Tabla and sitar exponent Ustad Mian was the last direct disciple of Qadir Bakshi
Tabla and sitar exponent Ustad Mian was the last direct disciple of Qadir Bakshi
When Himachali Rajput Ustad Lachman Singh Sr passed away recently, he was identified more with Punjab and Tabla than he was Ustad Mian Qadir Baksh, the last disciple of the Punjab Gharana. Before returning to his home in Jammu after Partition, Laxman Singh received extensive training in Lahore. Soon after, Jalandhar became his home. Although he was primarily known as an exponent of the tabla, Lachman Singh also took sitar training in Jammu, and remained deeply involved with the instrument, teaching at the famous Hans Raj Mahila Mahavidyalaya in Jalandhar.
In those days Punjab was the center of music. Purnima Beri, who organized the 146-year-old Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan, says, “I remember hearing it from my father, Balbir Singh Mehta (who was closely associated with music, and Harivallabh as well as both the major festivals of Punjab). 107-year-old Laxminarayan Sabha in Amritsar) that wherever there was a ‘meeting’, Laxman Singh ji would always be invited. Here his stature in the world of music was unmatched.
The story behind his respectable title ‘Ustad’ is an unusual one. According to his son Manu, Mian Qadir Bakhsh (Lachman’s mentor) began to address him as ‘Ustad’ after a highly acclaimed concert in Kolkata (probably in the 1940s), where the audience chanted ‘Jio Punjab’. Appreciated his knowledge with slogans. ‘ (Long live Punjab Gharana). Ustad Laxman Singh, the storehouse of rare creations of the gharana, loved teaching. His most senior disciple, says Pt. Sushil Jain, who began learning from him in 1965, “was working on a book cataloging 3,000 rare traditional compositions of his gharana taught by his guru.”
Renowned representative of the Punjab Gharana and Tabla artist, Pt. Yogesh Samsi, “Since Lachman Singh Sr was the last direct disciple of Mian Qadir Baksh, his demise is a great loss. For me, he was the last link with the generation of my Guru (Ustad Allah Rakha). Whenever I went to Punjab, I would try to meet him. The first time was in 1993 at his home. He invited me after listening to my single, and blessed me. Unho apni talim very bekhubi se kayam rakhi (he nurtured and preserved his musical lineage well). An era has come to an end, and our household has lost its pillar, and the onus is now on our generation to keep the sanskars and training alive.
All the six children of the maestro are associated with music – son Kinnar is a musician based in America, son Manu is a famous sitar player living in Jalandhar. Manu’s son Rishabh also plays sitar, while daughter Surpriya plays the santoor. Nephew Avirbhav Verma is one of the finest tabla players in the region. The heritage of music which started from the hills of Himachal Pradesh is alive in Punjab.
Delhi-based writers write on Hindustani musicians and music.