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Photos: K. Ananthan

Casting a spell Violin Vidwaans Ganesh and Kumaresh, and Ustad Zakir Hussain

But, all eyes were trained on who the compere referred to as “the National Treasure” — the star of the evening, Zakir Hussain. Not often does Coimbatore play host to a musician of his stature, and Zakir Hussain, bowled every one over with his opening words, “To set the record straight, I am not the star of the evening. They are the maestros. I am merely accompanying them.”

And, so began the evening with Navaraaga varnam and went on to include many compositions, including some Thyagaraja kritis and ragas such as Bahudhaari and Dharmavati. It is always intimidating writing about an event of classical music, especially if one is not clued in to the finer aspects of it. A brief on the composition being played and what taala it was set to would have been great. Especially, to those of us who are untrained in classical music. Having said that, it is conceded that explanations and details could have interrupted the flow of the evening, and spoilt the mood. And, in any case, when the music makers are who they are, it doesn’t matter if you are trained or not, it is all just pure joy to the ears - all ears.

An enjoyable part of the concert was the jugalbandhi — between the two brothers, then with the mridangist and a superb interlude by Arun Kumar on the morsing.

And, all the while, Zakir Hussain looked as if he was enjoying the performance as much as we were in the audience. He would play brief snatches in accompaniment, but was largely content keeping taala for the brothers and throwing out his hands in appreciation of a particularly intricate bit of music they played.

I swear we heard him say Wah, wah! on more than one occasion!

Ustad Zakir Hussain.

Then it was his turn. The audience mentally hitched up their sleeves along with Zakir Hussain as he got ready for his performance. And, the magic began. There is a very popular photograph of Zakir Hussain where his head is thrown back, his hair is flying and his fingers are all a blur over the tablas. You must have seen it. It was like watching that picture come alive right in front of your eyes as he launched into an incredible solo act. It began with a mysterious rhythm, primeval, difficult to fathom in the beginning, but oh-so mesmerising. One is not sure what the composition was called, but it seemed a coming together of sounds – of galloping horses, cascades, thunder and lightning, the wind and surf and everything beautiful. Zakir Hussain’s fingers flew over his tablas, stroked, coaxed, commanded and cajoled by turns, creating some incredible sounds.

Till such time someone comes up with new ways to describe the ustad, one has to settle for clichéd phrases like “the tablas seemed an extension of himself”. In fact, a fellow admirer commented how even when Zakir was not playing, his arm lay over his tabla like it was an old trusted friend! The performance was scintillating.

A journalist has written of Zakir Hussain, that he took classical music out of “High Art” and “allowed people to engage with it just as music.” How true! The greenhorns amongst the audience got as much out of his performance as the experts. Zakir Hussain is known to interact with the audience and engage and banter with the crowd. Perhaps, the next time round we will get to do that. Two hours were just not enough.

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