Revisiting Muthuswami Dikshitar on his 250^th birth anniversary           

Sriram V

If the century spanning 1850 to 1950 was that of Tyagaraja, the next one undoubtedly belongs to Muthuswami Dikshitar. He has been the subject of the same intense study that his illustrious contemporary was previously. The corpus of his songs in public circulation has gone up tremendously during this period, though debates continue on the genuineness of some of these. This is exactly the way Tyagaraja kritis went up in circulation and publications were churned out on them from the mid-19^th century onwards. Dikshitar like a late-blooming flower is slowly unfurling petal after petal, revealing some, but not all the facets of his personality. There is something about him that seems to speak to the 21^st century mind.

Ustad Zakir Hussain—A tribute to the tabla maestro

(9 March 1951–15 Dec 2024)      

Shailaja Khanna

Inarguably the greatest tabla player, some would say percussionist of the 21^st century, Zakir was born to Alla Rakha Qureshi in Mumbai. Alla Rakha did not belong to a family of musicians: he ran away from his home in Jammu to learn music; and then tabla from ustads in Punjab, which was then the centre of music in North India. Alla Rakha made Punjab his home for a few decades, till he shifted to Mumbai in 1940 looking out for opportunities. In Mumbai, under the name of A.R. Qureshi, he made music for Bollywood. So, when his eldest son Zakir was born in 1951, though acknowledged as an innovative tabla player, fame and accolades had not yet come to Alla Rakha. But even then, his stature as a performer was recognised. Apparently, Vilayat Khan was amongst the first to visit the Alla Rakha home to congratulate the proud parents, and gifted the baby with a tiny pair of silver tablas.

Growing up, despite going to an English-medium school, Zakir trained for more than eight hours on the tabla— starting from 3.00 a.m., non-stop for three hours. He came home and continued practice. The young Zakir realised
that his future as a tabla player would be difficult.