Pandit Baldev Sahai

Baldev Sahai learned tabla from his father, Pandit Bhairav Sahai, and by every surviving account played in a manner opposite to his father's: quiet, unhurried and sweet-toned rather than forceful. The lineage notes compiled by Dr Frances Shepherd record that the King of Nepal, who was fond of him, gave him a house and the title Vadyaras Raj — roughly, king of sweet playing. The Sahai family's own account repeats the same image, saying that his tabla sounded like Krishna's flute, and preserves stories of passers-by in the lane stopping to listen while he practised.

His importance to the tradition is as a teacher. His disciples included his three sons — Durga Sahai, Lakshmi Sahai and Bhagvati Sahai — and, crucially, two musicians outside the family: Bikku Mishra and Pandit Kanthe Maharaj. Kanthe Maharaj studied with him for roughly twenty-three years, including four years in Nepal, and went on to teach Pandit Kishan Maharaj and, after Bhagvati Sahai's death, Baldev Sahai's own grandson Pandit Sharda Sahai. The Benares baj as it was played through the twentieth century largely descends from this point in the family line.

A soft, singing approach to the Benares baj, valued for tone and clarity rather than force — deliberately contrasted in family accounts with his father's playing.