Homage to Abbaji - A tribute to Ustad Allarakha

In religion and spirituality, a Pilgrimage is defined as a journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of many major religions participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.

Every year, 3rd February is marked as a pilgrimage trip on my scheduler. A Pilgrimage to pay tribute to a Maestro who's fingers spread the magic of Indian Classical Music worldwide. An uncommon pulsation which went stilled on 3rd February 2000. His wrists, palms and fingers produced a percussion of magical quality which maintained the tenor and tempo of India's uniquely assimilative musical culture.




Ustad Alla Rakha & Tabla are synonyms. This great man introduced Tabla to the Western world and is considered one of the greatest tabla players of the 20th century. He popularized the art of tabla, playing across the globe, elevating the status and respect of his instrument by leaps and bounds.

He achieved world renowned status as Pandit Ravi Shankar's chief accompanist during his apex in the 1960s, delighting audiences in the West with his percussive wizardry. He was not only an uncanny accompanist with flawless timing and sensitivity but also soloist & master of improvisation.

The partnership was particularly successful, and his legendary and spellbinding performances with Shankar at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and the Woodstock Festival in 1969 served to introduce classical Indian music to general Western audiences.

He once said in an interview that when he played outside India, his aim was to teach the Western world about the beauty of Indian music. I had read somewhere that ,when he was requested to say a few words on his 80th birthday celebrations, he played the tabla instead. "This is the language I know," he told the audience. Such was his dedication towards music.

Since his demise, an annual event to pay tributes to Ustad Alla Rakha is organised by his son, Ustad Zakir Hussain, "Homage to Abbaji" is conducted on 3rd February at Shanmukhananda Auditorium Sion.

Many renowned national and international artistes perform at this ceremony to pay their tributes. The pillars of Indian music like Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Kishen Maharaj, Ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram, Mridangam Maestros Umayalpuram Sivaraman & Sri Karaikudi Mani Iyer have graced this event with their presence.

International Artistes like John Mc Laughlin, Terry Bozzio, Giovanni Hidalgo, Pete Lockett, Bela Fleck, Edger Mayer, Antonio Sanchez & Steve Smith were also a part of the earlier concerts.

This year's barsi was no exception. The audience got a rare chance to witness magic of some awe-inspiring musicians like Charles Lloyd, Eric Harland, Zakir Hussain and many others play together.

Image Courtesy - radioandmusic.com

The morning session titled 'Taal pranam' was opened by flautist Rakesh Chaurasia. This was followed by performances by Ranjit Barot & Sridhar Parthasarathy along with students of Ustad Allarakha Institute of Music. The morning session was concluded by performance by sitar exponent Niladri Kumar with Ustad Zakir Hussain on Tabla.

The afternoon session called 'Taal Tapasya' featured solo performances by Vikku Vinayakram along with his son Uma Mahesh, a solo performance by tabla maestro Puran Maharaj & was concluded by Taufiq Qureshi on Djembe accompanying Ajay Joglekar on Harmonium.

The evening session 'Celebrate Abbaji' was started by the Dhaak players from West Bengal, the band 'Sangam' featured Jazz great Charles Lloyd, Eric Harland, Zakir Hussain. Later Louis Banks, Shankar Mahadevan, Niladri Kumar, Ranjit Barot & Loy Mendonca joined in for a Splendid Jam Session leaving the audience spellbound.

Ustad Allarakha will always be with us, whenever Tabla is played anywhere in the world, his magical fingers will always be remembered.