This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Zia Mohiuddin Dagar is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (14 March 1929–28 September 1990), popularly known as Z. M. Dagar, was a North Indian (Hindustani) classical musician, one of the 19th generation of Dagar family dhrupad musicians. He was largely responsible for the revival of the rudra vina as a solo concert instrument.
Z. M. Dagar was born in the town of Udaipur, Rajasthan and began musical study with his father, Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar, court musician for the Maharaj of Udaipur. He was trained both in vocals and in the rudra vina, an instrument used by vocalists to practice melodies. The vina 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 vina, 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 vina): With the help of 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.
Z. M. 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 and with Wesleyan University, Rotterdam Music Conservatory, and the University of Washington, Seattle, where he was a visiting professor.
In 1990, Ustadji was awarded the Kalidas Samman, one of India's most prestigious awards, by the Madhya Pradesh government. He also received the Sangeet Natak Academi Award, the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Academi award, and the Maharana Kumbha award, to name a few.
His younger brother, Ustad Zia Fariddudin Dagar, is a vocalist and teacher, and his son, Baha'ud'din Mohiuddin Dagar, is a vina player. He taught the Gundecha Brothers, considered today to be among the leading exponents of dhrupad.
Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar died in 1990.
External links
- Z. M. Dagar at allmusic
- Z. M. Dagar: A memoir by Jody Stecher at Raga Records
- Profile of Z. M. Dagar by the Gundecha Brothers
- MySpace page for Z. M. Dagar
- Dagar.org: Dagar family homepage
Video
- Z. M. Dagar video from Robert Garfias' site
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 12 August 2008, at 07:24.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Zia Mohiuddin Dagar".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.