Part Five: "An Homage to Abbaji"

Thursday, February 3 got off to an early start with the Morning Session of the "Homage to Abbaji" taking place from 6:30 until 9 am. Zakir Hussain’s younger brother, Taufiq Qureshi, had the students of Allarakha Institute of Music performing together on a piece that he composed. Then there was a beautiful set with Ustad Rashid Khan on vocals accompanied by Yogesh Samsi on tabla.

The Second Session started at 10:30 am with Zakir Hussain himself performing with Ustad Sultan Khan accompanying him on the Sarangi, a stringed instrument that is played with a bow, similar to a violin bow.

I have seen Zakir play many times in our concerts around the world, but I realized I had never seen him in a Classical setting vs. a fusion setting, and nothing could have prepared for it, even the dozen of classical recordings I’ve heard him play on. Also, he was playing in India to an audience of 3,000 fans and in the front row of the theater sat many of the top musicians of India. 

It was the best I have ever heard Zakir play. Zakir and Sultan Khan played for 1-1/2 hours without a break. The soulfulness of Ustad Sultan Khan's accompaniment combined with the virtuosic, breathtaking soloing of Zakir was some of the most beautiful and exciting music I’ve ever experienced. At one point I was so overwhelmed with emotion that tears flowed from my eyes for at least five minutes.

At noon, Mridangam Maestro Dr. T. K. Murthy performed an incredible set in the South Indian Carnatic style, displaying a mastery and knowledge of rhythms that would baffle most Western drummers. Rhythmic devices such as "metric modulations," "implied metric modulation," "beat displacement" that Western drummers have been experimenting with as of late, have been a part of the basic knowledge and abilities of South Indian drummers for centuries. They take it so much further than we can imagine (more on this later).

At 1:30 pm Ustad Gulam Zaffar Khan played a set on the Dholak that blew the audience away. The Dholak is a folk instrument that isn’t usually played in a virtuosic manner, but Ustad Gulam Zaffar Khan has taken the instrument to new heights.

At 3 pm I closed out the second session starting with a snare drum and a pair of brushes, humming a blues to accompany myself. I then played an extended drumset solo, that was part composition, part improvised. Then I closed with a Hi Hat solo.

The audience seemed to be appreciative of my efforts, yet I couldn’t help feeling inadequate next to these other musicians. When I'm in my own world of Western drumset players, I feel comfortable and at home. In the company of the drummers of India I truly felt like a beginner. The people showed me a lot of respect, especially the young drumset drummers who touched my feet and bowed to me the way to treat the Indian masters. I was moved by their generosity.

There was a break in the program and my new friend Sivamani, one of the top percussionists of India, brought me to a local music store and bought me a Ghatam as a gift! The Ghatam is a clay pot drum that I am very interested in, and the one Sivamani gave me sounds fantastic. Then he and I proceeded to jam in the store for over an hour, it was a lot of fun.

We went back to the concert hall, and at 7:45 pm the Manipuri Jagoi Marup opened the Evening Session. The Manipuri Jagoi Marup are six men with drums hanging around their necks who perform folk dances and play drums at the same time. At about 8 pm the world/fusion group Shakti played an incredible concert. The band consists of band leader/guitarist John McLaughlin, U. Shrinivas on mandolin, Selvaganesh on Kanjira, and Zakir on tabla.

Selvaganesh played a solo near the end of their set that was one of best drum solos I've ever heard. His instrument, the kanjira, is a small frame drum which looks like a little tambourine with one jingle in it. It’s played with one hand and it’s truly unbelievable what he can do with the instrument. When playing with Shakti, Zakir has incorporated a small "drumset" into his setup. He has a small snare drum, bass drum and two splash cymbals that he plays with his left hand while playing the tabla with his right hand, and he sounds like two people playing at the same time.

When Shakti finished their set, the Manipuri Jagoi Marup came back for one piece and then Zakir had me go on stage and play another short solo. He told me to set something up so they could all come out and jam. 

I couldn’t have been more intimidated, but I just went for it, soloing and then setting up an uptempo groove. First Zakir joined me and one by one he brought out Ranjit Barot on drumset and then Sivamani on various percussion, we all we jammed and traded licks. Eventually John McLaughlin and the members of Shakti came out and we all played a Shakti tune together. It was a tune I didn't know, but I did catch some of the korvai's (composed unison sections) that they all played, luckily I knew a few of those. It was quite an invigoration experience! The concert ended about 10 pm and afterwards we all went to dinner and had a very nice evening. I sat between John McLaughlin and Selvaganesh and I was in heaven talking to two of my biggest influences.

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