Pleasant engagement with the maestro

There's a lot to learn from Ustad Zakir Hussain and artists like Pt. Jasraj who shared one stage and congratulated each other with clean mind for the masterpieces that invited audience applause

During my Engineering college days in Banaras, my first encounter with Indian classical music was mesmerizing. It was Banaras Hindu University and a pure hub of musical stalwarts exchanging their knowledge with each other and the students. The music college affiliated to BHU had frequent artist visitors daily. It was the platform that introduced me to different avenues of music, like violin by Padmabhushan Dr. N. Rajam, veena by Dr LalMani Mishra appointed by great P. Omkarnath Thakur, sitar, sarangi, jaltarang, santur, outstanding tabla players like Ishwarlal / Chotelal / Ramji Mishras - all disciples of legendary tabla player Anokhelal.

Returning to Mumbai after completing Engineering it was a disappointment as music programs were found to be difficult to book the tickets for, too expensive & not as frequent as we came across in Banaras. The surprise element was Zakir Hussain’s solo recital in the mood indigo event of IIT Bombay.

He was a new artist and I was sceptical if there would be any audience. To my surprise the theatre was overcrowded. Zakirji performed in such a way that the entire youthful audience with purely technical & engineering silhouette, with strong orientation of migrating to the US, was repeatedly giving tumultuous applause. Zakirji made some innovation to demonstrate a composition on Tabla, by striking a similarity of that rhythmical piece to that of the beauty of a jumpy running of a dear, galloping horse & so on, making him a unique illustrator.

While the youth was appearing to be drifting away from classical music, the mood indigo program clearly showed Zakirji’s ability to pull back the youth to our cultural ethos. I anxiously used to wait for Zakirji’s concert either solo or an accompaniment to another artist both spellbinding. Once he was accompanying Pt Jasraj Ji. Generally, the main artist, particularly a vocal artist doesn’t give much scope to an accompanying tabla player or a harmonium player. The chemistry of Pt. Jasraj & Zakirji seemed to be totally different. Jasrajji was slowly rendering upper notes & encouraging Zakirji to reproduce it on Tabla.

To my astonishment, for the first time I heard two or three matching notes at the end of the mukhda produced on tabla. He actually produced a tune on Tabla and took the audience to another level of bliss. At the upper notes in “atitaarsaptak”, Zakirji shook his head expressing inability, drawing roaring applause from the audience. Considering Zakirji’s potential, Jasrajji had no option but to give a free hand to Zakirji amid performances. It was a legendary concert, devoid of ego, domination and complete dedication and evolution of art.

Another memory which I wish to mention here is when Zakirji and his father and guru Ustad Alla Rakha khan once performed at Shivaji Park in Dadar. The host was Rani Varma, daughter of great vocalist Manik Varma. She had rightly said that listening to the performance of tabla by the Guru-Shishya duo is like acquiring A to Z knowledge of tabla. What an apt compliment it was indeed!

Needless to say, the sad demise of such a flawless yet humble artist is a great loss to the field of music. My friend residing in the US was shocked to hear the sad news as his memory of hearing him play at a concert of Santoor player Shivkumar Sharma’s son just two weeks ago. Little did we know, it would be his last performance!

(Writer is B-Tech (Electrical) and a fan of late Ustad Zakir Hussain. Views Personal.)