When East meets West

Alla Rakha was an Indian tabla player who specialized in Hindustani classical music. He was also a frequent accompanist of sitar player Ravi Shankar and was largely responsible for introducing Tabla to the western audience.

Ustad Alla Rakha Khan; Source: Public Domain

Alla Rakha Qureshi Khan was born today in a small village of Phagwal, Jammu. Born into a conservative Dogra household, music wasn't appreciated much. Nevertheless, the musical beats were already beating in his heart.

Knowing that he would never be able to play with the tunes of his heart he escaped home at the young age of 12. The boy, staying with his uncle started picking up the beats of music. Alla Rakha got a chance to learn Dhrupad after which he started training under Ashiq Ali Khan of Patiala Gharana. Later he learnt from the legendary Mian Kader Baksh of Punjab Gharana. Impressed by his prowess, Mian Kader Baksh declared him the new head of Punjab Gharana. Alla Rakha had got his "lay" and "baaz" fixed and now it was time to thrill the musical world.

Alla Rakha started his career with All India Radio as an accompanist in Lahore. He got shifted to Delhi and then to Mumbai. He left AIR and entered the glamourous world of Bollywood. He gave music to over 40 Hindi and Punjabi films even to iconic movies like Bewafa and Alam Ara. After a successful run, he left the film industry to go on a spree of concerts worldwide.

Abbaji, as he was called affectionately accompanied many leading stars, delivering one hit after the other but his collaboration with Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar was something out of the world.

These two put Hindustani classical music on the world map garnering the respect and praise it receives today. The west was taken away by a storm. The Duo was gold. Even western bands wanted to collaborate and learn from them.

George Harrison from The Beatles joined them for "The Concert for Bangladesh" and it was a raging hit and its album won the grammy in 1972. These collaborations continued with many more shows like the Monterey pop festival, the Woodstock festival, The Festivals of India, even the concert for Human rights day in the UN General Assembly.

Abbaji was not only a Tabla maestro but also an avid teacher. With a mission to spread classical music, he established the Alla Rakha Institute of Music in Mumbai. He himself taught his disciples who turned out to be future gems of the musical world. Amongst which, the most well known is his own son, the legendary Tabla player Ustad Zakir Hussain.

The Padmashri awardee's legacy is rightly carried out by his army of disciples and thanks to him classical music today is revered not only in India but also in the West.