Alla Rakha Qureshi (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000) was an Indian tabla player who specialised in Hindustani classical music. Widely revered as one of history's most iconic players of the tabla, he was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and was largely responsible for introducing tabla to the Western audience.
Personal life and education
Allah Rakha Qureshi was born on 29 April 1919 in Ghagwal village in the Jammu Province of the princely kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir under British Raj; today located in the Samba District of the union territory of the same name in India. His mother tongue was Dogri and his family were Muslim Dogras, although most of the Dogra clan around them were Hindus. Finding little chances for grooming and appreciation, the determined young lad began his training in tabla with Mian Kader Baksh of the Punjab gharana of tabla players. Mian Kadir Bakhsh, who had no sons, formally adopted Alla Rakha and called him the next head of the Punjab gharana of tabla players (a 'gharana' is a community of musicians sharing a distinctive musical style).
Allah Rakha had a third daughter named Roohi Bano (1951–2019) who was born in Pakistan and achieved a "legendary" status in television and film acting in that country.
Career
Ustad Alla Rakha began his career as an accompanist in Lahore and then as an All India Radio, Delhi staffer in 1936 but later moved to Bombay in 1940, playing the station's first ever tabla solo and elevating the instrument's position in the process. Soon after, he also started composing music for Hindi/Urdu films under the name A. R. Qureshi. He composed for a total of 23 films between 1943 and 1964.
Alla Rakha's partnership with Ravi Shankar began in the early 1950s.
Awards and recognition
- Padma Shri in 1977
Death and legacy
Qureshi died on 3 February 2000 at his Simla House residence on Nepean Sea Road following a heart attack, which he suffered on learning of the death of his daughter, Razia, the previous evening during cataract surgery.