we rememberSandesh4 October 2009and worked with Qudsia Zaidi'sHindustani <strong>The</strong>atre, and also workedwith Children's theatre, and authorednumerous plays. It was during thisperiod he met actor-director, MoneekaMishra, whom he was to later marry.Later in the same year, he producedhis first significant play 'Agra Bazar',based on the works and times of theplebian 18th-century Urdu poet, NazirAkbarabadi, an older poet in thegeneration of Mirza Ghalib.In this play he used local residentsand folk artist from Okhla village inDelhi and students of Jamia MilliaIslamia creating a palette never seenbefore in Indian theatre, a play notstaged in a confined space, rather abazaar, a marketplace. Thisexperience with non-trained actors,and folk artists later blossomed withhis work with folk artists ofChhattisgarh.For him true "theatre of thepeople" existed in the villages, whichhe strived to bring to the urban"educated", employing both folkperformers as actors alongside urbanactors. During his lifetime he wonseveral national and international awards,including the Sangeet Natak AkademiAward in 1969, Padma Shri in 1983, KalidasSamman 1990, Sangeet Natak AkademiFellowship in 1996, and the PadmaBhushan in 2002; apart from that he hadalso been nominated to become a memberof the Rajya Sabha (1972-1978).His play 'Charandas Chor' got him theFringe Firsts Award at EdinburghInternational Drama Festival in 1982 andin 2007, it was credited for "an innovativedramaturgy equally impelled by Brecht andfolk idioms.Some of his popular plays are: AgraBazar (1954), Shatranj Ke Mohrey (1954),Lala Shoharat Rai (1954), Mitti ki Gaadi(1958), Gaon ke naon Sasural, mor naonDamand (1973), Charandas Chor (1975),Bahadur kalarin(1978), Ponga Pandit(1960s), Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya(1990), Kamdeo ka Apna Basant Rituka Sapna (1993), Raj Rakt (2006)His filmography includes: FootPath (1953), Rahi (1953), CharandasChor (1975) (lyrics and script),Staying On (1980) (TV), Gandhi(1982), Yeh Woh Manzil to Nahin(1987), Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1986)(TV), Hero Hiralal (1988) and Black& White (2008).PALGHAT R. RAGHU(1928-2009)Palaghat Rahu was born on January9, 1928 in Rangoon, Burma. As achild, he was immensely talented andinducted into Mridangam lessons veryearly in life. His first mridangamlessons were from TinniamVenkatarama Iyer and TrichyRaghava Iyer. Later he learnt the artfrom the legendary Mridangamwizard Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer. Eversince, he has accompanied numerousartists for the past 60 years withdistinction. He is a graduate ofmathematics.Unique TechniquePalghat Raghu was a percussionmaster known for his distinctive styleas well as his effortless fingermovement and technical brilliance.His unique style which involvesimaginative use of the Toppi (left partof Mridangam) combines melodywith rhythm and lifts the concertperformance to high levels. Usingdifferent techniques, he adjusted hisplaying style to not only differentartists and instruments but alsocaptures the bhava and sahitya ofmusic.His tani avartanams with complexand highly mathematical Korvaisbear the stamp of innovation,scholarship and majestic mastery ofthis complex instrument. <strong>The</strong> taniavartanams with other rhythmvirtuosos such as Harishankar,Nagarajan (kanjira), AlangudiRamachandran , T. H. "Vikku"Vinayakram, Subhash Chandran (ghatam),remains memorable to this day.Palghat Raghu toured extensivelyacross the world and performed withrenowned artists like Pandit Ravi Shankar,Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shivkumar Sharmaand even alongside the Tabla Wizard AllaRakha in numerous concerts. He was alsoinvolved in East-West fusion music. He wasvisiting professor of music at WesleyanUniversity in Connecticut, San Diego StateUniversity and University of Berkeley.He won several Awards like theSangeet Natak Akademi Award in1983, Palghat Mani Iyer award (firstrecipient), Padma Shri in year 1985,Sangeetha Choodamani andSangeetha Kalanidhi (2007).Palghat Raghu is universallyconsidered to be the torch-bearer of theillustrious Maha Vidwan ThanjavurVaidyanatha Iyer's tradition of the artof mridangam playing, passed on tohim by his most beloved guru PalghatMani Iyer.ALI AKBAR KHAN(1922 –2009)ALI AKBAR KHAN was the Maihar gharana,known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod.Khan saheb was instrumental inpopularizing Indian classical music in theWest.
