Laxman Bhatt Tailang

Laxman Bhatt Tailang was a singer, composer and teacher of dhrupad, the oldest surviving form of Hindustani classical vocal music. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2024 in the field of art, from Rajasthan, but died before he could receive it ^[1][3].

A musical family

He was born on 24 December 1928 into a family of musicians; his grandfather and father sang the devotional music of temple havelis ^[2]. He earned his master’s diploma with a gold medal from the Madhav Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in Gwalior in 1950–51 ^[2]. He then trained in khayal and dhrupad under masters of the Gwalior and Dagar traditions, and learned the pakhawaj and rudra veena as well ^[2].

Keeping dhrupad alive

Tailang founded two institutions in Jaipur, the Rasmanjari Sangeetopasna Kendra and the International Dhrupad Dham Trust ^[2]. Between them they organised more than 100 dhrupad workshops in India and abroad and 29 dhrupad festivals ^[2]. He devoted his life to preserving dhrupad, especially in Rajasthan ^[2].

He also composed new ragas and set more than two hundred poems, his own and others’, to dhrupad, publishing them in three books ^[2]. He was a top-grade artist of All India Radio and received the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi award ^[2].

Tailang died in Jaipur on 10 February 2024, after a spell in hospital with pneumonia ^[2][3].