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FAMOUS
PERSONALITIES OF INDIA

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q Ali
Akbar Khan
Ustad
Ali Akbar Khan (b.1922), popularly known as the "Indian Johann
Sebastian Bach", is considered a "National Living Treasure"
in India. He is one of the
greatest Sarod players of all times. He is also adept in other instruments
like the Pakhawaj and Tabla. He also mastered different forms of music like
dhrupad, dhammar and khayal from his father Ustad Allauddin Khan. Ali Akbar
Khan gave his first public performance in Allahabad at age thirteen. In his
early twenties, he became the court musician for the Maharaja of Jodhpur.
Since his father's death in 1972, He has continued his father's tradition,
that of the Baba Allauddin Seni Gharana of Maihar in Central India. He has
composed music for the Bengali films Kshudhito
Pashan and Devi and for the Hindi film Andhiyan.
A devoted musician, his aim has been to promote better understanding of
Indian music in the Western world. He performed an unprecedented concert at
the Museum of Modern Art in New York way back in 1955. Since then, he has
continued to tour extensively in Asia, Africa, Europe, The Netherlands,
Australia, Canada, and the United States. In order to popularize Indian
classical music, Ali Akbar founded colleges to teach Indian music in Japan,
Canada and the US. He also established a College of Music in Calcutta in
1956. He is credited with the introduction of five new ragas,
Chandranandan, Gauri-Manjari, Lajwanti,
Mishra-Shivaranjani and Hem-Hindol.
He is the recipient of several awards which include the President of India
award (1963), Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibushan (1988), Sangeet Natak Akademi
Award (1963), Sangeet Natak fellowship (1992) and the Kalidas Samman (1991).
He is also conferred with an honorary Doctorate Degree in Arts from
the California Institute of the Arts, in Valencia, CA. He has also received
the degree of Doctor of Literature, honoree
causa, from the Rabindra Bharati University in Calcutta.
In June of 1991, Ali Akbar Khan became the first Indian musician to
be awarded the most prestigious Macarthur Foundation Fellowship in
recognition of his excellent work in the field of creating, cultivating and
transmitting the highly complex musical tradition of Northern India. He has
received four Grammy Award nominations: in 1970 for Shree
Rag, in 1983 for Misra Piloo,
in 1996 for Then and Now, and
recently in 1997 for Legacy.
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q Alla Rakha
Ustad Alla
Rakha (1919-2000) was one of the most celebrated tabla players in the world.
He was hailed not only for his performing finesse but also for the
incomparable accompaniment he provided to other musicians. Alla Rakha got
his initial training from Lal Ahmed and later from the renowned Mian Kader
Baksh of the Punjab Gharana and Ashiq Ali Khan of the Patiala Gharana. In
1936 he entered the Bombay film world as a music director under his real
name, A.R. Qureshi and scored music for a number of Hindi and Punjabi films,
including superhits like Sabak,
Khandan, Maa Baap, Madari and Bewafa.
He founded the Institute of Music in Mumbai in 1986. He earned great
recognition abroad as a soloist and accompanist, with a string of awards in
San Francisco and California. He was the recipient of Padma Shri (1977), the
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1982), the Indo-American Achievement Award and
the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar. He died of heart attack on 4 February 2000
in Mumbai.
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q Baba
Allauddin Khan
Ustad
Baba Allauddin Khan (1862-1972) is a legendary figure in Indian music. He
developed a thirst for music and musical knowledge from a very young age
that eventually led to one of the most incredible musical journeys of this
century. He mastered many instruments including Tabla, Violin, Sursringar
and Surbahar but finally turned to the Sarod and became a student of the
Sarod wizard Ahmed Ali Khan. The great Wazir Khan of Rampur, scion of the
Seni Beenkar Gharana taught him for 12 years. He himself remained a student
of music till the age of 70 completely mastering the Dhrupad and
instrumental compositions of the Seni Gharana and adding innumerable new
compositions and many new Ragas, such as Hemant, Shobhavati and Durgeshwari.
His eventual contributions are so outstanding that today this Gharana is
known as the Seni Baba Allauddin Gharana. Among his large number of
disciples, the most famous are his son the supreme Sarodist Ustad Ali Akbar
Khan and his son-in-law the Sitar Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar.
