Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar | Sitar | Raga Bhairavi | Rare Recording |

Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar also known as Bade Ustad. He was born in the town of Udaipur, Rajasthan on 14 March 1929 and began musical study with his father, Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar, court musician for the Maharana of Udaipur. He was trained both in vocals and in the rudra veena, an instrument used by vocalists to practice melodies. The veena was traditionally not played in public, but the young Zia Mohiuddin adopted it as his primary instrument, giving his first recital at age 16. Although he was discouraged by his father from experimenting with the structure of the veena, he nevertheless modified the instrument after his father's death to better equip it for solo performance, transforming it into a larger bass instrument (sometimes called a 'Dagar veena'): With the help of the 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.

After India gained independence in 1947, the princely states were abolished. The Dagar family lost the patronage of the court of Udaipur, and had to seek employment elsewhere. Finally they arrived in Mumbai. For 25 years, they had to make ends meet by working in garages, selling bread, and rarely, playing instruments for movie scores. They did not have a tanpura, sitar, or veena, let alone a house. There was much cynicism about dhrupad, as his son Mohi Baha'ud-din recounted in an interview.

Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar was known particularly for his slow development of ragas, typically performed only with tanpura accompaniment (he rarely played with pakhawaj), and for his meticulous attention to microtonal inflections.

He was very active in the West, associating himself with the American Society for Eastern Arts in Berkeley, California (Zia Mohiuddin Dagar offered 12 weeks of classes during the spring of 1977). Financial support was secured by the Center for World Music from the National Endowment for the Arts and other contributors) and with Wesleyan University, Rotterdam Music Conservatory [nl], and the University of Washington, Seattle, where he was a visiting professor.

In 1986, he was awarded the Kalidas Samman Award, one of India's most prestigious awards, by the Madhya Pradesh government.
He also received the Sangeet Natak Academi Award in 1981, the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Academi award, and the Maharana Kumbha award, to name a few.

His younger brother, Ustad Zia Fariddudin Dagar, was a vocalist and teacher, and his son, Mohi Baha'ud-din, is a Rudra veena player.

Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar died on 28 September 1990.

Information Courtesy: Wikipedia


Disclaimer: This recording is from Country & Eastern. Sharing it here is not for any commercial purpose whatsoever. No copyright infringement is intended. This is only to showcase and propagate this traditional art form so that more and more people can learn to appreciate it.
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