Name	Ali Akbar Khan
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	April 14, 1922
Died	June 18, 2009San Anselmo, California, United States
Origin	Comilla, East Bengal, British India
Instrument	Sarod
Genre	Indian classical music
Occupation	Composer, Sarodiya
Associated acts	Allauddin Khan, Aashish Khan, Ravi Shankar

Ali Akbar Khan () (14 April 1922 – 18 June 2009), often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad (master), was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Khan was instrumental in popularizing Indian classical music in the West, both as a performer (often in conjunction with Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar), and as a teacher. He established a music school in Calcutta in 1956, and the Ali Akbar College of Music in 1967, which is now located in San Rafael, California and has a branch in Basel, Switzerland. Khan also composed several classical ragas and filmscores. Khan also learned to play the tabla and the pakhavaj from his uncle, Aftabuddin Khan, who he visited at Shibpur.

Of his training on the sarod, he wrote:

Career

Ali Akbar Khan, after years of rigorous training gave his debut performance at a music conference in Allahabad in 1936, at the age of 13. Three years later, in December 1939, he accompanied Ravi Shankar on the sarod during the latter's debut performance at the same conference; this was the first of many jugalbandis (duets) between the two musicians. In 1938 Khan gave his first recital on All India Radio (AIR), Bombay (accompanied on the tabla by Alla Rakha), and starting in January 1940, he gave monthly performances on AIR, Lucknow. Finally in 1944, both Shankar and Khan left Maihar to start their professional careers as musicians; Shankar went to Bombay, while Khan became the youngest Music Director for AIR, Lucknow and was responsible for solo performances and composing for the radio orchestra.

In Bombay, he won acclaim as a composer of several film scores, including Chetan Anand's Aandhiyan, Satyajit Ray's Devi, Merchant-Ivory's The Householder, and Tapan Sinha's Kshudhita Pashan ("Hungry stones"), for which he won the "Best Musician of the Year" award. He also played Sarod for a song in 1955 film Seema which had the music composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Later in 1993, he would score some of the music for Bernardo Bertolucci Little Buddha. Khan performed in Boston with Shankar Ghosh in 1969 for the Peabody Mason Concert series. In 1985 he founded another branch of the Ali Akbar College of Music in Basel, Switzerland. Khan was the first Indian musician to record an LP album of Indian classical music in the United States and to play sarod on American television.

Khan was based in the United States for the last four decades of his life. He toured extensively until he was prevented from doing so by ill-health in the period prior to his death from renal failure.

Personal life

Ali Akbar Khan married three times and is survived by seven sons and four daughters. His eldest son, Aashish Khan is also a reputable sarod player.

Awards

Khan was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1989, In 1997, Khan received the National Endowment for the Arts' prestigious National Heritage Fellowship, the United States' highest honour in the traditional arts. Khan has received two Grammy nominations.

Notes

References

External links

Ali Akbar College of Music

Category:1922 births Category:2009 deaths Category:American people of Indian descent Category:Bangladeshi immigrants to the United States Category:Bengali musicians Category:Deaths from renal failure Category:Disease-related deaths in California Category:Hindustani instrumentalists Category:Indian film score composers Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:Maihar Gharana Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners Category:People from Comilla District Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship Category:Sarod players

Mohammad Akbar Khan (1813–1845) was an Afghan Prince, a general and a tribal leader. He was active in the First Anglo-Afghan War, which lasted from 1839 to 1842. He is prominent for his leadership of the national party in Kabul from 1841 to 1842, and his pursuit of the retreating British army from Kabul to Gandamak near Jalalabad in 1842. He is also known for killing legendary Sikh leader Hari Singh Nalwa in the 1837 Battle of Jamrud whilst trying to get back the city of Peshawar for the Afghans from the invading Sikh army.

Akbar was the son of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan of Afghanistan, and he led a revolt in Kabul against the British Indian mission of William McNaughten, Alexander Burnes and their garrison of 4,500 men. In November 1841, he besieged Major-General William Elphinstone's force in Kabul. Elphinstone accepted a safe-conduct for his force and about 12,000 associated workers to flee to India; they were ambushed and massacred. It was claimed in at least one set of British war memoirs that, during the retreat, Akbar Khan could be heard alternately commanding his men, in Persian language to desist from, and in Pashto language to continue, firing.

Historians think it unlikely that Akbar Khan wished for the total annihilation of the British force. An astute man politically, he would have been aware that allowing the British to extricate themselves from Afghanistan would give him the time to consolidate his control of the diverse hill tribes; whereas a massacre of 14,000 people, of which only about a quarter were a fighting force, would not be tolerated back in London and would result in another, larger army sent to exact retribution. This was in fact what happened the following year.