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q
Amjad
Ali Khan
Ustad
Amjad Ali Khan (b.1945) is one of the greatest exponents of Sarod. He learnt
the Sarod from his father Hafiz Ali Khan. He has the distinction of being
the first north Indian artist to have performed in honour of Thyagaraja at
the saint-musician’s Thiruvaiyur shrine. He founded the Hafiz Ali Khan
Memorial Society in 1977, which organises music festivals in different parts
of India. He made many changes to the conventional style and structure of
the Sarod. He has also been an innovator in introducing the gayaki ang in the Sarod, which has added new dimensions to
performances on this instrument. He has contributed in propagating and
creating music for children. He has composed special songs for children all
over the country, including a special ‘Birthday Song’. He has composed
new ragas like Amiri Todi, Haripriya Kannada, Jawahar Manjari and Shivanjali
for special occasions. He is the recipient of many awards and honours
including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1989),
Padma Shri (1975), Tansen
Award (1989), the Padma Bhushan (1991) and the International Music Forum
Award, UNESCO (1970).
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Dr Bal Murali Krishna
Dr Bal Murali Krishna (b.1930)
is an enterprising instrumentalist who plays Violin, Khanjira, Veena and
Mridangam, besides being a renowned music composer. He is the recipient of
several awards which include Padma Vibhushan, Padma Shri (1971),
the Best Play Back Singer (23rd National Film Festival, 1976), Best Music
Director (34th National Film Festival, 1987) and the UNESCO
Mahatma Gandhi Silver Medal (1995). Dr.
Balamuralikrishna has also been conferred with Doctor
of Letters by the Sri Venkateshwara University (1981).
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q
Bismillah
Khan
Born on 21st March, 1916 in Dumraon, Bihar, Ustad Bismillah Khan
is the most outstanding
and popular Shehnai player of contemporary times. His ancestors were court
musicians in the princely state of Dumraon in Bihar and he was trained under
his uncle, the late Ali Bux `Vilayatu’, a Shehnai player attached to
Varanasi’s Vishwanath Temple. His first major public appearance was in
1930 at the age of 14, when he played in the All India Music Conference in
Allahabad. Ustad Bismillah
Khan’s specialisation lies in his ability to produce intricate sound
patterns on the Shehnai which was hitherto, considered impossible on this
instrument. For his outstanding services in the field of music, he has been
bestowed with several honours and awards including, the Sangeet Natak
Akademi Award (1956), Shehnai
Chakravarti by the National Cultural Organisation (955), Padma Shri
(1961), Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and the Tansen Award. A jugalbandi
of the Shehnai and Sitar performed by Bismillah Khan and Sitat Nawaz Abdul
Halim Jaffar Khan, for the film Gunj
Uthi Shehnai was an outstanding success. He performed at the Edinburgh
Festival along with Ustad Vilayat Khan and the album produced, known as Thumri
Piloo, is considered as one of the best by the Ustad. He has also been
conferred with honorary doctorates from the Benares Hindu University and
Shantiniketan.
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Bundu Khan
Bundu
Khan (1880-1955) is the legendary Sarangi Nawaz belonging to the Delhi
Gharana. He has written several
parts of Sangit Viveka Darpan,
which was published in 1934.
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Chinna Maula
Chinna
Maula (b.1924), who is a renowned Nagaswara player in South India, hails
from an illustrious music family whose ancestry goes back to Sheikh Nabi
Sahib (18th Century). He
gave his first concert in 1960. Chinna
Maula's favourite themes are Ramayana and Mahabharata.
He is a recipient of several honours and awards which include Padma
Shri, Kalaimamani, Nagaswara Kalanidhi, Kala Prapoorna, Isai Perarignar,
etc. In 1982 he founded and
nurtured the Sarada Nagaswara Sangeeta Asramam in Srirangam, which later
produced several promomising nagaswaram players like Pedda Kasim, Chinna
Kasim, Mahaboob Subani and Kalishabi.
