Anuradha conquers male bastion

She has performed in India and abroad in many major festivals. She has many awards to her credit. She got her training from tabla legends Ustad Allah Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain. Anuradha started learningclassical vocal and tabla together at the age of seven. She had the support ofher parents all throughout. Her mother Ila Pal is a writer and painter and shewas the reason for her exposure to classical music. Her father Devinder Pal is aconsultant at a pharmaceutical company. Her grandfather MP Vyas was a greateducationist. She started learning tabla from Madan Mishra at the young age ofseven years, and was just 11 years old when she started doing concerts. In 1987,she came in contact with Ustad Allah Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain. She wastrained in the traditional guru-shishya parampara.Anuradha is thefounder and music director of two fusion bands. Stree Shakti is Asia’sacclaimed all-female percussion-based, instrumental and vocal fusion ensemble.Recharge is a unique world music fusion group combining elements of Indian,African, Latin and jazz music. Anuradha has performed at the WOMAD (World ofMusic Arts and Dance) and Woodstock music festivals. Recently, shewas in Delhi and performed with Pt Rajendra Gangani at the Duet Kathak Utsavorganised by Rag Virag at the Shri Ram Centre recently. The passion of theartiste is apparent from her ringtone — tabla beats. Excerpts from a chatafter her performance.Besides the riyaaz,I have to experiment and innovate. It is a constant process of doing somethingnew all the time. You really have to put in a lot of time and effort to bringout the beauty in a performance. I have performed in a wide spectrum of musicwith my band Recharge. I have performed not only with Indian classical musiciansbut also jazz, Latin and Spanish musicians. Today, on the worldmusic stage, tabla is known everywhere, be it Japan or Africa. My guru Zakirjihas been a pioneer in this field and he is my inspiration to take my workplaces. I was just seven years old when I started learning tabla and at the ageof seven and a half years I gave my first performance on stage. Guruji said,“Ghar mein bajane aur stage par bajane mein bahut antar hai.” I am the first female Indian musician to have performed atWoodstock and WOMAD. I am a trendsetter. The struggle was immense because rightfrom the beginning, I did not have anybody in the family to promote me.I had to work very hard to make a mark. Stree Shakti is a band offemale percussionists. We want to change this chauvinistic attitude towardsfemale musicians. Certainly. Though my husband is an ITprofessional, he is an artiste at heart. He understands the compulsions of anartiste, otherwise I would not have been able to do the kind of work I am doingnow. It takes a lot of riyaaz and then there are other appointments to make theinnovations required to perform in such a broad spectrum ofmusic.Follow us on Twitter for more stories