Dexter Raghunanan

The West Indies - Caribbean - Hindu community as well as Houston, TX lost a most beloved Tabla Maestro on January 18th, 2017. Dexter Raghunanan will be remembered as a mentor, a Guru and a Friend to everyone.

Dexter Ji was indeed an amazing soul and an exceptional human being. Dexter always had a great penchant toward percussion as a child. His passion for drums was recognized by his Ajee (paternal grandmother) who bought his first pair of tabla and subsequently encouraged him to learn tabla formally.

His musical journey began under the tutelage of Shri Tensing Ramlakhan. It was not long before Dexter became a sought after accompanist and performer in Trinidad and the rest of the region. He established his own tabla school that started off with just four students in a temple in South Trinidad but soon expanded to a school of over two hundred. Dexter taught for several years as a elementary teacher at Debe Hindu School before migrating to the USA.

Dexter’s love of tabla took him to the U.S. and Canada, where he accompanied many artistes. In 2005 Dexter moved to Houston, Texas where he began teaching tabla and performing extensively in the U.S. with Classical musicians, Ghazal singers, Dancers and Fusion artistes. Artistes with whom he performed included: Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Ramesh Misra, Ustad Ashish Khan and Sri Sudhir Narain, to name a few.

The United States Congress recognized him in 2010. In January 2014 Dexter was a feature artist at the prestigious Taj Mahautsav in Agra India on the lawns of the Taj Mahal. During his time in the U.S. Dexter also had the opportunity to learn from the leading exponent of Farukhabad Gharana, world-renowned Pt Anindo Chatterjee.

He came from a family of very humble means and achieved such greatness throughout the course of his life. His exemplary dharma is one that we can only aspire to emulate and hope to achieve in this lifetime. We will forever miss his laughter, his smile, his warm nature and most certainly the mesmerizing sounds of his magical fingers on the tabla.