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Tabla bytes

Over sips of chai and sound checks, Ustad Zakir Hussain talks on the tabla and his music

Photo: murali kumar k.

Ustad Zakir Hussain can be charming even if temperamental, and then witty, flirtatious, smiles all the time, is exceptionally sweet to kids and hugely friendly.

For all that, he doesn't hanker after attention, certainly not from the media. He could get loads of it if he wanted to. It is possible that artistes are temperamental, but it is also possible artistes are plain tired of giving the same answers to the same inane questions — Zakir is much like this. So even when he has time, he would be loath to part with it to the media.

Surprisingly then, at his concert with Ustad Sultan Khan in aid of Concern India Foundation here on Saturday, he seemed forthcoming only during the sound check. ("The questions and answers will go on as the sound check goes on.")

The ustad cracked jokes, sipped his Taj Mahal chai, stroked a few little cheeks and, even as he solicitously offered samosas to Sultan Khan, made a few observations on music, tabla influences, Birju Maharaj, Trilok Gurtu and Ravi Shankar.

How much time do you devote today between classical and world music?

I don't classify music. Music is music. It doesn't matter who I play with. There are only different layers, shades. I don't differentiate between styles. I just look at the appropriate cycle in any zone and I play. Which pitch I need on the tabla — that is pretty much it. There is no prepared notebook, no rules. You go with the flow. My upbringing is tabla. I can't but be a tabla player. What I think is what I can do with the tabla wherever I am playing.

You're not anxious that you are playing one less or more...

Like I told you, I don't differentiate. Everything is music. Where is the anxiety?

How often do you play with Trilok Gurtu these days? One of those wonderful percussionists like yourself.

I, a percussionist? No, I am a tabla player.

Oh. Okay. Is that how you classify yourself?

Actually no, I was pulling your leg. Yes, I am a percussionist, but you should know Trilok is a drummer, not just a percussionist. These are two different things. (Zakir makes all the percussion and drumming sounds to indicate difference.) In fact I played with Trilok in Mumbai early this month. I've always been playing with him and I play regularly. Trilok's a fabulous thinker on the drums, a technically superb performer. It's in his genes. He has an ability that is much greater than he is given credit for. His interpretation of rhythms is just amazing. He's an amazing drummer. I don't know anyone like him on the drums.

You enjoy performing with Birju Maharaj so much...

It's fun and challenging to perform with Birju Maharaj. He is the ultimate in Kathak, a great master of the art, the last word. He's also a fabulous drummer. When you sit with him, he knows what you can do. He creates space to display your ability, allows the tabla player to perform, to flower, to have fun. He challenges you in your own language. He is the ultimate in playing with taans.

What happens when you play with the greats — Ravi Shankar, Sultan Khan? What do they make of you?

(Playing on the tabla) I have grown up watching all these people and they've been watching me grow up. They are aware of what I am capable of, more than myself. Whenever I play with them, seven out of 10 times, they can see if I've overlooked or missed something. A new twist, a new loop always appears. It is always a great learning experience on stage. The graph, though, has to go up.

It is said that your speed comes from Ahmed Jan Thirakwa though you did take a lot from your father too.

I have a cocktail of masters in me. You can't help being influenced by the masters. You will be. I like all of them. While the influences are with me, I've tried to develop my own way of expressing these influences. If I were just like my father or any one person, I would be a carbon copy that you will file away.

How much more of the tabla does one need to see?

Well, the tabla is a whole world in itself, a whole galaxy to be explored and discovered. We will always find things that we have not visualised, heard or thought of. This whole electronic touch to the tabla I thought wasn't possible. Likewise there will be many things left undiscovered. But the tabla's yum and 300 years old!

You enjoyed a terrific connect with your dad. How do you look back at him?

I was a child, son, student, colleague; I got to be a friend. It was great to be able to come together at all these levels. He could do no wrong as far as I was concerned. Yes, he travelled a lot but I felt very connected with him even then — all because of this instrument here...

Your observations on art and social causes.

It is important for organisations like Concern India to be there because they do real work. People have valid needs and we need to address them. I may think music is the most important thing in the world or that everybody should know about the tabla, but there are other things important for people. All I can do is put a smile on people, to take them away from negative energies, to make them forget for a while.

If I can do it in a minuscule way with the tabla, I will do it. It is important to give to people. Not just take. I don't want it like this, `Here's the money, play'.

Is everything fine with Ravi Shankar?

What do you mean? When was everything not fine? Everything's fine.

PRASHANTH G.N.

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