The article below was published in India last week. Zakir's contribution to the world of music is immeasurable and these are just reflections on this personal impact for me. I got to play with him once in the sound check of my guru Pt Ravi Shankar's concert here in Los Angeles.
I was immersed in the music of the legends, Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and Alla Rakha, among others. These sounds had been ringing through my ears since the age of 12…
I was primed but certainly not prepared for what I was to experience one special night in Delhi at a concert of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Ustad Zakir Hussain in 1985. The music just melted my mind with its elegance and rhythmic finesse. The santoor and tabla were united in an effusion of dynamic energy, ebbing and flowing through what seemed like an endless outpouring of cascading improvisations. I was enthralled…
You could experience him on so many levels, like a musical physicist splicing the micro-beats of rhythm to discover new quantum elements or like a young boy jumping and laughing in a puddle of water. Zakir continually reconciled the serious and rigorous intensity of pursuing classical music with a dedicated heart of humour and playfulness. He demonstrated the truth of Einstein’s statement that “the pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.”
Read the full article click here: The Bewildering Spirit and Charisma of Zakir Hussain
photo credit: Dayanita Singh