A taal order

Did you know that before Ustad Alla Rakha became famous as a tabla maestro, he was employed at the All India Radio as a tabla accompanist as well as a vocalist? Or that when he was asked to speak as a chief guest at an event, he would recite some of his compositions? His son, tabla maestro Fazal Qureshi, is a minefield of such information about his father. On the 91st birth anniversary of Ustad Alla Rakha, Fazal is preparing to pay tribute to the tabla legend with a concert next Wednesday. Fazal talks to CS:

Wah Ustad
My father was one of those rare human beings, totally soaked in tradition but always open to experimenting. He had a modern outlook and open mind. He didn't boast about his achievements, he just let his music do all the talking. He was a kind, humble person and it is his goodwill that so many senior artists like Louis Banks and Roop Kumar Rathod have readily agreed to perform at this concert.u00a0


WHO: Fazal Qureshi
WHAT: Showing off his tabla tricks
WHERE: Marine Plaza

On the beat
Expressions Through Tabla, our concert is all about showcasing the tabla and its different facets. We want to show how tabla syllables can show expressions and how musical notes can be played on it. My father was one of the first musicians to bring tabla into the spotlight and turn it from an accompanist to a solo instrument. Then Zakirbhai (Fazal's elder brother Zakir Hussain) came on the scene popularising it further. In the olden days, the tabla player would sit a few feet behind the vocalist. Today, he has taken centrestage. Through this concert, I want to track the evolution of its status in our musical tradition. There is a section where we will play my father's recorded music and follow it up with a live performance by me and my students.

A lesson or two
Few people know that my father loved to teach. Even with all his shows and hectic traveling, he took time to work with his students, who sometimes even lived with us. Even then, he never forced any of his own sons to pursue music. In fact he started teaching me the tabla only after he observed my growing interest in it.
It was actually one of his young 16-year-old foreign students who inspired me to take the tabla seriously. I'd watch him practise daily and wonder at his dedication. Slowly I started practising with him and I realised I was good at it too. Today, as I work with my students, I realise that teaching is a two-way process. It helps me revise my learning as an artist too. My father believed in encouraging new talent (I remember how he and Zakirbhai kept egging me on to keep playing at my first concert with both of them) and I try my best to carry on his legacy.u00a0