East-west union of great music
HE’S a world-renowned musician who has recorded and performed with the likes of George Harrison and Van Morrison, blending Western and Eastern styles.
Grammy-award winning Zakir Hussain performed for South Africans on his tabla in Cape Town yesterday. The tabla is a two piece set of traditional Indian drums.
Hussain, who shared the stage with bamboo flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, has been lauded the world over.
The Telegraph in the UK described him as “the presiding genius” of North Indian classical music since the death of iconic sitar player Ravi Shankar” while The New York Times said “the blur of his fingers rivals the beat of a hummingbird’s wings”.
The Planet Drum album, co-created with Mickey Hart and released in 1991, won the Grammy award for best world music album.
The follow-up, Global Drum Project, which brought in conguero Giovanni Hildago and Nigerian “talking drum” player Sikiru Adepoju won the Grammy award for best contemporary world music album in 2009.
Most recently, Hussain was named the recipient of the lifetime achievement award for the San Fransico Jazz Festival next month.
Hussain said jazz and Indian music were “cousins”. “Both styles give importance to improvising and so they are easily compatible, this is one of the reasons why jazz greats are attracted to Indian music.
He has worked with many great musicians from John Mclaughlin and Charles Lloyd to drummers like Mickey Hart and Eric Harlan.
“The San Francisico Jazz Centre has, over the past 30 years, presented many of these collaborations and recognises me as one of the premier resident artists of that area and so has decided to give me a lifetime achievement award.”
Hussain learnt the tabla from his father, Ustad Allarakha and is descended from a long line of musicians. “I studied with my father from the age of 3. I started performing professionally at the age of 12. When I was 18, I was invited by Pandit Ravi Shankar to play with him in the US. This was because my father, who always played with him, was not well.“In America I was given the chance to teach in San Francisco at Ustad Ali Akbar Khan’s music school, there I met many great Western artists like Mickey Hart and After sharing a sizzling on-screen chemistry in popular daily soap Bade Achche Lagte Hain for three years, Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar are all set to paint the internet red as they romance each other yet again in producer Ekta Kapoor’s web series Kehte Hain ( Opposites Attract). Kapoor confirmed the news by sharing a video on Twitter and told his fans he would soon meet them on their cellphones. Tanwar also confirmed she had started shooting for her digital debut. Asked about her role in the web series, Tanwar would not give details but said the plot dealt with how two people could fall in love at any time and anywhere. Kapoor also chose to say nothing about his role but promised he and Tanwar would not disappoint fans. Both got their big break in Indian TV because of Kapoor, whom they claim to trust blindly. the Grateful Dead band, Carlos Santana, Van Morrison and John Handy.
“I was invited by these great musicians to play with them. This gave me the opportunity to learn about rock, jazz, AfroCuban, Gammelan, Western classical and other forms of music.
The various awards and interactions in Western society that dot his career appear to have firmly applied the label of world music to him.
“World music is a term invented by the record companies. Musicians all over the world play music with each other but never try to put a name to what they are playing, to them it is all just music.”
Zakir has composed soundtracks for many films, including In Custody and The Mystic Masseur by Ismail Merchant, and has played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little Buddha. “I am hoping to record my recently premièred piece called Peshkar. This is a concerto for tabla and full symphony orchestra.”
He attributes his success to his father. “What I have learned about (the) tabla, rhythm and Indian classical music has all been the blessing of my father... I consider myself very blessed to have had him in my life.”