Sandesh5 October 2009we rememberAli Akbar Khan was born in the villageof Shibpur, Comilla, in present-dayBangladesh to revered musician andteacher, Ustad Allauddin Khan and MadinaBegum. Soon after his birth, the familyreturned to Maihar (in Madhya Pradesh)where his father was the primary courtmusician for the Maharaja of the princelystate.Of his training on sarod,he wrote:“If you practice for ten years,you may begin to pleaseyourself, after 20 years you maybecome a performer and pleasethe audience, after 30 years youmay please even your guru, butyou must practice for manymore years before you finallybecome a true artist — then youmay please even God...”Music CareerAfter years of rigorous training Ali Akbargave his debut performance at a musicconference in Allahabad in 1936, at the ageof 13. Three years later, in 1939, heaccompanied Ravi Shankar on the sarodduring the latter's debut performance atthe same conference; this was the first ofmany jugalbandis between the twomusicians. In 1938 Khan gave his firstrecital on All India Radio (AIR),Bombay (accompanied on the tabla byAlla Rakha), and starting in January1940, he gave monthly performanceson AIR, Lucknow. Finally in 1944,both Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar leftMaihar to start their professionalcareers as musicians; Shankar wentto Bombay, while Khan became theyoungest Music Director for AIR,Lucknow.In 1943, on his father's recommendation,he was appointed a courtmusician for the Maharaja of Jodhpur.<strong>The</strong>re, he taught and composed musicbesides giving recitals and was accordedthe title of Ustad by the Maharaja.With India's independence in1947 Khan saheb moved to Bombay.In Bombay, he won acclaim as acomposer of several film scores, includingChetan Anand's Aandhiyan, Satyajit Ray'sDevi, Merchant-Ivory's <strong>The</strong> Householderand Tapan Sinha's Kshudista Pashan("Hungry stones"), for which he won the"Best Musician of the Year" award. Later in1993, he would score some of the musicfor Bernardo Bertolucci Little Buddha.Beginning in 1945, Khan sahib alsostarted recording a series of 78 rpm disks(which could record about 3 minutes of music)at the HMV Studios in Bombay. For onesuch record he conceived a new compositionRaga Chandranandan based on fourevening ragas, Malkauns, Chandrakauns,Nandakauns and Kaushi Kanra. This recordwas a huge success in India and the ragafound a worldwide audience when a 22minute rendition was re-recorded for theMaster musician of India LP in 1965 - oneof Khan saheb's seminal recordings.He performed in India and traveledextensively in the West. Khan first came tothe USA in 1955 on the invitation of violinistYehudi Menuhin and later settled inCalifornia. He was nominated for fiveGrammy Awards and was accorded India'ssecond highest civilian honor, the PadmaVibhushan, in 1989.In 1956, he founded the Ali AkbarCollege of Music in Calcutta, with themission to teach and spread Indianclassical music. He founded anotherschool of the same name in Berkeley,California in 1967 and later moved itto San Rafael, California. In 1985 hefounded another branch of the AliAkbar College of Music in Basel,Switzerland. He was the first Indianmusician to record an LP album ofIndian classical music in the US and toplay sarod on American television.Khan saheb participated in anumber of classic jugalbandi pairings,most notably with Pt. Ravi Shankar,Pt. Nikhil Banerjee and violinist Dr L.Subramaniam. A few recordings ofduets with Ust. Vilayat Khan alsoexists. He also collaborated withWestern musicians. In 1971 heperformed at the Madison SquareGarden for the “Concert forBangladesh” along with Pt. RaviShankar, Ustad Alla Rakha and SmtKamala Chakravarty; other musicians at theconcert included Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton,George Harrison and Ringo Starr.Khan saheb was based in the UnitedStates for the last 40 years of his life. Hetoured extensively until he was preventedfrom doing so by ill-health. His legacy liveson in the form of Ustad Ashish Khan who isa well known Sarod player himself.VISHNU PRABHAKAR(1912 –2009)VISHNU Prabhakar was a renowned Hindiwriter and had several short stories, novels,plays and travelogues to his credit. His workshave elements of patriotism, nationalism andmessages of social upliftment.Vishnu Prabhakar was born on in1912, in Mirapur village ofMuzaffarnagar district in UttarPradesh. His father, Durga Prasad, wasa religious person who kept himselfuntouched by modern times. Hismother, Mahadevi, was the first welleducatedlady of the family whodared to reject the 'Parda Pratha' of theHindu families. Prabhakar stayed inMirapur until the age of 12, andcompleted his primary education. Hismatriculation happened from Hissarat his maternal uncle's place. Unableto pursue higher education owing tofinancial situation he joined thegovernment service as a class IVemployee with a salary of mere Rs.18per month. He still kept his studiesgoing along with his work andobtained degrees of Prabhakar andHindi Bhushana in Hindi, Pragya inSanskrit and B.A. in English.Along with his work he pursued aninterest in literature and joined a theatrecompany in Hissar. His literary life startedwith the publication of his first story Diwaliin the Hindi magazine Milap in 1931. Hewrote Hatya Ke Baad, his first play in 1939.He made writing as his full time career. Hestayed with the family of his maternal uncleContinued on page 6
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