Vasant Rai (1942–1985) was one of the world's most acclaimed masters of Indian music and played the Indo-Afghan instrument the

sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...

Personal life and education

Rai's family was from a small town in India called Unjha and he was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France. Rai was the last student of Baba

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 ...

, who is best known as the teacher of

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

. He died in his New York apartment shortly after a

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

performance.

Career

Rai had been visiting the United States since his teen years. He settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1969 and lived mainly in the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

area and also for a short time at the Chelsea Hotel when he was not touring. From 1969 to 1985, he conducted the Alam School of Music in Greenwich Village.

Alla Rakha Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000), popularly known as Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla player who specialized in Hindustani classical music. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and was ...

, Mahapurush Mishra, Shamta Prasad and

Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain ( ur, , link=no) is the name of: * Zakir Husain (politician), an Indian politician and former president of India * Zakir Hussain (actor), Bollywood actor * Zakir Hussain (field hockey) (1934–2019), Pakistani field hockey player * ...

usually accompanied him on the

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� ...

. Vasant Rai taught Indian musicians, most notable are sarodist Pradeep Barot, mandolin player Emu Desai, and sitar player Shamim Ahmed Khan. Vasant Rai's notable western musicians were

Lex Hixon Lex Hixon (1941–1995) (born Alexander Paul Hixon Junior, also known as Nur al-Anwar al-Jerrahi in the Sufi community) was an American Sufi author, poet, and spiritual teacher. He practiced and held membership in several religious traditions. H ...

Collin Walcott Collin Walcott (April 24, 1945 – November 8, 1984) was an American musician who worked in jazz and world music. Early life Walcott was born in New York City, United States. He studied violin and tympani in his youth, and was a percussion stud ...

, and

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

. Rai had been signed exclusively by

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

from 1975 to 1982. Vasant's first commercial recording was by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

and on the tabla was

. Vasant Rai's sarod was a gift from his guru Allauddin Khan, and was made by Allauddin Khan's younger brother

Ayet Ali Khan Ayet Ali Khan was a Bengali classical musician. Early life Khan was born in Shibpur Upazila, Shibpur, Brahmanbaria District, Brahmanbaria, Bengal Presidency, British Raj in 1884. He trained under his brothers Fakir Aftabuddin Khan and Ustad Alauddi ...

in the 1930s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Vasant 1942 births 1985 deaths Hindustani instrumentalists Sarod players French Hindus Indian emigrants to the United States French people of Indian descent American Hindus People from Satna Maihar gharana Vanguard Records artists 20th-century Indian musicians American people of Gujarati descent American male musicians of Indian descent American musicians of Indian descent 20th-century American male musicians People from Greenwich Village