Hom Nath Upadhyaya

Pandit Hom Nath Upadhyaya (4 July 1943 – 7 September 2016) was a Nepali tabla player who specialized in Hindustani classical music. Upadhyaya served as royal court musician in Nepal.

He was born on 4 July 1943 (20 Ashar 2000 BS) in Gyaneshwor, Kathmandu to father Tulsi Prasad Upadhyaya and mother Bhagirathi Upadhyaya.^[1] He received training in tabla from Pandit Ramji Mishra, Pandit Shambhu Mishra, and Ahmed Jan Thirakwa.^[2] In addition, Upadhyaya obtained a B.A. in English, History, and Sanskrit from Gorakhpur University and an M.A. in Music from Prayag Sangeet Samiti in Allahabad, India.^[3]

Upadhyaya served as royal court musician in Nepal.^[4] He played globally as a soloist and accompanist in both Hindustani and Western musical traditions, including for artists such as Manilal Nag,^[5] Tarun Bhattacharya,^[6] Mahesh Kale,^[4] Steve Gorn,^[7] Jim Pepper,^[8] and Paul Livingstone.^[9] He also played in the film orchestra of Bollywood music director S. D. Burman.^[10]

Upadhyaya taught extensively, both privately and at institutions such as the Royal Nepal Academy, Tribhuvan University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.^[2][11][12] He has authored two books on tabla, one each in Nepali (Rhythmic Garland) and English (From Kashi To Kantipur: Theory, Practice and History of the Banaras Gharana of Tabla).^[2][13] His students include his son Pramod Upadhyaya,^[14] Sarita Mishra,^[15][16] Dheeraj Shreshtha,^[17] Atul Gautam, Rob Wallace,^[18] Rabin Lal Shreshtha,^[19] and Achyut Ram Bhandari.^[20]

Upadhyaya was conferred the Kirateshwar Sangeetshram Award and Nararaj Dhakal Award, and was a recipient of the Narayan Sangeet Pratishtan Fellowship of the Royal Nepal Academy and collaborative project grant from the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, University of California, Santa Barbara.^[21][12][22]

Upadhyaya died on 7 September 2016 in Om Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.^[1]