This video features Dr. Aneesh Pradhan performing a Qaida composed by Ustad Amir Hussain Khan, in teental (16 matras). Excerpt from a live concert in Nigadi, Pune on February 8, 2013.
Dr. Aneesh Pradhan is one of India's leading tabla players. A disciple of Pandit Nikhil Ghosh, he has inherited from his guru a considerable repertoire of traditional tabla solo compositions from the Delhi, Ajrada, Lucknow, Farrukhabad and Punjab gharanas.
A popular performer at most prestigious concerts and festivals in the country, Dr. Pradhan has also traveled widely and performed overseas at major events. He has also recorded prolifically for national and international record labels accompanying a host of vocalists and instrumentalists.
Apart from his work with art music, Dr. Pradhan is also a frequent participant in cross-cultural musical collaborations both in the capacity of performer and composer. Drawn equally towards melody and rhythm, his compositions range from pieces composed for tabla solo repertoire, to melodic and text-based compositions that are based on traditional vocal and instrumental forms of North Indian art music. Dr. Pradhan has also been a member of the Japan-based Asian Fantasy Orchestra since 1998, and has also participated as composer and performer in an ongoing collaboration with the Ensemble Modern, Frankfurt.
Dr. Pradhan's teaching assignments in the past include stints as artist-in-residence at the University of New England, Australia, and as guest lecturer at the Music Department, University of Mumbai. He regularly conducts lecture-demonstrations, workshops and participates in seminars at various universities in India and abroad. These include concerts and workshops at Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, and Brandeis College in Boston. He was also a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Music, Media and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University in Australia.
Dr. Pradhan is also the co-Director with vocalist Shubha Mudgal of Underscore Records and co-curator of an international music festival called Baajaa Gaajaa: Music from 21st Century India.
Dr. Pradhan holds a doctorate in History from University of Mumbai. He has been a keen researcher of trends in performance, music education and patronage that unfolded in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He is the author of a children's book on tabla, which is part of a twelve book series entitled Baajaa Gaajaa: Musical Instruments of India. His most recent book titled "Tabla: A performer's perspective" is now available online and in print.
Dr. Aneesh Pradhan is accompanied by Sri Sudhir Nayak on the harmonium.
