Ustad Zakir Hussain’s next: A Triple Concerto

His short visit to Mumbai is packed with two concerts, a formal ceremony to present him the Padma Vibhushan, a relative’s birthday party and a media interaction. After a whirlwind tour of London and Europe with his famed Indo-fusion band Shakti, tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain is now concentrating on his next major project.

Hussain has been commissioned by Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) to compose a Triple Concerto that will also feature sitar exponent Niladri Kumar and flautist Rakesh Chaurasia. Two performances will be held at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, Mumbai, on September 23 and 24 to mark the conclusion of this year’s SOI Autumn Season. Alpesh Chauhan will conduct the orchestra.

Need to adapt

The Ustad with Rakesh Chaurasia and Niladri Kumar
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy: NCPA

This is the second piece that SOI, set up by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), has assigned Zakir. In 2015, he composed the ‘Peshkar’ tabla concerto, which was premiered in Mumbai but went on to gain global acclaim. Says Zakir, “Composing a piece with a western classical orchestra in mind requires a completely different mindset. It’s a different ceiling. One has to adapt to the rules of their playing, their dos and don’ts, while maintaining the Indian classical form.”

Zakir points out that Vanraj Bhatia was the first composer to explore the possibility of playing Indian music with a western classical orchestra. “But the man who really popularised it was Pt Ravi Shankar, who composed two sitar concertos. In the first, he stuck to the rules of the raag, and it was basically like the orchestra following the raag. But he loosened up by the time he wrote the second concerto.”

Being a percussionist, Zakir says he had other challenges as one normally hears a melody instrument in this format, and not a rhythm instrument. He adds, “But in ‘Peshkar’, I used the same concept I use in my solo performances where there is lehra accompaniment. I had to adjust to and synchronise with the western style too, and it was a huge learning process. In the forthcoming Triple Concerto, I am using the western technique of canon.”

Blend of tunes

Zane Dalal during the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) 14th season concert at Jamshedji Bhabha Theatre, NCPA in 2013.
| Photo Credit:
Narendra Dangiya

The Triple Concerto will have three movements. It is based on the fictional story of two babies in a village, as represented by the sitar and bansuri. They become deep friends as they grow up. All is well till the other villagers start imposing restrictions on them. This is where a village elder, played by the tabla, steps in.

According to the tabla ace, the advantage of playing with both Niladri and Rakesh Chaurasia is that though they are basically trained in Hindustani classical music, they are open to and also understand the western system. “They understand jazz and western classical music, and there are things I learn from them,” he says.

Zakir himself has a similar background. Though his training under his father, the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha, was in the traditional Punjab gharana, he interacted with musicians from other disciplines from an early age. Along with guitarist John McLaughlin, violinist L. Shankar and ghatam genius Vikku Vinayakram, he had a hugely successful run with the Indo-fusion band Shakti in the 1970s and early 1980s. The group spent the first half of 2023 doing concerts to mark 50 years, beginning with shows at Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi in January.

Collaborating with international artistes

Besides collaborating with international artistes like drummer Mickey Hart, saxophonists Charles Lloyd and Jan Garbarek, banjo player Bela Fleck and bassist Edgar Meyer, he was instrumental in blending electronic music and tabla in the project Tabla Beat Science along with producer Bill Laswell. The tabla concertos are another expansion of his repertoire.

John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan, Ganesh Rajagopalan and Selvaganesh Vinayakram, performing during Shakti – 50th Anniversary India Tour in Bengaluru, on January 20, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
MURALI KUMAR K

“In music, the learning never stops. The moment you decide you are an ustad or a maestro, you are distancing yourself from the others. You have to be part of a group, and not try to dominate it. My father told me that the one thing I have to strive for is to become a good student,” he says. “So whether it’s Shakti or tabla concertos, the approach is the same. It’s the same reason why George Harrison of the Beatles decided to learn from Ravi Shankar Ji though he was already so famous himself. It’s the same reason why John McLaughlin explored Indian music though he had already established himself in jazz,” he adds.

Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain.
| Photo Credit:
MURALI KUMAR K

Zakir says that though all music is made up of the same seven notes, the options for exploration and improvisation are infinite. “Whenever I compose, it’s like I’m actually looking at a mirror. I am who I am but on seeing my reflection I may want to modify something in the way I look.”

The Triple Concerto will be part of the five-evening programme of the SOI’s Autumn 2023 Season, beginning on September 10. Besides Alpesh Chauhan, the other performances will be conducted by Zane Dalal and Richard Farnes. Violinist Marat Bisangaliev, pianist Pavel Kolesnikov and cellist Steven Isserlis will perform on the other days.

Zakir Hussain’s Triple Concerto will be followed by a presentation of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5 by the SOI conducted by Alpesh Chauhan. Both evenings should be magical.