Many believe that Akbar Khan was poisoned by his father, Dost Mohammed, who feared his ambitions.

In fiction

The historical figure of Akbar Khan plays a major role in George MacDonald Fraser's novel ''Flashman. No factual reference base for killing of Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa, however the Peshwar Gazzette of 1897 clearly shows that gulab singh Hindu dogra, forgave the tax owed by yar Mohamed barukzai which sardar hari singh had originally come to collect, it is also written by a kin of the dogras that hari singh stood in the way of dogra ruling dream so while during chase of the retreating armies of Kabul he was shot in the back fact by gulab singh's man, another fact the Afghans in the siege were repulsed and unsuccessful.

References

External links

Category:Pashtun people Category:1813 births Category:1845 deaths

Name	Nikhil Banerjee
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	October 14, 1931
Died	January 27, 1986
Origin	Kolkata, India
Instrument	Sitar
Genre	Hindustani classical music
Occupation	Composer, Sitarist

Nikhil Ranjan Banerjee () (14 October 1931 – 27 January 1986) was a prominent Indian sitar player of the 20th century.

Early life and background

Nikhil Banerjee was born in Kolkata into a Brahmin family, where music as a profession was discouraged, although his father, Jitendranath Banerjee, who was a sitarist by hobby, taught him the instrument. Young Nikhil grew into a child prodigy, won an all-India sitar competition at the age of nine and soon was playing for All India Radio. At the time, his sister was a student of khyal great Amir Khan, who became a life-long influence. Jitendranath approached Mushtaq Ali Khan to take the boy as a student, and Banerjee studied with him for his initial training.

In 1947 Banerjee met Ustad Allauddin Khan, who was to become his main guru along with his son, Ali Akbar Khan. Both were sarod players. Banerjee went to Allauddin Khan's concerts and was desperate to have him as his teacher. Allauddin Khan did not want to take on more students, but changed his mind after listening to one of Banerjee's radio broadcasts. Though Allauddin Khan was Banerjee's main teacher, he also learned from Ali Akbar Khan, the son of Allaudin Khan, for many years.

Maihar gharana

The discipline under Ustad Allauddin Khan was legendary. For years, Nikhil's practice would start at four in the morning and, with few breaks, continue to eleven o'clock at night – a schedule which was naturally hard on his fingers. Among others, Ustad Allauddin Khan also taught his son Ali Akbar Khan, grandson Aashish Khan, and nephew Bahadur Khan on the sarod; Ravi Shankar on the sitar; his daughter, Annapurna Devi, on the surbahar; Pannalal Ghosh on the flute; and Vasant Rai the sarod.

Ustad Allauddin Khan was passing on not only playing technique but the musical knowledge and approach of the Maihar gharana (school); yet there was a definite trend in his teaching to infuse the sitar and sarod with the been-baj aesthetic of the Rudra veena, surbahar and sursringar – long, elaborate alap (unaccompanied improvisation) built on intricate meend work (bending of the note). He was also well known for adjusting his teaching to his particular students' strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, under his teaching, Shankar and Banerjee developed different sitar styles.

Although Banerjee did not have many students and fewer disciples, his eldest and most prominent disciple, Pandit Sukhraj Jhalla, continues to live and teach in Ahmedabad, India today.

Robert Palmer of The New York Times wrote of Mr. Banerjee's Carnegie Hall performance November(1985): "The extraordinary fluidity and assurance of his rhythmic ideas and phrasing set a pace and a standard that would have left most of the international 'stars' of Indian music far behind."

Performing career

After Maihar, Banerjee embarked on a concert career that was to take him to all corners of the world and last right up to his death. All through his life he kept taking lessons from Ustad Allauddin Khan and his children, Ustad Ali Akbar and Smt. Annapurna Devi. Perhaps reflecting his early upbringing, he always remained a humble musician, and was content with much less limelight than a player of his stature could have vied for. For him, music-making was a spiritual rather than a worldly path:

:"Indian music is based on spiritualism; that is the first word, you must keep it in your mind. Many people misunderstand and think it's got something to do with religion – no, absolutely no! Nothing to do with religion, but spiritualism – Indian music was practiced and learned to know the Supreme Truth. Mirabai, Thyagaraja from the South, Haridas Swami, Baiju – all these great composers and musicians were wandering saints; they never came into society, nor performed in society."

