Ustad Allah Rakha (April 29, 1919 - February 3, 2000) was a master of the tabla, a classical Hindustani instrument. Alla Rakha is considered to have been one of the greatest tabla players of the twentieth century.
His son, Zakir Hussain is also an accomplished tabla virtuoso.
AllaRakha, who was universally known by that name, sometimes rendered as Allarakha, usually preceded by the honorific Ustad, which means teacher or guru, died of a heart attack at age 80 on Feb. 3, just hours after his 50-year-old daughter, Razia, died suddenly and unexpectedly after routine cataract surgery.
AllaRakha's students have come each night, and among them was a 25-year-old tabla player from Minneapolis, Suphala Patnakar, who talks in a flat Midwestern accent but wears her hair in long dark ringlets down her back and dresses in an Indian-style white tunic over matching pants.
AllaRakha's elder daughter, Kurshid Aulia, said she had the rhythm in her but her mother would not allow a daughter, who should be learning to cook and clean, to become a musician.
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