Mangalore: Maestro Zakir Hussain’s Magic Fingers Mesmerize Sunday Audience

by Nina Rai Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje 

Mangalore, Dec 17:  Weaving sheer magic and displaying absolute mastery over the tabla, world famous tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain completely mesmerized an appreciative audience at a 90-minute concert at the University College Grounds open air auditorium here on Sunday December 16. This was the concluding part of the 'Swara-Laya Yatra' series organized by the Sangeet Bharathi Foundation. Accompanying the Ustad was Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi and other co-artistes like Janab Shabir Khan and Master Ankush Nayak.
 
The show began with the Corporation Bank GM Mohan Rao felicitating the artistes with shawls and floral garlands. The tabla maestro then began the show with a short but touching speech by quoting Kabir that "Everytime a musician performs on stage he lives and dies there itself" According to the Ustad all the honours, awards accolades he has achieved till date does not matter, what matters ultimately is how well an artist performs on a particular day and that is the ultimate test, he declared humbly. He then graciously allowed the Sarangi player Ustad Sultan Khan to take centre stage in the beginning, with himself playing the role of an accompanying artiste but slowly setting and building the tempo for a classical mood for the rest of the evening.

In the course of the concert the Ustad slowly taking centre stage, showed that the instrument also can produce sounds of rain, thunder, train and conch. Such was his tremendous control and virtuosity over the instrument that it appeared to defy all logic, transporting one and all into a land much beyond human imagination touching one's very soul. The fine blend of tones, gave enough hints of his mastery over the tabla. The lower octave rendition by Ustad Khan and equally eloquent and slow paced rendition by Ustad Hussain was meditative, indeed.
 
Chatting to the audience, he even rendered a composition called “quaida” which is basically themes and syllables which includes sounds such as that of a galloping horse, rain fall, thunder etc. This won a spontaneous round of applause from the audience, some of whom reacted with the famous “Wah Ustad”, to which he jokingly retorted "Wah Taj Boliye." He then produced sounds of “damaru”, an instrument played by Lord Shiva; conch and those made by animals such as deer and lions. The way he made the tabla get vocal with the line “Natavara naachata chapala chaar”, and the word “Ati vichitra,” also evoked a tremendously enthusiastic response from the crowd. His 'meends' produced by gliding his left palm on the tabla, few renditions of the 'lahori gath' (a set of 500 compositions), the 'tukta's' (small compositions), his 'rellas' (imitation of the rail engine movement), 'threpalli' too were all equally well-received and appreciated by the public.
 
In the end Ustad Zakir Hussain's performance turned out to be a virtuoso one indeed. He enthralled the audience not just with his tabla performance, but even won their hearts with his kind gesture, spending nearly 45 minutes of his precious time after the concert, mingling freely with one and all.  Speaking informally and being at his wittest best, he informed daijiworld that this was his third visit to the city, which he had visited earlier even in 1965, then in the late 70's. And stated proudly that he is an Indian and that he has performed everywhere in almost all parts of the world.