From: Rajan P. Parrikar ([email protected]) Subject: Great Masters: "nA huA Thirakwa!" Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical Date: 2000/02/21

Namashkar.

The greatest exponent of the tabla of the 20th century was Ahmad Jan "Thirakwa" (1878-1976). But alas, he didn't have any certificate from the West to prove his worth. Indians have, therefore, all but forgotten him. Susheela Mishra profiles the great master in her "Great Masters of Hindustani Music."

Warm regards,

Rajan Parrikar ======

------Ustad Ahmad Jan "Thirakwa"

by

Susheela Mishra

After the gaiety, crowds and illuminations of the previous two days, was observing Ashra, the mournful 10th day of Moharram. By 10 a.m. the sad news of the sudden death of Thirakwa Khan Saheb had spread among the music-lovers of Lucknow. While the Tazias were being taken for burial by processions of mourners performing maatam, a stream of mourners from the music-world went to pay their last respects to the Ustad who had reigned supreme as "the Tabla-wizard" of the country for the last 7 or 8 decades. Once a permanent resident of Lucknow, he had migrated just a few years ago to Bombay where he was not only the inspiratton behind 's School of Music, but was also serving as a Visiting Professor in the National Centre for Performing Arts. On January, 8, he had come home to Lucknow to keep a tryst with destiny and to fulfil his promise: "Mai hamesha hamesha Lucknow me rahoonga". On the morning of 13th January 1976 he was in a rickshaw on his way the Charbagh Railway Station to catch the Bombay Mail, when he collapsed in the rickshaw and died.

Ustad Thirakwa's death marks the end of courtly era in music and in his death we have lost the seniormost and most colourful personality among the Table maestros of today. Although he had spent the best years of his life amidst the pomp and pageantry of splendid royal courts where art and sensitive appreciation of it are held in the highest esteem, the Ustad with great dignity stepped out of the leisurely courtly life into the hectic tempo of the modern machine-age when the era of darbari music ended. In fact, he was a vital link between two eras in Indian music.

Born 98 years ago in a family of musicians in Moradabad, Ahmad Jan started with vocal music lessons right from his childhood under Ustad Mithoo Khan. His father Hussain Bux was a well-known Sarangiya from whom Ahmad Jan received Sarangi lessons for some time, but as the latter himself told me once:- "In spite of all these factors, I was not really drawn to the art until I heard Ustad Munir Khan, the great Tabla-Ustad of Meerut. I suddenly realised that my rooh really lay in the Tabla. I took early lessons in Tabla from my uncles Sher Khan, Faiyaz Khan, and Baswa Khan. However, my ideal guru was Ustad Munir Khan and I really put my heart into my riyaz, only after I became his pupil at the age of 12. My Ustad was not only a great Tabaliya but also a generous guru. He used to make me practise for nearly 16 hours per day, with half-hour breaks now and then for my meals, etc., and barely 6 hours of sleep. I had to take regular exercise, and plenty of rich food essential for such a rigorous routine of riyaz". Ahmad Jan was brought up by his brother Miyan Jan Khan who not only gave him all the facilities to devote himself entirely to the art, but also provided him with a rich diet of nutritious food and plenty of milk. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why his stamina as a performing artiste remained unimpaired till the last year of his life. Anyway, young Ahmad Jan's extraordinary talent and devoted practice pleased Munir Khan so much that the boy became the guru's favourite 'Shagird' in no time. The Ustad's father Kale Khan used to watch the extraordinary progress of his son's young pupil, and one day he remarked with admiration: "The boy's fingers really dance with the laya (Laya mee thirakte hain)." This complimentary epithet "Thirakkoo" stuck to his name, and when Ahmad Jan became famous throughout the country it was as "Thirakwa", the tabla-wizard with the dancing fingers. Besides Thirakwa, the other reputed Tabaliyas of Munir Khan's have been Ustad Amir Hussain (nephew of Munir Khan), Ghulam Hussian, Shamsuddin, P. Nageshkar, Sripad Nageshkar, Nikhil Ghosh, Ghulam Rasool and others.

Thirakwa used to recall with a glow of joy his most success≠ ful conference-debut at the age of 16 in Khetbadi, Bombay. The thunderous ovation that he received from the audience on that occasion never ceased to echo in his ears. He achieved wide popularity as a member of Bal Gandharva's Theatrical Company. Soon, invitations from music conferences began to pour in, and Thirakwa became one of the busiest artistes of the North. In 1936 he was appointed a court-musician of Rampur, a post which he adorned for the next 30 years during which he heard and accompanied the greatest musicians of his time. No wonder, he had an endless stock of stories relating to the rajas, nawabs and court-musicians which he used to narrate to us in his own inimitable style. One such story was about Nawab Kalbe Ali Khan (of Rampur), an accomplished musician and a great patron of music, whose reverence for his guru Bahadur Khan, the great Sursingar-expert, caused so much heartburn among the courtiers and relatives of the Nawab Saheb that one day he decided to teach them a lesson. He seated his guru outside the durbar-hall and invited all the courtiers and princes to attend court at 10 a.m. punctually. But, so entrancing was Bahadur Khan's Sursingar-recital that all the invitees to the court remained as if spellbound, and forgot to attend the court. Regarding his patron, Nawab Raza Ali Khan of Rampur, Thirakwa used to say: "I got on very well with my patron. The Nawab Saheb was always generous to me, and I served him loyally". With what consideration and deference, this great Ustad used to accompany the Nawab Saheb when the latter used to play on his Castanets or Ghunghroos to entertain his friends!

