Tabla legend Ustad Alla Rakha honoured on 95th anniversary by Google Doodle

Google honoured tabla legend and one of India’s most influential classical musicians, Ustad Alla Rakha in a doodle for the India search landing page.   The doodle commemorates the 95th birth anniversary Alla Rakha, who appears with a characteristic Cheshire cat smile, with the left hand gliding over tabla, while the right one taps out a beat. Unfortunately, there’s no video or interactive element in the doodle. The rest of the letters in Google have a white background and are drawn with a charcoal style. It’s a very simple yet powerful depiction. [caption id=“attachment_222748” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  The full doodle[/caption]   Fondly called Abbaji, Allarakha Qureshi Khansaheb was born on April 29, 1919 in Phagwal in Jammu. His musical lineage belonged to the Punjab gharana and he is widely considered to be the artists who introduced international audiences to tabla, during his performances with another noted Indian musician Ravi Shankar.   Alla Rakha left home when he was 12 to learn the tabla and in 1936 he joined the Lahore outpost of All India Radio before being transferred to Bombay. Post his radio stint, Alla Rakha joined the Indian film industry as a composer, going by the name of AR Qureshi.   After over a decade of working in the industry, Alla Rakha began touring the world with Ravi Shankar and this is considered the time when the world became more familiar with Indian classical music and the sheer breadth of variety and genres within. For his work in making Indian classical music well known worldwide, Alla Rakha was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1977 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1982.   His three sons, Zakir Hussain, Fazal Qureshi, and Taufiq Qureshi, are renowned tabla players themselves. Alla Rakha died on February 3, 2000 in Mumbai following a heart attack and the Alla Rakha Institute of Music in the city carries forward his legacy for other generations.