Hussain’s student Swarupa Ananth and fellow artiste Mahesh Vinayakram describe him as a warm, affable person with a wisecrack always up his sleeve
As the world mourns legendary tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, it is a moment of emotional turmoil for those who knew him up close and personal.
Hussain’s students and fellow artistes describe him as a warm, affable person with a wisecrack always up his sleeve and a celebrity who had zero tantrums of a star.
Father figure for students
His student and Mumbai-based tabla player and percussionist Swarupa Ananth says when her former Guru and Hussain’s father Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi passed away in 2000, Hussain stepped up to fill in his father’s shoes.
“We were very young when Ustad Alla Rakha passed away. But Zakir Bhai never let us feel his absence. He stood up like a father figure and filled the vacuum left by Ustad's demise. He took charge and made sure that the regular practice and guidance was continued. His role in our life was so vital that for us he was synonymous with the tabla,” Swarupa told The Federal.
Also read: India’s very own who yet belonged to the world: Zakir Hussain gave the tabla a new identity
Hussain, considered the greatest tabla player of all time, who took Indian music to the global stage, died at the age of 73 due to complications arising out of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in the US on Sunday (December 15). He is survived by his wife Antonia Minnecola and daughters Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi.
‘Appa in shock’: Son of Vikku Vinayakram
Mahesh Vinayakram, Chennai-based Carnatic singer and son of acclaimed percussionist and ghatam exponent TH Vinayakram, fondly called Vikku Vinayakram, said his father is still in shock over the news of Hussain’s death.
“Appa is still in shock, he is still digesting the fact,” Mahesh told The Federal.
Vinayakram Senior, a Grammy winner, is among the musical tetrad who came together to form ‘Shakti’, a fusion band of the 1970s, the other three being Hussain, guitarist John McLaughlin and Indian violinist L Shankar.
Mahesh said that for the four, it was a collaboration that lasted a lifetime.
Musical quartet and Shakti days
“Hussain didn’t know Tamil and Appa didn’t know Hindi, but they travelled extensively and had a great rapport,” he recalled.
Mahesh shared how Hussain would call himself Vinayakram’s student as the latter taught him the grammar and rhythm of Carnatic classical music, that are different from that of its Hindustani counterpart.
Also read: Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain passes away at 73
“All four of them stayed together in America for two years to jam ahead of the ‘Shakti’ concerts. There my father would make Sambhar for all of them. They have fond memories of the times gone by,” he said.
Picture of humility, man with a funny bone
Swarupa said that while Hussain leaves behind a rich legacy, as a student the most important lesson she has learnt from him is humility.
“I have never seen a Padma awardee with such humility. He had no airs of a star. If he sees you, he will walk up to you to speak and if a fan approaches him at a concert, however pressed he is for time, he will take 2 minutes to interact with them,” she said.
Mahesh remembered getting nudged from the back at the airport check in at Pune airport some years back, only to find a chuckling Hussain behind him.
“We were travelling from Pune to Goa. He asked me which seat I was in and if I would like to join him for breakfast. That was the kind of person Zakir Bhai was,” said Mahesh, who collaborated with the international artist in the album Arpan.
Hussain and Mahesh in Ljubian Slovenia during a sound check.
He was a jovial person and always full of life. Once my father gifted Hussain a gold chain and since end there was no end to his jokes about how anyone wanting a gold chain must visit Vikku ji,” he fondly recounted.
Mahesh said he was awestruck the first time he watched Hussain perform live with his father and Shankar to a crowd of 4,000 at IIT-Madras in the 1980s.
“I was left spellbound by the tani awartanam (question-answer session in a concert where musicians show their creativity) of the trio. Hussain had an aura that was not human and would make an impression on you that will stay in your psyche for days together. People like him were not like ordinary human beings. And when we come in touch with them, we get a pinch of that energy,” he said.
Broke moulds, taught the same to students
Mahesh said what made Hussain a force to reckon with in the world of music was his courage to break the shackles of tradition.
“He broke the concept of gharanas (musical school). Although he belongs to the Punjab lineage of tabla players, he didn’t stick to that gharana alone and got trained in the Delhi and Farrukhabad gharanas as well. This way he hasn’t allowed one particular school to define tabla and has melded together all the schools to create a global art form,” Mahesh said.
Hussain, who in 2010 was made the apex authority of the Punjab gharana, had asserted that despite the title he doesn’t believe that his students must follow his style of playing and rather make their own statement on the stage.
Also read: Grammys: Shankar Mahadevan's band 'Shakti' wins best global music album award
Swarupa agreed. Hussain in his lifetime kept encouraging his students to break away from moulds and set norms, she said.
“He is in the league of musicians like Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan who went out of the country and spread Indian classical music to the world. That boldness and commitment to your art, to have the confidence in it and take it to places is an inspiration for students,” she said.
Enduring legacy of an icon
Swarupa, who is among the few women tabla players in the country, said she herself has followed in her guru’s footsteps, by not only tuning her tabla to electronic beats or making a career in an art form dominated by men, but even by small things like playing the tabla standing up.
“He was an icon in the true sense. Not just music, he would teach the next generation how to conduct themselves as a musician, how to perform, what kind of mindset to keep and even what to wear,” said Mahesh, who has also performed with the maestro in Belgium as part of his father’s band Saptakshara.
“My father firmly believes that death is not the end of a musician. Zakir Bhai’s physical body has left but his music will live forever,” he added.