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T.V. Gopalakrishnan
T.V. Gopalakrishnan has a solid musical heritage of over two centuries. He
is an accomplished Mridangam artiste and a creative music composer gifted
with a mellow, bass voice, capable of a large and panoramic range. He is
especially famous for bringing out the rich tonal colours and the evocative
and articulate rhythm patterns on both faces of the Mridangam
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Hariprasad Chaurasia
Pandit
Hari Prasad Chaurasia (b. 1938) is one of the most popular contemporary
flautists and is regarded as the greatest living master of the north Indian
flute. He belongs to the Senia gharana
but has imbibed the best features and facets of other forms and styles in
his
presentation. As a musician, Chaurasia is a rare combination of
innovator and traditionalist and has significantly expanded the expressive
possibilities of classical North Indian flute. He learnt
the techniques of vocal classical music from Pandit Raja Ram of Benaras
and the renowned Annapurna Shankar. Later, he switched to flute playing
after hearing Pandit Bholanath, a noted flautist from Varanasi. He tutored
under Pandit Bholanath for eight years and in 1957, he became a regular
member of All India Radio in Cuttack, Orissa where he worked as a performer
and a composer. He is the recipient of several honours and awards like the
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1983), Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar (1990),
Padma Bhushan (1992), the Konarak Samman (1992) and the Yash Bharati Sanman
by UP government (1994). Chaurasia tours the world regularly and has
recorded with artistes like John McLaughlin to Jan Garbarek. He is the only
Indian soloist to have performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and his
playing caused appreciative riots in the Theatre Odeon in Paris. He, along
with Shivkumar Sharma, composed the scores for Hindi films like Silsila
and Chandni. He has also recorded
a compact disc at Oslo along with Western artists John Mclaughlin and Jan
Garbarek, which has gained international popularity.
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V.G.Jog
Vishnu Govind Jog (b.1922) is an established
violinist whose name is synonymous with the violin genre in Hindustani
classical. His recitals are known for their dignity and crispness of swara
and tala. He is noted for the
purity of his rendition and the ease with which he communicates the idioms
of music. His style owes much to the Gwalior, Agra and Bakhley Gharanas. He was professor of Instrumental Music at the
Bhatkhande University of Music, Lucknow till 1952. He is a recipient of
several honours and awards, which include the Vadya Nipurna from the
Bhatkhande University of Music, Lucknow (1944), the Sangeet Natak Akademi
Award (1980) and the Padma Bhushan (1983). He was given the title of ‘Tantri Vilas’ by Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan Mumbai in 1978 and
the Lalit Kala Pitra, Bhuvaneshwar, Orissa conferred on him the title of ‘Behala
Samrat’ in 1980. In 1973 the Indian Music Circle of Vassar, USA
honoured him as ‘Violin Samrat’.
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q Lalgudi
Jayaraman
Lalgudi
Jayaraman is a violin virtuoso who has excelled far beyond anyone else since
the time of Dwaram Sri Venkateswara Naidu. The unique feature about Lalgudi
is that his music is very expressive. Lalgudi's instrumental genius comes to
the fore in the form of lyrical excellence.
More particularly, there is no structural damage done to the edifice
of the composition as envisaged by the composer, be it a Varnam, Kriti,
Tillana or a Padam. He is
probably one of a select few instrumentalists who is capable of rendering a
very good vocal music concert. The quality in his playing is spellbinding
and his technique is immaculate. He has been in great demand for
accompanying vocalists, and has accompanied such great vocal virtuosos as
Ariyakkudi Sri Ramanuja Iyengar, Semmangudi Sri Srinivasa Iyer, Sri G. N.
Balasubramaniam, Alathur Brothers and Karaikkudi Sambasiva Iyer.
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U. 'Mandolin' Srinivas
Upalappu Srinivas (b.1969) is a child prodigy who
was the first to use mandolin in Carnatic music. Having begun playing when
he was only six years old, Srinivas's musical aptitude was spotted by
Subbaraju, a classically trained musician and disciple of the famous musical
stalwart Chembai Vaidyanata Bhagavatar. U.Srinivas is already a winner of
Padma Shri at the age of 29. He became renowned for his jazz-fusion concerts
with the famous violinist L.Subramaniam and also with the ghazal
singer Hari Haran. He produced
an album called 'Dreams' with the
Canadian guitarist Michael Brooks.
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Pannalal Ghosh
Amulya Jyoti (nicknamed Pannalal) Ghosh (1911-1960)
was a famous flautist, who was in a family of musicians in Barisal, East
Bengal (now in Bangladesh). His grandfather, Hari Kumar Ghosh, was a famous
Dhrupad artist and his father, Akshay Kumar Ghosh, was a famous Sitar
player. Pannalal Ghosh was a child prodigy, who inherited his love of music
and the bamboo flute (bansuri) from his father and grandfather. In
1938 he
visited a number of foreign countries with a group named Sarai-Kala-Nrtya.
