Ustad Alla Rakha
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Ustad Allah Rakha (April 29, 1919 - February 3, 2000) was a master of the tabla, a classical Hindustani percussion instrument.
Ustad Alla Rakha is considered one of the great tabla players of the 20th century. His legendary and spellbinding performances with Ravi Shankar at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and the Woodstock Festival in 1969 served to introduce classical Indian music to general Western audiences. Leading American percussionists in Rock n' Roll, such as the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, admired him and studied his technique, benefiting greatly even from single meetings. Hart, a published authority on percussion in world music, is said to have referred to Alla Rakha as "the Einstein of Rhythm."
His son, Zakir Hussain is also an accomplished tabla virtuoso.de:Alla Rakha Template:Musician-stub Template:India-bio-stub Template:Drummer-stub