In the company of the Ustad

Six musicians join Zakir Hussain in the Masters of Percussion concert to be held in the city on December 3.

November 27, 2014 07:24 pm | Updated November 28, 2014 08:32 am IST

Ustad Zakir Hussain

Ustad Zakir Hussain

I hope you are speaking to the other artistes too,” says Zakir Hussain. “This show is about us; not just me. I want them to say what they think about it,” adds the maverick tabla maestro, talking before his Masters of Percussion concert in the city. And, not surprisingly, the interview turns out to be less about him and more about rhythm-melody alliances being forged around the world and the shrinking soundscape.

Zakir is like a giant banyan tree with its sturdy roots deep in classical music and sprouting new experimental shoots; its expanse has inspired many a budding artiste and numerous genre-crossing global syndicates have birthed under its shade. In the blur of his fingers, you clearly spot the coming of age of traditional Indian music. His artistry is not limited to personal virtuosity; it nudges you hard to probe, perceive and interpret music in new ways.

Over the past five decades, Zakir’s repertoire-loosening innovations have put instruments that hitherto had only accompanying status on the centre stage. Does it feel like mission accomplished for the fearless technician?

“For at least 300 years or so, there has existed a percussion solo system. We have only added to it. The difference now is that it is being recognised and given an opportunity to be heard. The credit for bringing attention to this should actually go to the musical geniuses of the past who laid the foundation,” he says.

Taking up from where his tabla artiste-father Alla Rakha and sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar left, Zakir has traversed the length and breadth of the East-West musical bridge they erected. He concretised their ideas with his conceptual capabilities. “Why focus on a few individuals,” he points out a little agitatedly. “We talked of Ravi Shankar then and ignored Vilayat Khan and Ali Akbar Khan. Today, I am projected as the face of world music with an Indian essence but my efforts would not amount to much unless there were other like-minded artistes to pick up the slack. It is because of people like L. Shenkar, L. Subramaniam, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Vikku Vinayakram, the late and eternally great U. Srinivas and many others that the boundaries have vanished.”

The tireless beat-street voyager has set up ensembles with liberal possibilities and designed his own language through a labyrinth of rhythm structures. “Today’s concerts are about multiple musical experiences,” explains Zakir. “People don’t want to be in a lecture demonstration, they look for a seamless and fluid musical treat of the first order.”

His radical method is backed by rigorous training in the classical and a dramatic, yet straightforward, style. So how should those who indulge in collaborative exercises approach music?

 Says Zakir, “What we do is not exercise. It is a leap of faith. We bring to the table many years of study and long and hard practice. In other words, it gives you a respectful identity that sparks a healthy reverence for the art we represent among the artistes we collaborate with. It is called paying dues, working your way up the ladder until you are recognised as a legitimate representer of the tradition.”

The percussionist is ever ready to head in any direction, explore different dimensions of the art and establish creative bonds in his musical quest. He has performed and recorded with John McLaughlin, Bela Fleck, George Brooks, Mickey Hart, Edgar Meyer and a host of Indian musicians. “East or West makes no difference to me. Jahan rhythm ho, wahin rasta hai (where there is rhythm there is a path),” says Zakir.

Wah, Ustad!

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