After returning from abroad, he became the disciple of Girija Sankar
Chakraborty. His final rigorous training came in 1947 under the guidance of
Ustad Baba Allaudin Khan. Pannalal Ghosh is credited with the raising the
bansuri, which was hitherto used only as a folk instrument, to the level
of a concert instrument in classical music. One of his peculiarities was his
use of three kinds of flute alternately for different 'Saptakas'. He
could produce any human sound with his flute. He worked extensively for many
Indian films, initially under the well known music director Anil Biswas.
Later he worked as the composer of the national orchestra for the All India
Radio.
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q Ram
Narayan
Pandit Ram Narayan (b.1927) ranks among the most eminent Sarangi players of
today. He belongs to a family, which can boast of an unbroken line of five
generations of vocalists and instrumentalists of great caliber. Pt. Ram
Narayan's formal training started at the age of 7. He received guidance from
many veterans such as Ustad Mehboob Khan, Pandit Udayalal, Pandit Madhav
Prasad and Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan. Ram Narayan continuously experimented
with the structure of the Sarangi and the bow, making necessary
modifications in them. He also brought about changes in the traditional
bowing technique as well as finger technique. He has performed extensively
in India and abroad winning great acclaim and numerous notable awards such
as Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. He has recorded many long
discs in India and abroad. He has also authored a book on Indian classical
music which was published by Manchester University Press.
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Ravi Kiran
Born in 1967 into a musical family, Ravikiran is
considered an unprecedented phenomenon in Carnatic music. His grandfather
Sri K. S. Narayana Iyengar was a renowned gottuvadhyam
artiste and his father, Sri Narasimhan, is also a gifted gottuvadhyam
artiste and vocalist.
By the age of twelve, Ravikiran was a full-fledged vocal artiste and was
given an A-grade ranking in All India Radio. At around this age, he switched
over from vocal music to the difficult Chitra
Veena or gottuvadhyam and
within a short time he mastered the instrument. Ravikiran has performed all
around the world at major international festivals including the Autumn
Festival of France (1985), Rang Raag Festival, U.K. (1986), the
International Music Festival of Radio France (1987) and Festivals of India
in France, Germany and Switzerland.. Ravikiran started receiving many awards
and titles from 1973 including 'Best Junior Musician' (Music Academy,
Madras), 'Sangeeth Samraat' (Wisdom International), 'Kalaimamani' (Tamil
Nadu Government), 'Sangeeta Choodamani' (Krishna Gana Sabha) and 'Isai
Peroli' (Karthik Fine Arts).
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Ravi Shankar
Pandit Ravi
Shankar (b.1920), one of the greatest exponents of the sitar, is the most
popular Indian musician all over the world. Yehudi Menuhin, the world famous
violinist described him as "a creative genius comparable only to
Mozart". Pandit Ravi Shankar has received widespread acclaim for his
creativity and distinct, unorthodox style of playing the Sitar. He is
acclaimed around the world for his originality and improvisation. He also
has a command on instruments like Surbahar, Been, Rabab and Sursingar. In
January 1945, he composed the music score for the famous patriotic song, Sare Jahan Se Aacha, Hindustan Hamara, written by the famous Urdu
poet Mohammad Iqbal. Pandit Ravi Shankar has to his credit several ragas
like Nat Bhairav, Pancham Se Gara,
Kameshwari, Parameshwari and Ganeshwari.
Raga Mohankauns was composed in
honour of Mahatma Gandhi. In May 1967, he founded the Kinnara School of
Music in Bombay and Los Angles. He has composed extensively for films and
ballets in India, Canada, Europe and the United States, including Charly, Gandhi and Apu
Trilogy. He has the honour of being the first Indian to write film music
for foreign films. Ravi Shankar has received several honours and awards as a
sitarist, composer and musician. His music for the film Gandhi
won him an Oscar nomination. He is the first Indian to receive the highest
award of the Berlin Film Festival, the
Silver Bear, for his music in the Indian film Kabuliwala.
