The Moradabad-born Ustad Ahmed Jan Khan ‘Thirakwa’ is widely considered a pre-eminent soloist among tabla players of the 20th century. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1970
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – Members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have opposed the installation of Padma Bhushan awardee and renowned tabla (drum) player Ustad Ahmed Jaan Khan’s statue and naming the street after him in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad’s district.
On Tuesday, members of the Hindutva outfit, the BJP, and other residents held a protest by covering the statue with black polyethylene demanding its removal and renaming the street.
Ustad Ahmed Jan Khan “Thirakwa” born in Moradabad was widely considered a pre-eminent soloist among tabla players of the 20th century and is among the most influential percussionists in the history of Indian Classical Music. He passed away in 1976 at the age of 84. The government honoured him with Padma Bhushan in 1970.
His statue was placed at a main crossing of Moradabad last week triggering protests from the Hindutva leaders. Talking to reporters, a VHP leader said they will continue their agitation until the statue is replaced with that of Subhash Chandra Bose.
Talking to the media persons, a protester said that the government has been changing the names of the cities, towns and stations kept after the Mughal rulers. And the government should not notify such names which could be changed in the future.
He claimed that Jan was a darbari tabla player in 1937 in the kingdom of Rampur’s Nawab. “We don’t want that tomorrow children to say that this is the statue of the person who used to play tabla in the darbar of Rampur’s Nawab. We all know what is the image of Rampur’s Nawab in our society,” said the protester.
Reacting to the issue, Apoorvanand, a Delhi University professor and noted human rights activist, said this is part of a systematic attack on the composite culture of the country: remove everything Muslim. “And we lecture Bangladesh,” he said.
According to Jan’s biography published in The Economic Times in 1982 his contribution to the music industry was immense. “To him goes the distinction of being one maestro who had the opportunity to provide accompaniment to four generations of performers from the late 19th century till the 70s. The distinguished line-up included celebrities like Imdad Khan, Allah Bande Khan, Rajab Ali Khan, Mushtaq Hussain Khan, Bhaskarbuva Bakhale, Allauddin Khan and Hafiz Ali Khan down to the younger artistes like Rais Khan”.
The biography noted that the maestro was born at a time when princely patronage continued to nurse the budding genius to flower into full bloom. And he lived and died amid changing conditions which witnessed a transition to a public or, rather, mass patronage. But it was characteristic of the man that he moved with the times even while keeping the traditions alive and without realigning his art to the tastes of his motley audiences. Nor did he consider it below his dignity to accompany even an artiste less than half his age. So sympathetic was his manner of sangat that he helped many young recitalists gain confidence and sing or play in a true form.
“It is this mastery in the art of improvisation in every manner of aesthetic design that brought the Ustad double acclaim as an accompanist and soloist. He had the rare faculty of bringing out the best from the principal performer,” stated the author about him.
