Alla Rakha

India suffered the departure of one of its towering musical figures when Ustad Alla Rakha, born Allarakha Kahn, succumbed to a heart attack on February 3, 2000. Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart had labeled him the “Einstein of rhythm,” acknowledging the tabla master’s pivotal role in carrying Indian classical music westward. For decades he partnered with sitarist Ravi Shankar, drawing from the drum an unusually song-like flow of rhythms that listeners long recalled. Indian president K.R. Narayanan soon declared that “an uncommon pulsation has been stilled. His wrists, palms, and fingers produced from the tabla percussion of magical quality which maintained the tenor and tempo of India’s uniquely assimilative musical culture.”

Born to a farming family in Jammu’s Phagwal village, eighty kilometers from Lahore, the young musician left home at twelve and settled with an uncle in Gurdaspur. Local players sparked his interest, leading him to persuade Punjab Gharana tabla exponent Mian Qader Baksh to accept him as a student; he later absorbed the melodic vocal discipline Raag Vidya from Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan.

He progressed rapidly, securing theater work by his fifteenth birthday. After serving as an accompanist in Lahore, he joined All India Radio in Delhi in 1936, remaining until 1940, when he entered the Hindi film industry as a session player and eventually became music director at Rangmahal Studios.

In 1948 he returned to the classical sphere and resumed accompanying duties, supporting Ravi Shankar through the 1960s and 1970s while also joining sitarist Vilayat Khan and American drummer Buddy Rich for the East-meets-West recording Rich A La Rakha. His sons Zakir Hussein and Fazal Quereshi carry his tradition forward; his daughter Razia had died of a sudden heart attack the night before his own passing.