Over 100 leading artistes from various genres, including classical and folk traditions as well as jazz and fusion, participated in the 100th birthday celebrations of the late Ustad Alla Rakha on Monday.
The emperor of rhythm, ‘Abbaji’ to his students, Ustad Alla Rakha would have turned 100 on April 29. The day-long celebrations were both conceived and led by his son, tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Hussain said, “I thought that is the most suitable way to pay tribute to a man god created for music.”
The celebrations took off with a procession by lezim and dhol tasha groups, followed by a ‘flag planting’ around 6 a.m. The performing artistes included renowned musicians like Pandit Uday Bhawalkar, Vidushi Prabha Atre, Pandit Ulhas Khasalkar, Pandit Rahul Sharma and Rakesh Chaurasia. A film on Ustad Alla Rakha was also screened on the occasion.
The ‘flag planting’ ceremony.
Gino Banks, Shikhar Naad Qureshi, Brass Band, Dhaaki Drummers, Dhol Pathak and Louiz Banks performed in their respective groups. Eminent personalities from the music fraternity, including Asha Bhosle, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Suresh Wadkar, Roopkumar Rathod, Sonali Rathod, Hariharan, Sivamani and Arvind Parikh, were also present on the occasion.
Bhosle’s surprise performance was the highlight of the event. The playback singer said, “For the world, [Alla Rakha] may be Abbaji, but for me, he was a Masterji. He was one of the first few people who believed in my singing and always encouraged me to continue it. I have so many memories of him that I can continue talking about them till morning.” Ustad Hussain accompanied her on the tabla. Bhosle sang, ‘ Shura mi vandite ’ (The brave I salute), penned by her father, the late Deenanath Mangeshkar. She concluded her performance with the Hindi film number, ‘ Chura liya hai tumne ’.
A tabla legend, Alla Rakha was trained under Mian Kader Baksh of the Punjab Gharana. He learnt singing from Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan of the Patiala Gharana. “His creative vision transformed the way drummers and musicians practice this art form. Ustad Alla Rakha is universally recognised as the spirit of taal who, in a short span of time, changed the course of our musical history,” Hussain said.
