Mention his name, and the first image that flashes through your mind is that of nimble fingers dancing on the edge of a tabla. Having arrived in India in December, Padma Bhushan-awardee Ustad Zakir Hussain is busy with a line-up of schedules stretching into the New Year, including the much-awaited Shakti reunion tour.

Ask him about the experience of being on tour, and Hussain says, “The entire atmosphere of performing compositions in front of a live audience and knowing their response immediately is a different kind of high.” For a performer who has accompanied greats such as the late George Harrison, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar, that feels like a modest statement. He adds, “The general energy and response of the audience gives me encouragement to raise the bar with each passing concert.”