TABLA MASTER WILL TAKE AUDIENCE ON SONIC JOURNEY
Zakir Hussain is having a particularly good year. In February, the musician widely considered as one of the greatest tabla players of all time collected a trio of Grammy Awards.
His win puts him into a very select, small group of Indian musicians who have several Grammys that includes conductor Zubin Mehta and sitarist Ravi Shankar.
“I’m still analyzing and digesting the information, because it is unbelievable to have two records selected in two different categories both win,” said Hussain. “But when you play with such amazing musicians as John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan, Ganesh Rajagopalan, Slevaganesh Vinayakram, Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer, you can’t do anything wrong. These are seasoned musicians who know exactly how to write, record and mix, and mentor you all along the way.”
That Hussain places himself in a learning role mentioning his peers is probably something all of them would dispute. But that easy flowing openness is key to how the drummer has pursued projects pushing his original training in Hindustani classical music into new and unique places. Since he began playing professionally in the early 1960s after a lifetime studying under his master tabla-playing father Ustad Alla Rakha, the musician has explored everything from traditional ragas to percussion jams with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Heart.
“Every time my father sat me down for a lesson, he would tell me to remember not to try to be a master, always be a good student,” said Hussain. “That became my mantra forever, and this recognition from my colleagues just means now I’ve rounded a corner and have a bigger hill to climb. Every project is a new learning experience.”
The two Grammy-scoring records reflect his continuing drive to collaborate and explore new sounds and styles.
As We Speak, featuring banjo ace Fleck, bassist Meyer, bansuri bamboo flute player Rakesh Chaurasia, and Hussain took home two awards: best contemporary instrumental album and best global music performance for the track Pashto. It’s a blending of Indian and Western folk and classical traditions with surprising turns down into bluegrass and more.
This Moment, by Indian-jazz fusion band Shakti, featuring jazz guitar god McLaughlin, vocalist Mahadevan, violinist Rajagopalan, percussionist Vinayakram, and Hussain, marked the legendary group’s first new music in 46 years. Since forming in 1973 after McLaughlin dissolved the first version of his successful Mahavishnu Orchestra, Shakti and the spinoff Remember Shakti established a template for future cross-cultural jazz adventures.
Hussain has kept active in several celebrated projects with such well-known jazz musicians as bassist Dave Holland and saxophonists Chris Potter and Charles Lloyd, as well as running the important label Moment Records.
Founded by Hussain in 1991, the imprint has “a mission to record and present great moments from performances of the classical music of India and contemporary world music.” To date, Moment has released dozens of award-winning recordings of renowned Indian classical artists such as sarod player Ustad Ali Khan, vocalist Rashid Khan and many others.
“I’m lucky that all of my musical relationships have endured for more than 20, 30, even 40 years,” he said. “That has enabled them to mature and make music that is a revelation. The layers and depth of understanding has made the music very meaningful.”
For his coming Vancouver appearance, Hussain is touring with a new trio called Tisra, which means three or third in Hindi.
Featuring Hussain alongside young classical players Sabir Khan on the stringed sarangi and bansuri bamboo flutist Debopriya Chatterjee, the group explores the folk and classical traditions of music from the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab. It’s the first tour for this new group, which has a long, connected history.
“Sabir is the son of Sultan Khan, who I toured with for almost three decades before he died,” said Hussain.
“He was there, sitting to his father’s side during those years taking it all in. Debopriya is one of the premiere students of the great flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia, who was to his side when he and I played together so often. Tisra comes together (from) continuing discussions started earlier on, to being again and expand upon where they take us.”
In every grouping, the goal is to undergo a sonic journey with listeners along for the ride. The improvisational foundations of the Indian classical branches that all three artists come from mean each performance is unique. Sitting back and taking it easy is never a possibility.
“Just because I’ve achieved some layer or level of recognition doesn’t mean I can just sit on the beach and chill,” said Hussain.
“I can’t do that because ... there goes Dave or John or someone else I play with and I have to keep up. Anything less and I might miss out on a new way to speak with my tabla, which is what rejuvenates me time and again.”