BENGALURU: Tauseef Akthar was born in a family inclined towards music and Urdu literature. His father Akhtar Azadi was a prominent Urdu poet, an authority on contemporary ghazals.
Tauseef was exposed to Indian classical music at a very early age. His taleem (training) started with Pt. Govind Prasad Jaipurwale at the tender age of 12.
After his teacher’s demise, Tauseef came under the able guidance of Jagjit Singh in 1988.
Jagjit Singh and Akthar mentored the young lad into understanding the intricacies of Urdu poetry and Ghazal gayaki. Tauseef would attend innumerable recordings of Jagjit Singh during his taleem and thus learnt the nuances of composing, arranging and recording ghazals.
To further his learning in Indian classical music, Tauseef became a formal disciple of Ustad Dilshad Khansahab of Kirana Gharana. He would learn from Khansahab and witness Parveen Sultana perform live concerts.
Gulshan Kumar of T-Series gave Tauseef a break as a composer in 1991 for the album Aashiyaan featuring Pankaj Udhas and Anuradha Paudwal.
Tauseef composed five ghazals for Anuradha under his previous name Parvez Akhtar. Later, Jagjit Singh named him Tauseef Akhtar.
In 2000, Tauseef became the chief assistant to Nadeem Shravan.
He began his film career as an assistant music director in Yeh Dil Aashiqana followed by Dhadkan, Raaz, Kusoor, Haan maine bhi Pyaar Kiya, Dil hai Tumhara, Dil Ka Rishta, Qayamat, Hungama and Bewafa, among others.
He happened to sing a few songs even as an assistant music director. One of his hits was the title song for Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai. He was nominated in Stardust Awards for the Best Singer Category in the year 2002 for Dil Hai Tumhara.
In 2011, he returned to ghazals under the direction of Jagjit Singh. There have been major concerts since — Ghazal Bahaar, Khazana, Dil Dhoondta Hai, Ghazal Together, Yaadein and Ghazal Together. His UK tours were sold out and broke records.
In 2015, he released Ishq Karo, the debut solo album. Ghazalaw, an album by Tauseef Akhtar and singer-songwriter Gwyneth Glyn from Cricieth (North Wales), mixes ghazals with Welsh music. It won popular and critical acclaim.
Tauseef Akthar is on a nation-wide tour and will be Performimg at Chowdaih Memorial Hall on March 18.