Wah, Ustad!
ADITI DE
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Zakir Hussain was born to music. By the time he was 12 he was playing professionally in film orchestras and in concerts.
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Bhagya Prakash, K
Are you zapped by tabla maestro Zakir Hussain when you watch him in full flow? Did you read about his tablas being auctioned in Bangalore in January 2005 for Rs. 7,00,000 for the Concern India Foundation?
Yes, Zakir's the guy with the magic hands, the mop of curls, and the impish, irresistible grin. The man whose rhythm genius runs circles around intricate beats like dhin-dhagena dha-dhagena dhatete-dhatidha genatu-nakena...
Zakir was born to music. He probably listened to the tantalising beats of his father, the tabla Ustad Alla Rakha, even while in the womb.
"I studied the tabla from two and a half or three years old in Mumbai. Ever since I can remember, I've found myself playing the instrument, practising, and learning about it. By the time I was 12, I was playing professionally in film orchestras and in concerts," recalls Zakir in an interview with Modern Drummer, a U.S. magazine.
Long road to fame
Zakir has come a long way since his New York concert debut in 1970, accompanying sitar maestro Ravi Shankar when Alla Rakha fell ill. When he's not teaching out of San Anselmo or doing 150 global concert dates annually, he's probably playing in Hindustani baithaks in India.
Did you know that he co-composed the opening music for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, besides scores for films like Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", Bertolucci's "Little Buddha" and Merchant-Ivory's "The Mystic Masseur"? Now 50-plus, Zakir has played with percussionist Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, with whom he shared a Grammy for the brilliant Planet Drum CD. He's part of the fusion group Shakti, with dazzling jazz guitarist John McLaughlin and L. Shankar, who plays the 10-string double violin. Who else has he exchanged musical notes with? Jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson and rocker Van Morrison, among others.
Born to music
When Zakir was young, like most Hindustani musicians, he'd lock himself away for 40 days and nights for marathon ritual retreats or chillas, taking a break only to eat or sleep. At one point, Zakir even imagined the tablas were giant beasts waiting to gobble him up. Can you imagine that?
Do you know that his global percussion film, titled "Zakir and His Friends", includes scenes of Venezuelan kids playing on their faces with their palms, but sounding like congas! Isn't that freaky?
Here's how Zakir sees himself today: "Musicians are not tied down by religious boundaries, by spiritual boundaries, by any kind of boundaries. If my music says that I must live my life this way, then that's the way it is. For instance, if I'm playing accompaniment to a sitar player, I must understand his temperament in the first five minutes that I'm on the stage with him. That means having some kind of a psychological idea of what this person is all about offstage... So, I imagine anything I do in life is 99.9 percent influenced by music."
Wah, Ustad! Wah, Zakir!
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