The Dagar family in Chembur
When I first came to India in 1965 I was lucky to find my tabla guru Pandit Taranath with the help of sitar/surbahar maestro C. S. Naringrekar, Chandu called. He lived in Chembur in a house that also had his guru Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, fellow students Shivakumar-Sridhar-Ramani-family and the tabla genius Ravi Bellare in it. There was a wonderful atmosphere with all students walking in and out of Ustad’s flat, practising in the big room. Every sunday evening there was a small concert in that room where students would play one piece each, starting with the youngest and ending with Ustad or maybe an occasional visiting member of the Dagar gharana.
Here are some photos taken on the roof of the “Rukmini” building in 1968.
In 1969 Ustad and Taranath stopped by me in Sweden on their way home from their first stay in U.S. They did TV, radio and a concert, recently released on Country & Eastern
Quite a few albums have come out of the recordings I did on my Nagra tape recorder, you find them at Ustad’s page on the Country & Eastern site:
After Sayeduddins death recently, all of the former Dagar generation are deceased but fortunately there are quite a few good students. Ustad’s son Mohi Bahauddin Dagar is the sole musician of the Ziauddin lineage of the Dagar gharana. We are all lucky that he is doing it so well. Below Ustad is teaching him at an early age.
Ustad teaching Bablu
and here is the Dagar family tree
Dagar Family Tree
