Tradition · tabla gharana · India
Ajrada tabla gharana
The Ajrada tabla gharana, founded by Kallu Khan and Mian Mendu Khan in the mid-18 century at Ajrada village in Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh. The gharana emphasises the open bayan (bass drum) resonance, intricate rhythmic variations, and the development of the pakhawaj-derived rela (fast melodic patterns). The Ajrada gharana is the oldest documented tabla gharana (predating the other five major tabla gharanas: Delhi, Lucknow, Farrukhabad, Benares and Punjab). The gharana's major 20-century exponents include Ustad Habibuddin Khan (1899-1972), who trained the modern master Ustad Allarakha Khan (1919-2000, Ravi Shankar's accompanist). The gharana's distinctive feature is the open-handed striking style on the bayan, producing deeper bass tones than the other gharanas. Modern Ajrada tabla players include Ustad Sabir Khan and his disciples. The Ajrada tabla style is central to accompanying slow khayal and dhrupad performance.
- Function
- Arts & performance
- Tradition
- Tabla gharana tradition; gharana histories
- Confidence
- Not assessed
- Location
- 28.980, 77.640
A gharana is a lineage/tradition rather than a simple place-bound institution; the mapped point is an origin, court, or major associated centre and should not be read as an exclusive birthplace.
Connections (1)
- Teaching lineageDelhi (Dāgar) gharana
Ajrada was founded by two disciples of the Delhi line who settled at a village near Meerut, and it took the Delhi two-finger technique and built cross-rhythms and a heavy bass on top of it. Ajrada players work at a rhythmic density other gharanas reach only at high speed, and the style is closely tied to the sixteen-beat teental cycle. It is the first branch off the parent tradition and the one that stayed closest to home.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Ajrara gharana”. Bonnie Wade and the standard gharana literature; IGNCA and Sangeet Natak Akademi oral-history collections.
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