Even so, in 1968, he was decorated with the Padma Shri. Banerjee recorded only a handful of recordings during his lifetime but a series of live recordings continue to be released posthumously making sure that his musical legacy is preserved for posterity. He did not enjoy recording within the confines of the studio, though his early studio recordings with EMI India such as Lalit, Purya Kalyan and Malkauns are now considered to be classic renditions of these ragas. The posthumous live albums, many of which were brought out around the turn of the 21st Century by Raga Records in New York, and Chhandadhara of Germany, are widely considered to be the finest documents of his playing. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest sitarists of the 20th century.

His interpretation of ragas was usually traditional, although he would sometimes take liberties with the raga in a moment of inspiration. Some people say he created a raga Manomanjari of his own, mixing ideas from Kalavati and Puriya, while others attribute it to Ustad Allaudin Khan.

Nikhil Banerjee was in failing health through the 80s, having survived three heart attacks. On January 27, 1986, on the birthday of his younger daughter, at the relatively young age of 54, Nikhil Banerjee died of a fourth heart attack. At the time of his death, he was a faculty member at the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan title by the Government of India in the same year as his death.

He is survived by his wife Roma and two daughters. His younger daughter Debdutta/Arya is a model and actress in Kolkata.

Partial discography

The following is a summary of some recent CD issues. A more comprehensive discography can be found in the external links.

Afternoon Ragas (1970)

(1982)

(1982)

(1986)

Lyrical Sitar (1991)

(1995)

(1995)

Rag Hemant (1995)

Le Sitar Du Pandit (1996)

Raga Patdeep (1996)

Live in Amsterdam 1984 (1997)

Genius of Pandit Nikhil (live) (1998)

Berkeley 1968 (1998)

(1999)

Pandit Nikhil Banerjee (live) (1999)

Total Absorption (2000)

Banerjee Live in Munich 1980 (2000)

(2000)

Musician's Musician (2001)

(2002)

(2004)

Notes

Allauddin claimed he was teaching Banerjee the sitar "style of Nawab Kutubudaulla Bahadur of Lucknow", a player not otherwise remembered. (My Maestro As I Saw Him, essay by Banerjee printed in the booklet for Afternoon Ragas, Raga Records Raga-211)

San Francisco Chronicle:

Banerjee's technique is a phenomenon, faster than cheetahs, more secure than the dollar. But he does not lean on that as most players do. It is there, at the ready, a strength to be called on when needed. It is his gentle playing that is so singular. The ease of it, highlighted by atypical (for Indian music) bits of literal reiteration create a kind of euphoric effect. The result is remarkably individual. One could spot a Banerjee performance on a radio broadcast or tape, a thing of great difficulty among Oriental musicians.

Manomanjari - a variation: some argue it's a blend of Kalavati & Marwa. In a 1979/80 [not verifiable] Calcutta concert [@Kala Mandir], as per the announcement, Mr. Banerjee played two ragas of his own creation - Manomanjari & Chandrakaushiki.

Further reading

Swapan Bandyopadhyay: "The Strings Broke Long Ago", Ananda Publishers, Kolkata

External links

http://www.raga.com/interviews/207int1.html

Category:1931 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Bengali musicians Category:Hindustani instrumentalists Category:Maihar Gharana Category:People from Kolkata Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Sitar players

Name	Top Quality
Background	solo_singer
Origin	White Plains, New York, U.S.
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper
Years active	1992–1998
Label	RCA
Associated acts	EPMD, Hit Squad

Top Quality was an American rapper formally signed to RCA Records in the early 1990s.

After appearing in The Source magazine's Unsigned Hype, a column dedicated to finding unsigned talent, Top Quality eventually caught the eye of EPMD's Parrish "PMD" Smith, who made him a member of the rap collective Hit Squad and was subsequently signed a deal with RCA Records. His debut album, Magnum Opus was released in November 1993 and was executively produced by Smith himself. The album, however, was a commercial failure. Unlike other Hit Squad releases at the time, Magnum Opus failed to sell many copies and peaked at only 95 on the Billboard R&B; charts.

After being released from RCA, Top Quality appeared on PMD's Shade Business in 1994 and 3rd Eye's Planets in 1998, but he has not been heard of since.

Discography

{|class="wikitable" |- !rowspan="2"| Year !rowspan="2"| Title !colspan="2"| Chart positions |- ! U.S. R&B; |- |1993 |Magnum Opus

Released: November 14, 1993

Label: RCA

|align="center"|95 |- |}

References

Category:1990s rappers Category:African American rappers Category:People from White Plains, New York Category:Rappers from New York Category:RCA Records artists Category:Living people

Swapan Chaudhuri is an Indian tabla player. His parents, through their own passion for music, initiated his formal musical training. Swapan Chaudhuri started tabla learning at the age of five. He bases his style on the intensive training he received from his Guru, Pandit Santosh Krishna Biswas of Calcutta, the eminent exponent of the Lucknow Gharana. He holds a master's degree in music and has been conferred honors for his distinguished contributions in the field of tabla by the government of India and various musical institutions. He also holds a degree in economics from Jadavpur University, Calcutta.

