Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (1929-1990), popularly known as Z M Dagar, was of the 19th generation of Dagar family dhrupad musicians and was largely responsible for the revival of the rudra vina as a solo concert instrument. Dhrupad is the oldest surviving genre of classical singing in northern India; its name, from dhruva-pada, seems to mean fixed verse. Its foremost characteristics are a somber, dignified, devotional mood, its very slow tempo and slow melodic development. ...

The son of Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar, Z M Dagar was trained both in vocals and in the rudra vina, an instrument used by vocalists to practice melodies. The vina was traditionally not played in public, but the young Zia Mohiuddin adopted it as his primary instrument, giving his first recital at age 16. Discouraged by his father from experimenting with the structure of his instrument, he nevertheless modified the vina after his father's death in order to better equip it for solo performance, transforming it into a larger bass instrument (sometimes called a Dagar vina): With the help of instrument house Kanailal & Brother, he enlarged the tumbas (gourds) and dhandhi (hollow neck) to create greater resonance and to allow the notes to sustain longer and so better reproduce the techniques used in dhrupad singing. Because of these modifications, the instrument was too heavy to be held in the standard Northern posture (with one tumba on the left shoulder), so he played instead in the Southern posture, with one tumba on the ground and one on the left knee.

He was known particularly for his slow development of ragas, which were typically performed accompanied only by a tanpura and occasionally with pakhawaj, and for his meticulous attention to microtonal inflections. The tambura is a musical instrument used in various places around the world. ... Pakhawaj is a barrel shaped percussion instrument which is similar to mridangam. ...

He was very active in the West, associated with the American Society for Eastern Arts in Berkeley, California and a visiting professor at Wesleyan and at the University of Washington, Seattle. Berkeley as seen from the Claremont Canyon reserve Berkeley is a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California, in the United States. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The University of Washington, founded in 1861, is a major public research university in the Seattle metropolitan area. ... City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ...

Z M Dagar received the Sangeet Natak Academy and Kalidas Samman awards.

His younger brother, Ustad Zia Fariddudin Dagar, is a vocalist and teacher, and his son, Baha'ud'din Mohiuddin Dagar, is a vina player.

External Links

• Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar --biography at Musical Nirvana
• Dagar.org --Dagar family homepage