In 1969, he was cited as ‘Musician of the Year’ by one of the leading
magazines of America’s musical industry, Billboard
Magazine. He is also the first Indian Musician to be commissioned by a
major Western Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, to compose a Concerto for
Sitar and Orchestra. This Concerto was performed in 1971 and conducted by
Andre Previn. His long list of awards and honours include fourteen
doctorates, Padma Bhushan (1967),
the Padma Vibhushan (1981), Desikottam,
the Ramon Magsaysay Award, two Grammys, the Fukuoka Grand Prize from
Japan, the Crystal award from Davos, with the title 'Global Ambassador',
Kalidas Samman Award, Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award (1991), Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan Mahatma Gandhi Award and Premium Imperiale Arts Award from The Japan
Art Association, the Presidential Award (1962 and 1980), the International
Music Council UNESCO Award(1975) and the Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship
(1976) to name a few. Ravi Shankar is an Honorary Member of the United
Nations Rostrum of Composers and Honorary Member of the Academy of Arts and
Letters. In 1986 he was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha. The
Highest Civilian award in India, Bharat Ratna, was bestowed on Ravi Shankar
in 1999. He also received the prestigious International Prize for Film and
Media for 1999 instituted by the German government’s Art and Exhibition
Centre. In February 2000, he was honoured with the highest French civilian
award Commandeur de la legion d
Honneur. In
early 2001, Ravi Shankar was conferred with Honorary Knight Commander of the
Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE).
|| Go to Ravi
Shankar's Web Page||
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Sabri Khan
Sabri Khan (b.1927) is one of the most renowned
Sarangi players. He was initiated into the art of Sarangi playing at the age
of seven by his grandfather Haji Mohammad Khan, and later continued his
training under his father Chhajju Khan and uncle Laddan Khan of Rampur, both
accomplished exponents of Sarangi. He belongs to the Senia Gharana of Rampur,
and plays the Sarangi solo and as an accompaniment to vocal performances. He
has also played with the famous violinist, Yehudi Menuhin. He has been
honoured with the Sahitya Kala Parishad Award, Shobna Kala Sangam Award,
Begum Akhtar Award, Emotional Integration Council Award and the Sangeet
Natak Academy Award (1986).
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Shivkumar Sharma
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (b. 1938) is recognised in
India and abroad as the most accomplished exponent of Santoor. His
ingenious, imaginative and innovative zest has transformed Santoor, the
little-known Kashmiri folk instrument, into a full-fledged solo concert
instrument in Indian classical music. Along with Pandit Hari Prasad
Chaurasia, he composed the music for the Hindi films Silsila
and Chandni, scores of which are
still very popular. Shiv Kumar Sharma had also been a vocalist and a tabla
player in his early years. He
has been honoured with Padma Shri and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1987)
for his unique contributions to Indian classical music. He has the honorary
citizenship of the city of Baltimore and has given special performances
before the House of Lords in Britain and in front of the Queen of Holland.
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Dr. L. Subramaniam
Dr. L. Subramaniam is one of the best violinists of India and is widely
acclaimed and recognized all over the world. Through his superb blending of
Carnatic and Western classical music, Dr. Subramaniam has taken many a
venues, like the Bolshoi Theater, the Lincoln Center, Royal Albert Hall and
United Nations, by storm. He was also a featured soloist in "All the
World's Violins" held in Belgium along with Sir Yehudi Menuhin and
Stephane Grappelli. Dr. Subramanium has also scored the music for movies
like Salaam Bombay and Mississipi Masala, besides featuring as a soloist in the film Little
Buddha by Bernardo Bertolucci and Ismail Merchant's Cotton Mary. He was also the music advisor for Peter
Brook's historic stage production of the Mahabharata.
He has also recorded his East-West fusion compositions with jazz greats like
Stephane Grappelli, Herbie Hancock, Joe Sample, Maynard Ferguson, Hubert
Laws, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Larry Coryell, and Tony Williams.
