The Music of Pakistan includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and modern-day Western popular music influences. With these multiple influences, a distinctive Pakistani music has emerged.
Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi, mononymously known as Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla player who specialised in Hindustani classical music. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and was largely responsible for introducing tabla to the Western audience.
Anjan Chattopadhyay, the sitar player, born in a Bengali aristocratic family in Calcutta, India, was initiated to the art of sitar playing by his elder brother, a veteran Surbahar player, Pandit Gourisankar Chattopadhyay, a disciple of Pandit Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury. In addition to that he started taking further training from Vidushi Kalyani Roy, a reputed sitarist and one of the few disciples of Ustad Vilayat Khan. He also had lessons in vocal music from late Muktipada Datta, a representative of Agra Gharana. Anjan also learned tabla under the late Ustad Shaukat Ali Khan of Farukhabad gharana. Anjan lives in Calcutta.
Ustad Sultan Khan was an Indian sarangi player and classical vocalist belonging to Sikar Gharana. He was one of the founding members of the Indian fusion group Tabla Beat Science, with Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 2010.
Paṅjāb Gharānā, sometimes called Punjabi or Paṅjābī Gharānā, is a style and technique of tabla playing that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, now split between present-day Pakistan and India. The Punjab Gharana is considered one of the six main styles of tabla, the others being Delhi, Ajrada, Banares, Lucknow, and Farrukhabad. The repertoire of the Punjab Gharana is heavily influenced by the Pakhawaj.
The Delhi or Dilli Gharana, is a tabla discipleship tradition, "regarded by many as the fountainhead of all the tabla gharanas" and known for being the first and oldest gharana of tabla.
The Patiala gharana is one of the vocal gharanas of Hindustani classical music, named after the city of Patiala in Punjab, India where it was established. The gharana was founded in the mid to late 19th century by Mian Kallu, a sārangi player of the Jaipur durbar. He received his musical training from the last Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar's court musician Qutub Bakhsh 'Tanras' Khan and went on to become the court musician to the Maharaja of Patiala. Eventually, the mantle was passed on to his son, 'General' Ali Baksh Khan and his close friend 'Colonel' Fateh Ali Khan, both of whom became court musicians in the court of Maharaja Rajinder Singh. The titles of 'general' and 'colonel' of music were bestowed upon them by the Victor Alexander Bruce, the 9th Earl of Elgin, after the duo had enthralled him with their performance. Their pairing was popularly referred to as 'Ali-a-Fattu ki Jodi.'
Shujaat Husain Khan is one of the most acclaimed North Indian musicians and sitar players of his generation.
Ustad Amanat Ali Khan was a Pakistani classical vocalist from the Patiala gharana tradition of music and is widely regarded as one of the finest classical and ghazal singers of all time. Together with his younger brother, Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan, he formed a famed singing duo that garnered widespread popularity across the Indian subcontinent. For his contributions to classical music, Amanat Ali was honoured with the highest national literary award of Pakistan – the Pride of Performance – by the President of Pakistan in 1969. Khan was especially noted for khayal, thumri, and ghazal styles of singing and has been described as "the maestro of the Patiala gharana." He stands with singing icons like Mehdi Hassan and Ahmed Rushdi, having left behind a legacy of hundreds of classical and semi-classical songs.
Dildar Hussain is a Pakistani percussionist and tabla player. He is known for being the left handed tabla player for late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a renowned Qawwali singer. Dildar Hussain played tabla for him in his qawwali-singing group until Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan died in 1997. Dildar Hussain belongs to the Punjab gharana of tabla-playing music artists. He is a shagird of Ustad Allah Rakha. Dildar Hussain plays the tabla left-handed
Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, is an Indian tabla player. He has accompanied several musicians of Indian classical music, including, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Bhimshen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj., Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and many more. He also taught his sons tabla. Guru- Santosh Biswas
Ustad Ahmed Jan Khan "Thirakwa" was an Indian tabla player, commonly considered the pre-eminent soloist among tabla players of the 20th century, and among the most influential percussionists in the history of Indian Classical Music.
The Gwalior Gharana is one of the oldest Khyal Gharana in Indian classical music. The rise of the Gwalior Gharana started with the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542–1605).
The All Pakistan Music Conference (APMC) is a volunteer organization founded in 1959 for the promotion of classical arts in Pakistan and continues to preserve and promote Pakistani classical and folk music and dance. It hosts a concert of music every month and a 5 day annual festival in Lahore, Pakistan typically in the last weekend of October. It has a chapter in Karachi as well. Ever since its inception, it has been a constant source of inspiration for thousands of music lovers nationwide.
Farrukhabad Gharana is one of six prominent playing styles or gharanas of North Indian tabla, in Hindustani classical music, and derives its name from Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Pandit Shankar Ghosh was an Indian Tabla player from the Farukhabad gharana of Hindustani classical music. He has revolutionized both the art of Tabla solo playing as well as Tabla accompaniment. His many compositions have become an intrinsic part of the contemporary Tabla repertoire.
Pandit Anindo Chatterjee is an Indian tabla player of the Farrukhabad gharana school. He was born into a musical family. Chatterjee is a disciple of Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh.
Mohammad Sharif Khan known as Ustad Sharif Khan Poonchwaley was a classical player of sitar, vichitra veena and raza been in the hindustani classical music tradition.
Swara Samrat festival is a four-day annual festival of Indian classical music and dance held during the winters in Kolkata, India. This festival is the brainchild of Sarod maestro Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, his vocalist wife, Manasi Majumder and their Sarod player-son Indrayuddh Majumder. The festival is dedicated to Swara Samrat Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Indian Classical Music and Dance Legends such as Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia,Legendary tabla player of Banares Gharana Pandit Kumar Bose,Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Aashish Khan, Dr. Girija Devi, Begum Parveen Sultana, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Guru Karaikudi Mani, Ustad Rashid Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, Pandit Sanjay Mukherjee, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Pandit Kushal Das, Pandit Rajendra Gangani, Guru Sujata Mohapatra, Pandit Subhankar Banerjee, Pandit Yogesh Samsi, Pandit Bickram Ghosh, Pandit Tanmoy Bose and Kaushiki Chakraborty are some of the artists who have previously performed in this festival.
Shaukat HussainKhan, commonly referred to as Miyan Shaukat Hussain, was a Pakistani tabla player who belonged to the Punjab gharana of tabla-playing music artists.
