Bengaluru’s musicians share memories of the ‘Taj of Indian music’  

Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, who breathed his last at a hospital in San Francisco on Sunday, has been an inspiration for many youngsters to chose a career in music since the 1970s. He was iconic for those not tuned into music too, thanks to the 1990s television advertisement for a brand of tea that put the spotlight as much on the curls that framed his face.

Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, who breathed his last at a hospital in San Francisco on Sunday, has been an inspiration for many youngsters to chose a career in music since the 1970s. He was iconic for those not tuned into music too, thanks to the 1990s television advertisement for a brand of tea that put the spotlight as much on the curls that framed his face.

The commemorative 50th anniversary tour of Zakir’s band Shakti, the internationally renowned Indo-Jazz fusion band, had kicked off with its first concert in Bengaluru last year. He was again in the city in February this year for Udupa Music Festival. These were his last two visits to the city.

Speaking to The Hindu, Ghatam exponent Giridhar Udupa, curator of the Udupa Music Festival, said: “For me, he was guru, an idol, an inspiration, and more. As a child, and till date, I looked up to him as my role model. One of the biggest dreams in my life was to play with him, and it happened during the festival.”

What stood out for Mr. Udupa was also the way Zakir took care of his co-musicians. “When I played for the first time with him, he created a comfort zone, where I did not feel like I was performing with a legend. Every musician in India is fond of him beyond his music.”

Kumaresh Rajagopalan, of the Ganesh-Kumaresh duo fame, who has played with Zakir for more than 25 years, concurred. “Being a musician was just a small part of what Zakir bhai was...  He taught us what it is to be an artist, to perform, to dive deep into the art and explore beyond what we know.”

Arun Kumar, also known as ‘Drums Arun’, talked of the opportunity he got to play with Zakir and in 2008 in Coimbatore. “He was the Laya of Indian music.. His intense style, his improvisations and the way he played on the spot for his co-musicians was something no one else could do. He could play any form, be it Jazz, Latin, Afro-Cuban, Indian film music, Hindustani, Carnatic, folk music...”

Zakir’s mastery over multiple styles was what senior Tabla player Ravindra Yavagal recalled too. “As a Tabla player, I can say that all musicians have their own style or form, which they stick to. We can act or pretend to know all forms, but it can never be performed. But Zakir Bhai was one of those talented musicians who could do anything. We can all try to grow our hair like him, but no one can get close to what he was for the music in India. He has been an inspiration to me, the generation after me, and the coming generation,” he said, fondly remembering how Zakir could “turn fans into family.”