During Friday’s proceedings, the bench told Dagar’s counsel, “First performance does not necessarily mean authorship. The issue is whether you were the creator or got it from the Dagar tradition and sang it for the first time”. The apex court underlined the need to recognise the Dagarwani tradition’s contribution to Indian classical music. If these gharanas had not contributed to the shastriya sangeet (classical music), do you think these modern singers would have managed,” the bench told Rahman’s counsel, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi. They are traditional worshippers of classical music.

Source: The Telegraph February 14, 2026 08:50 UTC