Rijram Desad

Rijram Desad, often credited as Rij Ram Desad, was an Indian classical musician, multi-instrumentalist and teacher, based in Bombay. Beginning in the early 1940s, he performed on many Indian film soundtracks and in ballet presentations. He was known for his versatility as a musician and his ability to master a wide range of percussion and string instruments.[1] According to cultural historian Naseem Khan, his skill on the jal tarang had become "legendary" by the mid 1970s.[1]

Desad worked with the Hindi cinema playback singer Lata Mangeshkar[1] and played santoor on recordings by the Hindustani ghazal, dadra and thumri vocalist Begum Akhtar.[2] Among his contributions to orchestral projects, he played hand drums[3] in an ensemble led by Ravi Shankar and filmed in Bombay in 1968 for the Shankar documentary Raga (1971).[4][5] In January 1968, he was among the musicians selected by Shambhu Das, who ran Shankar's Kinnara School of Music in Bombay,[6] to appear on the Wonderwall Music soundtrack album by George Harrison of the Beatles.[7] Desad's contributions to the album included Indian harmonium and tabla tarang.[8] As a result of this project, Desad played harmonium on the Beatles song "The Inner Light", which Harrison recorded during the same sessions.[9] In his notes detailing the contributions of the musicians he worked with in Bombay, Harrison listed him as "Rij-Ram (Everything) Desad".[10]

In 1974, Desad was one of the musicians and singers handpicked by Shankar for his Music Festival from India revue.[11] Sponsored by Harrison, the eighteen-piece orchestra toured Europe,[12] playing a musical program that mixed Indian classical and a wide variety of regional folk styles.[13] Among the percussion instruments played by Desad, he performed on pakavaj beside fellow drummers Alla Rakha (tabla), T.V. Gopalkrishnan (mridangam) and Kamalesh Maitra (tabla tarang).[14] Harrison also produced a studio album by the Music Festival from India;[15] released in 1976, it included contributions from Desad on pakavaj, madal tarang, dholki, nagada, huduk and duff.[16] Following the Music Festival's European tour, he played on Harrison and Shankar's joint North American tour in November and December 1974.[17][18] For the finale to the Indian portion of these concerts, Desad and the rest of Shankar's ensemble performed with Harrison's band,[19][20] which also included jazz percussionist Emil Richards and rock drummers Jim Keltner and Andy Newmark.[14]

Desad's versatility led to him redesigning old folk musical instruments for use in a more modern and varied musical context.[1] Later a teacher, Desad was a mentor to tablist Lalit Mahant,[21] whom he trained in tabla and the tantra vadhya vocal style.[22]