Which musician played tabla during Ravi Shankar's Woodstock performance?

Which musician played tabla during Ravi Shankar's Woodstock performance? Alla Rakha played tabla during Ravi Shankar’s Woodstock performance.

Rakha was one of the most celebrated tabla players of the 20th century and a major collaborator of Shankar. At Woodstock, Shankar performed on sitar while Rakha supplied the rhythmic foundation, following the traditional relationship between a Hindustani sitar soloist and tabla accompanist.

The performance took place during a downpour on the festival’s first day, August 15, 1969. The weather made the stage conditions difficult, but the musicians continued their set. A recording later issued as At the Woodstock Festival includes a substantial “Tabla Solo in Jhaptal,” adapted by Rakha.

A common mix-up is to select Ali Akbar Khan, another major Indian classical musician who often worked with Shankar. Khan was a sarod player, not the tabla accompanist at Woodstock. Zakir Hussain, another famous tabla virtuoso, was Rakha’s son and a later-generation musician, but he was not the player on this performance.