbaji recalled, whenever he knew Anokhe lal ji and he were going to perform at the same festival, he would do extra “riyaaz”, in case he heard him. “After his death I have not practised like that, who is there to play like that for now.”Generous words indeed, as was his teaching of the young Ram Kumar, at his house privately, not at his school with the other students.
Ustad Akram Khan of the Ajjrara gharana also remembers the Ustad’s kindness to him in the 1990s during an SRA seminar on tabla. He took him home and generously shared anecdotes of his forbears. He was a close associate of his grandfather Ustad Mohammed Shafi Khan. “Today, Abbaji is being remembered so prolifically because of the efforts of his great son Ustad Zakir Hussain. Jab sikhlai ki kadi toot jaati hai, to woh sangeet bikhar jaata hai” (when the chain of learning is broken, the music gets lost as music can only be transmitted orally, through demonstration.) Every musician should have a son like Zakir bhai, he is an inspiration indeed.” Akram acknowledges Abbaji’s contribution to tabla playing as enormous. “What Ustad Vilayat Khan is to any instrumentalist wanting to play “gayaki ang”, Abbaji is to any “layakar” tabla player. The way he played qaida s and peshkars even of other gharanas was uniquely his own,” he said.
Ustad Alla Rakha used to say he was just one of the disciples of his Guru Mian Kader Baksh; “sawa lakh shagirdon me se mein ek tha” (of course, the 1,25000 figure is allegorical). The gharana was essentially derived from the older tradition of pakhawaj, Abbaji used to call it a Pakhawaj gharana. His vast repertoire had just some of the many compositions that Punjab had – sadly the players faded away from public memory.
Legendary artists like Baba Malang, Firoz Khan “Dhaa-tin-dha-ra” (he played the “bols” so well he was given that title), Meera Baksh, Abdul Karim Perna are today just names. After Partition, most of the families remained in Pakistan, and that generation died out. Mohali-based Pt Sushil Jain who is a repository of old forgotten compositions of past Punjab Gurus says there is so much the gharana had that is today lost, so many “mangalacharan gats” that were played on the pakhawaj in praise of the Lord as “shaans” being just one category.
NEW DELHI, 10/01/2019: Tabla Maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, in New Delhi on January 10, 2019. Photo: Sandeep Saxena
So, it was not just representing a great lineage, Abbaji’s greatest legacy was adding to what he was taught and passing it on. Amongst his main disciples are sons Ustads Zakir Hussain, Fazal and Taufiq Qureshi, Pt Yogesh Samsi, Anuradha Pal, and Aditya Kalyanpur. In the words of the torchbearer of his legacy, Ustad Zakir Hussain, “In music, there is nothing new; it’s all there from before, but if it resonates with the audience, it stays.” Like Abbaji’s music.
Yashwant Vaishnav, at 24, is one of the youngest Sangeet Natak Akademi Yuva awardees, and is a disciple of Pt Yogesh Samsi. Yashwant admitted that despite having trained in the Farrukhabad tradition of tabla for more than 10 years he was irresistibly attracted to the laya and unique qaida s of Abbaji’s style.
In Pt Yogesh Samsi’s words, “I feel my ‘rishta’ with Abbaji was from a previous birth – when I first went to learn from him as a boy of nine (he had heard him play at his house), he did the “ganda bandhan” on me on the first day I went to learn from him, which was unprecedented. He really treated me like his fourth son.”
Truly, the legacy of Ustad Alla Rakha lives on.