Over the years, Subramaniam has written, conducted and performed with
world's greatest orchestras including the New York Philharmonic (Fantasy
on Vedic Chants), the Swiss Romande (Shanti Priya), the Oslo
Philharmonic (Concerto for Two Violins) and the Berlin Opera (Global
Symphony). Subramaniam has over a hundred recordings including a
five-volume Anthology of Indian Music for
the Ocora label of Radio France. Subramaniam
was the first non-Westerner to to receive the "Best Composer of the
Year" award from NRK P2 radio station of Norway for his compostion Global
Music. In 1992, Subramaniam, along with his late wife Vijayashree,
launched the annual Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival in memory of his
father, that brings together eminent artists from all over the
world. Subramaniam's book Euphony is part of his efforts to
spread awareness of his heritage. His albums include From the
Ashes,Eulogy and The Southern Key. He has been conferred with
Padma Bhushan (2001), Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
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Vilayat Khan
Ustad Vilayat Khan (b. 1928), son of late Ustad
Inayat Khan, was the scion of the Ittawa gharana whose stalwarts traced
their line back to Tansen of Akbar's court. He is one of most renowned sitar
players of India and occupies an important place in the world of classical
instrumental music. Vilayat Khan's unique contribution to Indian classical
music is introducing a new style of sitar playing now called Vilayatkhaani
baaj. This is the gayaki ang
or full-fledged vocal style, which he innovated, perfected and passed on to
a school of disciples. He wrought a total change in the dimension and impact
of the music by modifying the base, frets, bridge and strings of the sitar.
His creativity was marked by the spontaneous and automatic formation of tans,
kan, zamzama thus evolving
the rare and difficult Gayaki ang,
of which he was an innovator. Vilayat Khan has received numerous awards and
honours for his contribution to Indian music and has toured India, Europe,
the Soviet Union, East Africa, China, Afghanistan, Iran and the United
States. He had played Festival
of India in Britain (1951).
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T. H. Vinayakram
Sri Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram, affectionately known as Vikku, is
renowned for his beautiful drumming on the ghatam. Son of the noted and
talented musician and percussionist, Kalaimamani T.R. Harihara Sharma,
Vinayakram was a child prodigy. He started his concert career at the tender
age of thirteen and soon became renowned for his crisp play and deep
knowledge of rhythm. Vinayakram first became known in the West in the mid
1970s as a member of the group Shakti,
which consisted of the jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, violinist L. Shankar,
tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, and himself. The extraordinary speed and
precision of his duets with Zakir Hussain captivated international
audiences. Vinayakram has a number of titles and awards to his name,
including: Astana Vidhwan of
Kanchi Kama Koti Peetam, Ghatam
Nagamani given by Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, Kalaimamini given by the government of Tamil Nadu, and the First
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Ghatam in 1988. He is also the first South
Indian artist to ever receive a Grammy Award in 1991 for Best World Music
Album for his participation in Mickey Hart's "Planet Drum" in
which he played Ghatam and Morsingh.
In addition, Vinayakram was a nominee for the 38th Annual Grammy Awards for
Best World Music Album for his participation in 'Raga Aberi' along with L.
Shankar on the ten string double violin and Zakir Hussain on the tabla.
Vinaykram has also published two books: 'Art
of Mridangam' in English and 'Mridanga
Pada Bhodhini' in Tamil.
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Zakir Hussain
Ustad Zakir Hussain (b. 1951) is the reigning king of tabla players. He
is the son of renowned tabla maestro Ustad Alla Rakha. He played his first
formal concert at the age of 12 years with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. He is
internationally acclaimed for his ingenious techniques and dexterity. He has
taken tabla playing to new and greater heights by rediscovering the subtle
nuances of this instrument, along with his unique ability to communicate
with his audience. He is also well versed with other percussion instruments
like the dholak and khol. He has scored music for films like The Little Buddha of Bernardo Bertolucci, Ismail Merchant’s In
Custody and Heat and Dust, Cappola’s Apocalypse
Now, Merchant Ivory’s A Perfect
Murder and for some American television serials. Besides accompanying
many Indian classical musicians, Ustad Zakir Hussain plays with the
Indo-jazz group called Shakti. He
has played with the rock group called Grateful Dead and many jazz musicians.
In 1973, he took over the Tal Vadya Rhythm Band, which later evolved into
the Diga Rhythm Band, and more recently, Zakir Hussain and the Rhythm
Experience. Zakir Hussain had teamed up with co-composers Philip Glass and
Mickey Hart to write the score for the Atlanta Olympic Games, 1996. In 1987,
his first solo release, "Making Music", was acclaimed "one of
the most inspired East-West fusion albums ever recorded". He has 145
albums to his credit and is teaching tabla at Washington, California, Long
Beach, Los Angeles, Port and other Universities.
He is the recipient of several honours and awards, which include, Padma Shri
(1988), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1991) and
the Indo-American Award (1990).
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