As a soloist and accompanist Swapan has traveled throughout Europe, North and South America, and Asia, accompanying maestros such as Pandit Habib Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, the late Nikhil Banerjee, Ustad Amir Khan, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Dr. Balamurali Krishna, and other eminent artists. In addition, he has produced many recordings, including his own tabla solo and video tapes, and has appeared extensively on television and radio. Swapan's music reaches beyond the scope of classical music to include performances and recordings with musicians such as L. Shankar, John Handy, and the African drum master Malenga. He has participated in many international music festivals such as Bath, Perth, Sydney, Tokyo, San Francisco, Kuala Lampur, Stuttgart, and Berlin. He has composed for several percussion ensembles, which have received much appreciation from both western and Indian audiences.

He is currently the director of percussion at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California and in Basle, Switzerland. He is also a member of the teaching staff at the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California.

External links

Official biography

Category:Hindustani instrumentalists Category:Living people Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Category:Tabla players

Name	Alla Rakha
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Allarakha Khan Qureshi
Born	April 29, 1919 Paghwal Now District Samba Division, Jammu, India
Died	February 03, 2000 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Origin	Dogra Indian
Instrument	tabla
Genre	Hindustani classical music
Associated acts	Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain, Aditya Kalyanpur

Qureshi Alla Rakha Khan (Dogri: क़ुरैशी अल्ला रखा ख़ान) popularly known as Alla Rakha (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000) was an Indian tabla player. He was a frequent accompanist of Ravi Shankar.

Personal life and education

Alla Rakha was born in Paghwal, District Samba Division, Jammu, India. His mother tongue was Dogri. He became fascinated with the sound and rhythm of the tabla at the age of 12, while staying with his uncle in Gurdaspur. The determined young lad ran away from home, became a disciple of and began studying tabla with Mian Kader Baksh of the Punjab gharana. He studied voice and Raag Vidya under Ashiq Ali Khan of the Patiala gharana. His regimen of practice and dedication were legendary: hours upon hours of hard, disciplined practice, that would later pay off.

He was married to Bavi Begum, and has three sons, Zakir Hussain, Fazal Qureshi and Taufiq Qureshi, a daughter Khurshid Aulia née Qureshi, and nine grandchildren. Alla Rakha had another daughter, Razia, whose death preceded his by less than 24 hours.

Career

Alla Rakha began his career as an accompanist in Lahore and then as an All India Radio staffer in Bombay in 1940, playing the station's first ever tabla solo and elevating the instrument's position in the process. Soon after, he composed music for a couple of Hindi films from 1943-48.

However, he still played as an accompanist, for soloists like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Allauddin Khan, Vasant Rai and Ravi Shankar. The venerable master achieved world renown as Ravi Shankar's chief accompanist during his apex in the 1960s, delighting audiences in the West with his percussive wizardry, not only as an uncanny accompanist with flawless timing and sensitivity but also as a soloist where he was a master of improvisation, a prolific composer and an electric showman. 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 became a Guru (or teacher) to Yogesh Samsi, Prafulla Athalye, Aditya Kalyanpur, Anuradha Pal, Uday Ramdas, Shyam Kane, and his sons Taufiq Qureshi and Fazal Qureshi. His eldest son, Zakir Hussain is also an accomplished tabla virtuoso.

Global influence

Rakha popularized the art of tabla, playing across the globe, elevating the status and respect of his instrument. Abbaji (as he was affectionately known by his disciples) also bridged the gap between Carnatic music and Hindustani music by playing with both renowned Carnatic musicians and other Hindustani stalwarts.

Leading American percussionists in Rock n' Roll, such as the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, admired him and studied his technique, benefiting greatly even from single meetings. Hart, a published authority on percussion in world music, said "Allarakha is the Einstein, the Picasso; he is the highest form of rhythmic development on this planet." Rakha also collaborated with jazz drummer Buddy Rich, on their 1968 album Rich à la Rakha.

Rakha was awarded the Padma Shri in 1977 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1982.

Death

Alla Rakha 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.

References

Sources

#Inlay notes to A Life Story of a Genius compilation CD set (Saregama India Ltd, 2006)

External links

Category:1919 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Hindustani instrumentalists Category:Indian Muslims Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Category:Tabla players Category:Indian drummers Category:Dogra people