Ustad Ahmed Jan Khan "Thirakwa" was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

player, commonly considered the pre-eminent soloist among tabla players of the 20th century, and among the most influential percussionists in the history of

Indian Classical Music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

. He was known for his mastery of the finger techniques and aesthetic values of various tabla styles, technical virtuosity, formidable stage presence, and soulful musicality. While he had command over the traditional tabla repertoire of various gharanas, he was also distinguished by the way in which he brought together these diverse compositions, his reinterpretation of traditional methods of improvisation, and his own compositions. His solo recitals were of the first to elevate the art of playing tabla solo to an art in its own right in the popular mind. His style of playing influenced many generations of tabla players specially today’s foremost Tabla maestro Pandit Nayan Ghosh besides the maestro’s nephew ustad Rashid Mustafa. lineage with his contribution to Indian classical music.

Early life and career

Ahmed Jan later known as 'Ahmed Jan Thirakwa' was born to a family of musicians in 1892 in

Moradabad Moradabad () is a city, commissionary and municipal corporation in Moradabad district of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Moradabad is situated on the banks of the Ramganga river, at a distance of from the national capital, New Delhi and 344 ...

in the

North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdom ...

of British India.Profile of Ahmed Jan Thirakwa on chandrakantha.com website
Retrieved 12 July 2020 Although his early musical training was in Hindustani vocals and the

sarangi The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the ''serja'') – in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is ...

, his interest in tabla was aroused when he first heard tabla player Munir Khan. He became Munir Khan's disciple at the age of 12. According to

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

newspaper article, "When he was around 12, Ahmed Jan was brought to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

by his father Hussain Bakhsh and elder brother Mia Jan, both of whom were noted sarangi players, and placed in the hands of the tabla stalwart Ustad Munir Khan. The tutelage was to last for 25 years but at a very early stage, his guru's father, Kale Khan, nicknamed him "Thirakwa" because of his playful and naughty nature." For a long time, he played tabla in the court of the

Nawab of Rampur Rampur State was a 15 gun-salute princely state of British India. It came into existence on 7 October 1774 as a result of a treaty with Oudh. Following independence in 1947, Rampur State and other princely states of the area, such as Bena ...

and during this time, came in close contact with the maestroes of

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

and

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubarak ...

gharana In Hindustani music (North Indian classical music), a ''gharānā'' is a system of social organisation in the Indian subcontinent, linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and more importantly by adherence to a particular mus ...

s — both vocalists and instrumentalists. On very few occasions, he rendered

Bandish Bandish, cheez or gat is a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani vocal or instrumental music. It is set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tabla or pakhawaj, a steady drone, and melodic accompaniment by a sarangi, vi ...

es in his own voice but this was only in the company of extremely close compatriots and admirers. As an accompanist, he was equally loved respected and admired by his peers and elders. Two noteworthy artists in this category of admirers was the great Rabindrasangeet exponent

Suchitra Mitra Suchitra Mitra (19 September 1924 – 3 January 2011) was an Indian singer, composer, artist exponent of Rabindra Sangeet or the songs of Bengal's poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore, professor, and the first woman Sheriff of Kolkata. As an acad ...

(1924–2011) and the famous tabla player

Pandit Nikhil Ghosh Pandit Nikhil Jyoti Ghosh (28 December 1918 – 3 March 1995) was an Indian musician, teacher and writer, known his proficiency on the percussion instrument of tabla. He founded ''Sangit Mahabharati'', an institution of music in 1956, and perform ...

