Anuradha Pal is an Indian tabla player. A disciple of the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain, Anuradha Pal has been recognised by the Limca Book of Records as the first professional woman tabalchi. She is considered as the first professional female tabla player to do performances at international level and is acclaimed as an accomplished soloist and a versatile accompanist.
She entered in to the world of professional music at the age of 10 and has been performing across the globe with musicians like Hariprasad Chaurasia, Jasraj, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Shahid Parvez, Veena Sahasrabuddhe, Shivkumar Sharma and Imrat Khan. She is the disciple of Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain.She is an A grade artist of the All India Radio and is the founder & music director of two distinct fusion bands named Stree Shakti and Recharge which is a World music fusion group combining various elements of Indian, African, Latin and Jazz music.
Mumbai (India) based Star Tabla virtuoso & Percussionist Anuradha Pal is an internationally highly acclaimed popular Tabla soloist and versatile accompanist with top Indian classical, African, Jazz & World musicians in major festivals in U.K, USA, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok & Africa.
Excellent training from Tabla legends Ustads Alla Rakha & Zakir Hussain, dedicated riyaaz (practice), & incredible support from her parents Devinder & Ila Pal & husband Shyam Sharma, have established Anuradha Pal as one of the ‘30 leading Women of India’ & ‘a percussionist par excellence’(according to the India Today 2006)
Clarity, tonal balance, pinpoint precision in rhythm & an amazing repertoire spiced with spontaneous creativity have made Anuradha Pal ‘the most influential female musician of Indian classical music’ according to the A. V Max Music Magazine, May 2001.
Anuradha Pal is the founder & music director of two distinct Fusion bands-
- Stree Shakti’ is Asia’s much acclaimed, all female percussion-based, instrumental and vocal fusion ensemble whereas
- ‘Recharge’ is a unique World music fusion group combining various elements of Indian, African, Latin and Jazz music.
Anuradha composed the background score in ‘Gaja Gamini’ 0the acclaimed M.F Husain film, which won tremendous acclaim in the Cannes Film Festival. She regularly scores music for music albums, theatre & documentaries.
Her Words:
With pride in her eyes she says," My parents are my inspiration and the back bone of my strength" and attributes her success to them.But talking about music, she says her grandmother who is a patron of arts was the indirect influence in opening up the avenues to the world of music. The tender look that passes through her face when she speaks of her grandmother is hard to miss. She recounts her grandmother as being a patron of arts and an incredible personality who was a very warm, caring and a loving person.
" It was an unwritten rule in my house that we should good at studies, besides selecting a sport and an art form for in-depth activity," she reminisces. She would spend most of her time jostling between studies an riyaz. After watching Ustad Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain on stage, she approached the former to accept her as a disciple. as for as learning she was never discouraged. She would practise for three to four hours every morning, but at the same time she never ignored her studies.
She laughs of those childhood dreams, but then says she did learn to horse ride on a professional level. But an accident shattered those childhood dreams.
Anuradha says that she was always told to be different and never be stereotyped. In her attitude she comes across as a very strong person. And today, she is proud that she has achieved something different. She is the only female professional tabla player and is considered a maestro in her own accord.
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