Dagar family
ez01...@alcor.ucdavis.edu
great torch bearer of dhrupad singing/bin playing.
The information has been gleamed from various sources and I
think it quite reliable. Any mistakes though should be
pointed out by the informed folks.
1) Baba Imam Khan Dagar (was Baba Gopal Das Pandey,
but had to change religion).
2) His sons were Haidar Hussain Khan Dagar and Bahram Khan
Dagar. Bahram (or Behram) Khan was court musician with
king of Jaipur (the great city where I come from) Maharaja
Sawai Rama Singh. Behram Khan is considered to be a legend!
3) Haidar Hussain Khan's son was Ustad Mohammadjan Khan Dagar
who was in Indore. Mohammadjan Khan's cousin was Pandit
Inayat Khan Dagar.
4) Ustad Mohammadjan Khan of Indore had two very famous
dhrupadiya sons; Zakiruddin Dagar and Alabande Khan (or
Allabande). Alabande Khan was court musician with Udaipur
king and than with Alvar king. He was born in last half
of 19th century and died in 1927.
Zakiruddin and Alabande used to sing together (jugalbandi) and
were said to be very good.
5) Alabande Khan had four sons, three of them considered to
be the greatest dhrupad singers of this century:
Nasiruddin Khan Dagar
Rahimuddin Khan Dagar
Hussainuddin Khan Dagar (also called Tansen Pandey)
Imamuddin Khan Dagar
Nasiruddin Dagar (1895-1936) was in the court singer of Indore
and is considered to be the true teacher of Rahimuddin Dagar.
His four sons are the ones that we know as Dagar brothers.
Cousin of these four brothers was Ziauddin Khan Dagar who
was in the court of Udaipur. He died in 1946.
Another of their cousins was Riyazuddin Dagar.
Rahimuddin Dagar was a great singer also, he died in 1975.
6) Nasirduddin Dagars four sons:
N. Aminuddin Dagar (lives in Calcutta)
N. Moinuddin Dagar (deceased)
These were the original (senior) Dagar brothers and sang
together like their grandparents Alabande Khan and Zakiruddin
Dagar.
N. Faiyazuddin Dagar (1933-1989)
N. Zahiruddin Dagar (1932- lives in Delhi)
These are the Dagar brothers too (call them junior) who
sang together. Correction, Faiyazuddin was born in 1934.
7) Rahimuddin Dagars son is R. Fahimuddin Dagar, lives
in Calcutta.
8) Hussainuddin's (Tansen Pandey) son is H. Sayeeduddin
Dagar, lives in Pune.
I have no information about Imamuddin Dagar!
Cousin of these Dagars, Ziauddin Dagar (?-1946) in Udaipur
court was dhrupad singer, but also played rudra veena sometimes.
He never gave a concert though with rudra veena. His son
Zia Moiuddin Dagar (1929-1990) was impressed by rudra veena
and I think we know him as the greatest rudra veena player
of this century, along with Asad Ali Khan Sahib!
Ziauddin Dagar
had another son: Fariduddin Dagar, another fine singer!
9) Faiyazuddin, one of the younger Dagar Brothers, who died
in 1989 has a young son: F. Wasifuddin Dagar. He is about
24 years old now and he is definitely a very good singer.
I was very impressed by him after listening to two of his
recordings.
I have many gaps in my information, however, this is due
to the incomplete historical information available.
The Dagar family claims 20 straight generations of being
dhrupad singers and bin players. They consider Swami Haridas
to be their original one and the guru. I am impressed by the
fact (and greatly admire them for this) that they have kept
a very difficult musical tradition alive. The lack of
popularity of dhrupad music in the people who listen
to hindustani/indian classical music is evident by the
fact that not many dhrupad concerts (actually in California
I have heard of none in the last four years) are held.
Another evidence of the lack of popularity is the fact
that not many recordings of dhrupad music are available
(if you want khyal, thumri, whats and what nots: tons of
it you can get; you want dhrupad: good luck if you
will find more than 10 TOTAL available recordings)
Hope thid post gives people some thing to think about!
Those fortunate ones who are hiding their personal collections
of dhrupad music: please come out and share this
great music with the unfortunate folks like me who feel
helpless over not finding dhrupad in the music stores.
sunil
ez01...@alcor.ucdavis.edu
I think you meant Aminuddin Dagar, Moinuddin died over 20
years ago.
IN the same thread, I wonder why the dhrupadiyas never
teach their daughters! Is there an inherent deep sexism
in the deeply spiritual dhrupad? Just wondering!
sunil
RAG...@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu
ez01...@ALCOR.UCDAVIS.EDU writes:
>He never gave a concert though with rudra veena. His son
>Zia Moiuddin Dagar (1929-1990) was impressed by rudra veena
>and I think we know him as the greatest rudra veena player
>of this century, along with Asad Ali Khan Sahib!
Zia Moiuddin Dagar's son Bahauddin Dagar is an up and coming player of the
Rudra Veena also. If I am not mistaken he was born in 1971. He had a reasonably
succesful tour of this country (US) a couple of years ago and performs off and
on in Bombay.
Ravi
Vasudev Murthy
You are quite right, of course! Sorry for the
embarassing error! Its Aminuddin Dagar who is alive!
Re: daughters, Aminuddin Dagar has two girls who live
with him and learn.
Regards
Vasudev
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Vasudev Murthy Any opinions expressed are strictly |
|mur...@asl.dl.nec.com my own and have nothing to do with |
| Advanced Switching Lab, NEC America, Inc.|
Ramesh Gangolli
>IN the same thread, I wonder why the dhrupadiyas never
>teach their daughters! Is there an inherent deep sexism
>in the deeply spiritual dhrupad? Just wondering!
Perhaps it is not just the Dhrupadiyas that chose not to let their
daughters become initiated into music. The social stigma attached to women
of "good family" performing music and (heaven forfend) dance cut across all
boundaries (income, religion, gharanas etc.). Of course, many women in the
performing khandans learned and excelled in the knowledge of music, just by
listening to enough of it. In some spectacular cases, they also acted as
transmitters and teachers.
The stigma lives on in some parts of India, although very much attenuated.
In most other parts it is essentially gone.
--
Ramesh Gangolli (gang...@math.washington.edu)
Dept. of Mathematics GN-50
University of Washington
Seattle WA 98195.