Zakir Hussain: I am not the best tabla player

When we walk into the seafacing apartment of Ustad Zakir Hussain at Nepean Sea Road ahead of his annual concert Abbaji a free celebration of music held in memory of his father Ustad Allarakha Qureshi the casually dressed maestro comes across as uber cool and calm like the sea When asked if we could touch his feet he asked us if he could touch ours in return He makes effortless conversation moving from his father Bollywood and Fusion to music going online charming every person in the roomExcerpts from the interviewUstad Zakir Hussain PicsPradeep DhivarQ Was it easy for Abbaji to choose music as a careerA It was easy He just chose to run away from home at the age of 11 It was an important moment in his life An 11yearold running away to find a teacher was crazyQ What made him so sure that he wanted to play tabla Tell us about his taleemA I believe that god can make mistakes too Thats what happened here There was a soul that was meant to be delivered into a baby who was born The wrong address was given so he arrived in a farmers home So a miracle was required as god goofed up As a threeyearold Abbaji would have visions where he would see a face and hear a voice that said find me He felt an immense pull towards the tabla When the nautanki walas came to the village he wouldnt pay attention to the singers and dancers but only to the tabla player He learnt from them When he left home he headed to the closest town Lahore where his uncle livedOnce he was passing by a performance where a dhrupad singer was singing and the pakhawaj player couldnt follow his notes Someone asked the crowd if anyone could play this and Abbaji raised his hand They asked bachche ko aata hai Abbaji was able to fill in the role leaving everyone shocked Someone in the crowd informed him that a tabla player called Qadir Baksh lived nearby so he should learn from him When they dropped by to meet Mian Qadir Baksh my father realised it was the same face he had seen in his vision When Ustadji asked him who he had been learning from and who had taught him to place his hands on the tabla he replied that he had learnt it from him since childhood The guru could not believe it when Abbaji positioned it perfectly This was his X factor In Lahores sub zero winters they were supposed to not wear shirts open the windows and then practice Its called haath garam karna So it was like a martial arts taleemQ You began to learn from Abbaji when you were sevenA He attended a school concert where I was performing That day he asked if I wanted to learn the tabla When I said yes he said Great Lets start tomorrow So at 3 am he woke me up and we sat across each other We didnt touch the tabla We sang rhythms to each other talked about the great masters their compositions analysed and dissected them so he could open them up for me in their layers and dimensions and I could see how they were built Most teachers ask you to write and then repeat This was different He wanted me to learn how to put it together instead of teaching me the music so I could create my expression of itQ Your mother wasnt too happy about your career choiceA Initially yes Musicians were secondclass citizens at the time People would ask what we did for a living apart from playing music Abbaji would play in homes of the rich and famous and wait in the kitchen till the musicians were summoned They were considered uneducated people believed that they didnt have worldly knowledge They would invite them to perform and not to dinner People like my father Pandit Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan changed this they were well travelled and well read and could project themselves It became fashionable to be at their concerts Music got connected with divinity when Santwani and Abhangs were introduced People from respectable families started allowing their children to study music Today we enjoy the fruits of their labour I dine with the same people in whose homes Id wait in the kitchen to play musicQ Did you get your idea of Fusion and jugalbandi from AbbajiA He was one of the first Classical musicians to do music for Bollywood He had access to world artistes who were part of the orchestra He composed with them and understood their culture Fusion music started in Bollywood mdash the Hindi film industry Shola Jo Bhadke was Jazz while Eena Meena Deeka celebrated Swing music My father was part of the force that initiated this movementQ What do you think about the next generation of tabla playersA I am not the best tabla player Its a fact written in stone You may like my music but I am just one of the many good ones Theres Sabir Khan in Kolkata mdash hes the seventh generation tabla player Previously teachers would guard the secret of their gharana and jealously pass them on only to their line Today it is available online for all to learn Satyajit Talwalkar Aditya Kalyanpur Ojas Adhiya Anuradha Pal Bickram Ghosh and others are names to reckon with Girls are taking to it too that barrier has been breached Music is a profitable profession today there is great young talent aroundQ What will be the highlight at this years Abbaji concertA Sukhvinder Singh Namdharis jodi performance When Sukhvinder Singh was five years old Sri Satguru Jagjit Singhji realised his potential and destiny He taught him Hindustani Classical music and noticed his natural gift of laya and taal and made him a disciple of the late Pakhawaj Samrat Ustad Nihal Singh Later in 1978 Sukhvinder studied tablaQ What about music for BollywoodA My father did music for over 40 films acted in one did playback for Prithviraj Kapoor I enjoy it but I am a travelling musician so its difficult to be available to a producer and director when they need me I enjoy it but I also enjoy playing the tabla laughs My dad too gave up film music and chose to only play the tabla eventuallyQ You did two films as an actor Did you enjoy itA I saw them and decided I was a better tabla player Acting taught me how to bring the visual emotive aspect to my performances on stageQ Is your family musically inclined tooA My wife is a Kathak dancer One of my daughters is a filmmaker while the other is a dance teacher She trained with Sitara Devi All of us have performed in America together It feels great to have such talented people in the familyQ People call you Waah TajA All the time The younger lot especiallyOn February 3 630 am onwardsAt Shanmukhananda Hall Sion