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Ustad Zakir Hussain says that riyaaz means exploring new movements, ideas, combinations and patterns, writes Ranjita Puri
TABLA maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain dazzles his audience without even touching the instrument. With a poetic turn of phrase that shows a passionate connection with his art, most of the time the maestro turns his pre-concert talks with his fans into a lively interaction. A son of the illustrious tabla wizard Alla Rakha, 57-year-old Zakir Hussain has earned appreciation as an international phenomenon in the field of percussion as well as world of music at large. A child prodigy, Zakir started touring by the age of 12. He started his international career in 1970 when he came to the United States. His busy schedule now includes no fewer than 150 concerts a year. A classical tabla virtuoso, his playing is marked by uncanny intuition and masterful improvisational dexterity, founded in formidable knowledge and study. Widely considered a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement, Zakir’s contribution has been unique. His repertoire includes various musical collaborations, including Shakti, which he founded with John McLaughlin and L. Shankar, the Diga Rhythm Band, Making Music, Planet Drum with Mickey Hart, Tabla Beat Science, Sangam with Charles Lloyd and Eric Harland and recordings and performances with artists as diverse as George Harrison, Joe Henderson, Van Morrison, Airto Moreira, Giovanni Hidalgo, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Cobham, Rennie Harris, and the Kodo drummers. Though he does his riyaaz (practice) regularly but he says there’s more to practice than physically working out rhythms on the tabla. "After a point, it’s about getting the brain and the hands to work at equal speed. If you have great ideas for rhythm patterns, but cannot get your hands to translate them, it’s not going to work. So practice is about keeping hands and brain flexible and creative. Of listening to sounds, exploring new movements and ideas and different combinations and patterns." He remembers an occasion when he had to use a borrowed tabla. "In Tbilisi, Georgia, my tabla did not reach on time and since there are no tabla in Georgia, I had to perform with local variations of percussion instruments. One of my favourite annual outings is a festival in Vermont where the organisers get percussionists to play on makeshift instruments selected from the garbage dump. You select an oil drum or a wheel rim or a set of cans and then work out a concert piece in 24 hours. It’s a great creative challenge and also a reminder of how much beauty, we casually throw away." Queried about artists’ expectations from their audience, his surprising answer was preference for an untutored audience having little or even no knowledge of music. "Audiences must approach a concert with an open mind. If you come prepared to listen only to classical music because Zakir Hussain is playing or Carnatic music from U. Srinivas, you’ll miss out on a lot of creativity. When we perform, we share so much – the music, the joy of playing together and above all the connection with the great masters of the past. Every rhythm and pattern has been explored at some point – but when we do it again, it is our expression of the melody. For us, the stage is a place of reverence and we share it with the spirits of great musicians from the past." He adds reflectively, "In a concert, there is no goal to be reached – just a journey to be enjoyed." We say amen to that. — MF
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