Ahmed Jan Thirakwa Biography 
Ahmed Jan Thirakwa was one of the greatest tabla players of 20th century. He is one among the most influential percussionists in the history of Indian classical music. His mastery of the fingering techniques and aesthetic values of various tabla styles make him a distinguished artist. He is often termed as "Mount Everest of Tabliyas". His style has influenced many generations of tabla artists. For his contributions to Indian music, he was awarded with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1954 and the Padma Bhushan in 1970. Thirakwa was his nickname.
Thirakwa Khan was born to a family of musicians in 1874 in Moradabad in UP. As a student, he learnt Hindustani vocals and sarangi first. Once he happened to hear artist Munir Khan playing tabla. He was only 12 then and very soon, he became the disciple of Munir Khan. For a long time, he played in the court of the Nawabs of Rampur. During this time, he came into contact with musicians belonging to different gharanas, particularly Agra, Jaipur, Gwalior and Patiala gharanas. He often rendered Bandishes in his own voice too. As an accompanist, he was equally loved respected and admired by all. The great Rabindrasangeet exponent Suchitra Mitra was a great admirer of Thirakwa.
Thirakwa is not his original name, but was an epithet he earned from his guru's father. Thirakwa means shimmering and once his guru’s father gave an opinion that his fingers shimmers on the tabla. From that day on, the word Thirakwa got added with his name. As an artist, he has performed in almost all major music concerts at regular intervals around the country. Lalji Gokhale, Jagannath buwa Purohit, Narayanrao Joshi, Bhai Gaitonde, Bapu Patwardhan, Anand Shidhaye and Rashid Mustafa were his noted disciples.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 25, 2014