. The name "Thirakwa" is not actually his original name, but was a nickname he earned from his guru's father. One day, while watching him practise, his guru's father remarked that he played so well his fingers seemed to be "shimmering" on the tabla. This earned him the nickname ''Thirakwa'' (shimmering). It is also rumored that his tone was similar to the thunderous cracking sound of lightning. A great lightning is sometimes described as "Thirakwa". In popular jargon, Ahmad Jan Thirakwa is termed as the "Mount Everest of Tabla". He performed at regular intervals in almost all the music conferences in various parts of the country and gained popularity as well as admiration. A connoisseur of biryani and kababs, Ahmad Jan was famous for his interpretation of the wide-ranging patterns of the beat-cycles which he liberally taught to his disciples. A few number of his live recordings are now available in audio-visual form that include excerpts from his different programmes over the years and which also provide glimpses of his mastery over percussion. According to

newspaper article on Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, "Ustad Thirakwa, for instance, was revered both as a soloist and an accompanist. He belongs to the glittering galaxy of

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...

along with other supernovae such as Aftab-e-Mausiqui ('Sun of Music')

Faiyaz Khan Ustad Faiyaz Khan (8 February 1886 5 November 1950) was an Indian classical vocalist, an exponent of the Agra gharana of Hindustani classical music. According to SwarGanga Music Foundation website, "By the time he died at Baroda, he had earned ...

Abdul Karim Khan Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (Devanagari: उस्ताद अब्दुल करीम ख़ान, Persian: ) (11 November 1872 – 27 October 1937)Alladiya Khan Alladiya Khan (10 August 1855 – 16 March 1946) was an Indian Hindustani classical singer who founded the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, also referred as just Jaipur Gharana. He is recognized for his revival, reinterpretation, and creations of many ra ...

Allauddin Khan Allauddin Khan, also known as Baba Allauddin Khan ( – 6 September 1972) was an Indian sarod player and multi-instrumentalist, composer and one of the most notable music teachers of the 20th century in Indian classical music. For a generation ...

and

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (2 April 1902 – 23 April 1968) was an Indian Hindustani classical vocalist, from the Patiala gharana.

Disciples

Ustad Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, during his long career as a musician, trained many disciples all across India including Pt. Prem Vallabh ji, Pandit Lalji Gokhale, Pt. Nikhil Ghosh (tabla player) and famous vocalist of

Agra gharana The Agra gharana is a tradition of Hindustani classical vocal music descended from the Nauhar Bani. So far, Nauhar Bani has been traced back to around 1300 AD, during the reign of Emperor Allauddin Khilji of Delhi. The first known musician of ...

Pandit

Jagannathbuwa Purohit Jagannathbuwa Purohit (12 March 1904 – 1968), also known as Pandit Gunidas, was a singer and a teacher of Hindustani classical music. He studied under Vilayat Hussain Khan of Agra Gharana. Buwa's colophon was 'Gunidas'. ''Agra Gharana'' Buwa's ...

, Pandit Narayanrao Joshi, Pandit Bhai Gaitonde, Pandit Bapu Patwardhan, Shri Anand Shidhaye and

Rashid Mustafa Thirakwa Rashid Mustafa is a Tabla player empanelled in the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in 2010 under the category Tabla for Hindustani classical music. Mustafa was awarded the Thirakwa Award by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1984 and also received ...

are some of his well-known shagirds. Ustad Ahmed Jan's unique style continues to attract many tabla players of present generation including

Ustad Zakir Hussain Ustad Zakir Hussain (born 9 March 1951) is an Indian tabla player, composer, percussionist, music producer and film actor. He is the eldest son of tabla player Alla Rakha. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1988, and the Padma Bhushan in 2002, b ...

, Pandit Chandra Nath Shastri,

Pandit Anindo Chatterjee Pandit Anindo Chatterjee is an Indian tabla player of the Farukhabad gharana school. He was born into a musical family. Chatterjee is a disciple of Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh. As director of the Farrukhabad Gharana of Tabla, founded by Haji V ...

and

Awards and recognition

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

for

in 1954 *

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

Award for Arts in 1970

Death and legacy

Ahmed Jan Thirakwa died on 13 January 1976 at

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

, India at age 84.Profile of Ahmed Jan Thirakwa on kamat.com website
Retrieved 10 July 2020 As of 2015, an 'Ustad Ahmed Jan Thirakwa Music Festival' is held every year to pay tribute to him by music enthusiasts in many major cities of India –

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'. Kolhapur is kn ...

References

External links