When the court-musicians were all disbanded in the new set≠ up, Thirakwa migrated to Lucknow where he was appointed Professor and Head of the Faculty of Tabla in the Bhatkhande College of Music. Even after he retired, he was closely associated with this institution as an Emeritus Professor. During his Rampur years as well as during his college years, he was a most popular and frequent broadcaster from the Lucknow Station of AIR. And of course, he was constantly in demand at Music Conferences, AIR concerts, Sangeet Sammelans, and mehfils all over the country. His popularity, in fact, never waned, because he kept up his rigorous riyaz, and his high standard till the end. His last unforgettable performance was in the Radio Sangeet Sammelan, 1974, in which he once again proved that even after he had become a nonegenarian, his devotion to, and mastery over, the Tabla remained as unmatched as ever. Although his voice in normal conversation had tended to become shaky, it was amazing that while reciting the complicated and jaw-breaking tabla-bols and parans, his voice seemed to regain its lost steadiness and strength. Numerous disciples of his scattered all over the north have achieved renown such as:≠ Lalji Gokhkale (of AIR, Bombay), Prem Vallabh and Ghulam Ahmad (of AIR, Delhi), Chchote Gokhale (of AIR, Pune), Nikhil Ghosh (Bombay), Ahmad Ali and Ram Kumar Sharma (of Lucknow) and so on.

Although Thirakwa was essentially a soloist, there has been hardly any leading soloist or instrumentalist in the last 5 or 6 decades whom he had not accompanied in the course of his long and distinguished career spanning many generations. Among the unforgettable maestros he accompanied on the tabla were Ustads Allahbande Khan, Rajab Ali Khan, Alladiya Khan, Wahid Khan, Allauddin Khan. Bhaskarbuwa Bakhle, Faiyaz Khan, Mushtaq Hussain, Hafiz Ali, Ali Akbar, Bismillah Khan, Begum Akhtar, R. Daggur and so on. Once I happened to ask Thirakwa Sahib as to who was the vocalist he enjoyed accompanying most of all. Without a moment's hesitation, he replied: "I found the greatest joy in accompanying Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Vilayat Hussain, and Abdulla Khan of the Gharana, because their control over Taal was superb". In fact, his admiration for the Aftab-e-Mausiqui was only equalled by the latter's for him. There was such perfect mutual understanding between them that once at a music conference in which some other Tabaliya was accompanying Ustad Faiyaz Khan, the latter is said to have blurted out at one place: "Na huva Thirakwa" ("No one can take Thirakwa's place"). Honours like the Padma Bhushan came to him naturally.

Ustad Ahmad Jan Thirakwa had a wealth of reminiscences, a good sense of humour, and the ability to imitate many vocalists. Hence he often used to entertain us with many interesting episodes and anecdotes pertaining to colourful mehfils of the past. Without his actual demonstration of the singing and Tabla bols, such narrations lose much of their impact. However, here is one such story in his words:- "You people perhaps have never had the good fortune to hear Rajab Ali Khali of Dewas. He was a wonderful singer, famous for his taiyari (speed). But he had a sly habit of accelerating the speed of his fast Khayal and keeping the poor Tabla-accompanist suspended in that awful tempo for a long time, while he himself would keep on singing in an easy, even tempo. One day he started this stunt on me. I thought of an equally cunning trick. Instead of sweating out the lightning laya, I really started accompanying his taans mathematically. This way I could go on playing the whole night without getting tired, but the singer would get tired very soon. Instead of getting irritated, Rajab Ali Khan appreciated my ingenuity, and we had a good laugh over it".

Confident that nothing could reduce his artistic stature, Thirakwa never minded providing accompaniment to even the younger artistes of his time. If the organizers hesitated to schedule the name of this veteran with a young artiste, he would laugh and ask: "If I do not mind, why should you?" When an artiste had reached his status why should he mind about such petty "snobberies" in music.

Thirakwa was proficient in all the styles of Tabla Baaj such as "Dilli", "Poorab","Farukkabadi. and Ajrada, but "Dilli" and "Farukkabadi" were his favourites. His recipes for success for today's tabla-pupils are "correct and sincere taleem, long and continuous years of riyaz, regular physical exercises, and lots of good nourishing food". He has proved the worth of these through his own personal example. He remained popular throughout his career not only because he was an authority on his subject, but also because of his dignified and accommodating nature. I had often wondered why this top artiste never participated in any cultural delegation going abroad, and once asked him. He laughed at himself and confessed: "I was offered many chances, but each time I refused because I am plain scared of flying."

The older generation of musicians and music-lovers shake their heads in despair and remark: "Many great Tabaliyas have come and gone, but there has been only one Thirakwa"! One will always remember Ustad Ahmad Jan Thirakwa's courtly personality - the black "achkan" and cap, the blackened moustache, the surma-lined eyes, the silver-capped walking stick, the polite adaab-arz or meherbani apki, his courteous manners, and his mastery over the Tabla. The Tabla Baaj has been deprived forever of the dancing fingers of Thirakwa, the Tabla Wizard. ------