ZAKIR HUSSAIN AND THE ART OF FUSION
The tabla maestro talks to City Times about bringing his Nirvana 2017 Crosscurrents World Tour to Dubai, with Bollywood composer and singer Shankar Mahadevan and jazz legend Louis Banks
Ustad Zakir Hussain is about to create some enchanting musical fusion with singer, composer and music director Shankar Mahadevan and the ‘Godfather’ of Indian jazz, Louis Banks, as he brings his Nirvana 17 – Crosscurrents International Tour to Dubai this Friday, January 27.
The legendary Grammy award winning tabla maestro needs no introduction. A child prodigy of Indian classical music, he has carved out a niche for himself in the genre of world & fusion music and is showing no signs of slowing down.
When City Times asked him who his dream collaboration was with during the course of his long and illustrious career, he said, “Every collaboration is extremely dear to me. All artists that I have worked with have become my good family friends. With each collaboration I get to learn something new from the other musicians. If I consider any one as my dream project, then I should retire. There’s nothing like a dream collaboration, you have to keep on dreaming.”
He also spoke of the growth in the appeal of fusion music, saying, “Since the 1970s, South Indian musicians have seen the connections between jazz improvisation and India’s classical music traditions.
From the awareness the genre known as “fusion” was born, and this, in turn, starts an interface between East and West that continues to excite a younger generation of music and listeners.”
The maestro, who was presented with the SF Jazz Lifetime Achievement award recently, one of the many accolades of his career, spoke about how music is a universal language and can help bring people together.
“Music in itself is the greatest positive message that brings people together. Music’s energy is very positive - it’s a pristine and pure experience. If you could just for a moment close all the windows and doors and connections to the negative energy in this world and just concentrate on the music for a little bit — for those fleeting moments all the cares and worries of the world just sort of dissolve and leave you.
“You come out of a concert hall or even listening to a record in your living room rejuvenated and able to face the world again. In that sense, music is one of the greatest sources of positive energy and so I guess that message speaks for itself.”
You come out of a concert hall or even listening to a record in your living room rejuvenated and able to face the world again.” Zakir Hussain