Cultural Activities (Traditional General Knowledge) (Part-V)

Ustad Alladiya Khan belongs to the Jaipur Gharana of Hindustani Music. He founded the Jaipur Atrauli Gharana.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was an Indian vocalist from Karnataka in the Hindustani classical tradition. He is known for the khayal form of singing and his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs). He received the Bharat Ratna in 2009.

Palghat Mani Iyer is associated with the Mridangam. Palghat Mani Iyer was born in Palghat, Kerala, in 1912.

Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000), popularly known as Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla player who specialised in Hindustani classical music. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and was largely responsible for introducing Tabla to the western audience.

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is popularly known as the "Sarod Samrat". Amjad Ali Khan is one of the most distinguished maestro in the world of Indian classical music. Amjad Ali Khan, born on October 9th, 1945 at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, is the sixth-generation sarod player in his illustrious family.
• Pandit Ravi Shankar was an Indian musician and composer, best known for popularizing the Indian classical instrument Sitar all over the world.
• Amir Ali Khan was a renowned Hindustani classical music singer. Founder of the Indore Gharana, he was felicitated with the Presidential Award and the Padma Bhushan.
• Pandit Kishan Maharaj was an Indian tabla player who belonged to the Benares gharana of Hindustani classical music.

Amjad Ali Khan is a famous Sarod player. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1991 and Padma Vibhushan in 2001.

Rajna Swaminathan, based in Maryland, U.S., also took Carnatic vocal and Bharatanatyam classes but chose to specialise in the mridangam. One of the most ancient drums of India, the mridangam, which literally means 'body of clay, originated in South India.

Palghat Mani Iyer associated with the Mridangam. The mridangam is a percussion instrument of ancient origin. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble.
• A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick.
• The violin, sometimes known as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body.
• The sarangi is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music etc.

Indrani Rahman was associated with the Odissi dance of India. Although she was trained in Bharatanatyam and Kathakali as well, she is particularly known for her contribution to the development and popularization of Odissi dance in the western world. Indrani Rahman was a prominent dancer, choreographer, and teacher, and her work helped to bring Odissi to a wider audience and establish it as a recognized classical dance form of India.

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Laxman was an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist. He was born in Mysore on October 24, 1921. He is best known for his creation “The Common Man” and for his daily cartoon strip, “You Said It” in The Times of India, which started in 1951.