PERFECT NOTES: Ustad Zakir HussainThe art of tabla-playing is now enjoying one of its best periods. This is the view of much-admired tabla wizard Ustad Zakir Hussain.
The maestro made this statement while announcing plans for this years Homage To Abbaji, a concert to be held on February 3 at the Shanmukhananda Hall, Kings Circle, to pay tribute to his father Ustad Allarakha on his death anniversary.
There has been a stunningly astounding understanding of this art form among its practitioners, Zakir said. Even a young player like, say, Aditya Kalyanpur has the ability to approach the instrument with much more expertise than someone of his age would do 30 years ago. In the past, people used to master the art at the age of 60. But today, people like Anindo Chatterjee and Shafaat Ahmed Khan have attained that mastery at a much younger age, he added.
Zakir attributed this trend to the contribution of the seniormost practitioners of the art. Maestros like Ustad Allarakha, Pandit Kishen Maharaj and Pandit Samta Prasad have poured in their expertise to make knowledge accessible to the younger generation. So todays players have accumulated the knowledge given to them by the maestros, he added.
About this years Homage To Abbaji programme, Zakir explained that for the first time at a barsi concert, he and his brothers Fazal Qureshi and Taufiq Qureshi would play together.
Taufiq has his own medium of expression, and he is fabulous at what he does. He is also an amazing tabla player, but after seeing so many other tabla players in the family, he decided to choose other percussion instruments. It was a great decision, Zakir said.
The morning performance by the three brothers will be followed by a vocal recital by Veena Sahasrabuddhe, who will be accompanied on tabla by Zakir.
The second session Taal Tapasya will feature tabla players Kumar Bose and Nayan Ghosh, drummer Ranjit Barot and thavil player A K Palanivel, besides two of Abbajis students.
The evening programme will begin with a violin duet by Kumaresh and Ganesh. The big highlight will be a performance by the group Tabla Beat Science, an electro-acoustic fusion group comprising Zakir, Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi, Ejigayehu Shibabaw on vocals, Bill Laswell on bass, Karsh Kale on drums, tabla and other percussion, DJ Disk on turntables, MIDIval Punditz on electronics and Fabian Al-Sultany on synthesisers.
Zakir pointed out that Tabla Beat Science was started five years ago as an effort to humanise the electronica scene. He elaborated: Bill Laswell and I once discussed that genres like Asian underground, rave, techno and some forms of world music were taking drum n bass, and building an exotic sound around it. Many of them used samples of the sarangi and sarod, but one of the most popular instruments was the tabla,.
Keeping that in mind, Tabla Beat Science was formed, and the album Tala Matrix recorded using a blend of acoustic instrumentation and electronic wizardry. They later came out with a live recording, which attained immense popularity.
On his film projects, Zakir said he was working on an Indo-French preparation named One Dollar Curry, a film called Transposed Heads based on Thomas Manns book, Sona Jains For Real and Ismail Merchants next project.
When I choose films, I make sure my concert schedule isnt affected. I choose as many films that would keep me happy, he said, before announcing how tours with the groups Masters Of Percussion and Remember Shakti would keep him busy till next year.
