KATHMANDU: Tabala maestro Pandit Hom Nath Upadhyaya, who suffered from liver cancer, died at the Om Hospital in Kathmandu on Wednesday. He was 73. Upadhyaya was admitted to the Chabahil-based hospital on August 31. He breathed his last at around 4:25 pm. The classical music guru was diagnosed with liver cancer about a month ago. Doctors had started chemotherapy on him on September 3. But Upadhyaya's condition deteriorated in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, and he was shifted to the ICU of the hospital. Born in Bhojpur of eastern Nepal, Upadhyaya dedicated more than 40 years of his active life to eastern classical music. He was currently residing in Handigaun of Kathmandu. After being diagnosed with liver cancer, Upadhyaya went to Mumbai for treatment. Doctors there, however, told him it would be risky to start chemotherapy owing to his fragile body. He returned to Kathmandu on August 26 after staying in Mumbai for 26 days. He is survived by wife and son Pramod Upadhyaya, who is also a tabla player. Upadhyaya was trained by Pandit Ramji Mishra of Varanasi, Pandit Shambhu Mishra of Kathmandu, Nepal, and the legendary Ahmedjaan Thirakwa.  Upadhyaya had done MA in Music from Prayag Sangeet Samiti in Allahabad. He taught and performed around the world, including France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the former Yugoslavia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the USA. In Nepal, he served in the then Royal Nepal Academy and the Tribhuvan University as an instructor. According to biography in his website, Upadhyaya was a sensitive accompanist and soloist in a wide variety of instrumental, vocal, and dance genres. Earlier in his career, he played in the film orchestra of famed Indian music director SD Burman also. He had performed and/or recorded with top artists from both Hindustani and Western musical traditions, including Pandit Manilal Nag, Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya, Mahesh Kale, Steve Gorn, Jim Pepper, and Paul Livingstone, among many others.  

He also provided accompaniment to music by Paul Livingstone in the 2005 satirical film directed by and starring comedian Albert Brooks, 'Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World'. Upadhyaya has authored two instructional books on tabla -- one in Nepali (Rhythmic Garland, 2001) and the other in English (From Kashi to Kantipur, 2007). In the last phase of his life, Upadhyaya was working on a project documenting the history of the Nepali tabla gharana.