Drumming up interest
Zakir Hussain's showcase brings ancient Indian percussive arts into the spotlight
Short of climbing mountains and traversing deserts in far-flung pockets of India, your best bet for catching the musicians of Zakir Hussain's Masters of Percussion is attending Saturday's performance at the Wortham Theater Center.
"It's a showcase to display little-known percussive art forms of India," Hussain said. "Every two years, I bring different kinds of drummers and percussionists from different parts of India, who rarely get a chance to be seen."
This year, some of the drummers represent tribes from the extreme eastern mountains of southern India and others the extreme western deserts. Some of their instruments have a 2,000-year history.
A new element that adds visual interest is the Manipur Dancing Drummers from the eastern mountains.
"The Manipur guys tie the drum to their body and then they play the drum and visually imitate the patterns of the drum," Hussain said.
"They are very acrobatic. They perform flips and somersaults, and the music is all being played live while they do this.
"And now that I've convinced them that they should be traveling without their hunting knives, it's even safer," he said, with a laugh, alluding to myriad cultural challenges such a tour presents.
"There are different languages within the group. At least between south India and north India the common language is English; but the eastern and western regions don't even speak English. The language has been a bit of an issue, but once we start playing rhythms they are universal, and all that language stuff goes out the window."Hussain and his two brothers represent the classical traditions of northern India.
The ensemble also includes a sitar player.
"There's drums, there's rhythm, there's dance, there's song. All these come together in hopefully one balanced and very cohesive performance," Hussain said.
Hussain performs at least 150 concerts annually and shuttles between homes in San Francisco and Bombay.
Born in 1951 in Bombay, Hussain learned to play the tabla with his father, celebrated Indian drummer Ustad Alla Rakha.
In 1969, the prodigy became a music professor at the University of Seattle, where he developed a love of world music. He has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Tito Puente, Van Morrison, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar. As a child, he started playing the tabla, a percussion instrument that he describes as both versatile and mysterious. He also plays jazz and fusion and scores music for independent films.
The Masters of Percussion group tours every other year. This tour began on April 29, Hussain's father's birthday.
"He's the one who taught us this art form," Hussain said of his father, who died in 2000.. "We are dedicating the tour to him. He's the first, the premiere drummer who came out of India that everyone heard. Buddy Rich made a record with him."
In the early '90s, Hussain and his father toured as a duet. They began adding other percussionists whom they had met in their travels to the show.
"On the stage we're all professionals," Hussain said. "we're all musicians representing our traditions and proud of it, and it comes through very nicely."
After the tour, the musicians return to their homes throughout India. But the tour tends to be a life-changing experience.
"I've successfully corrupted most of these guys in the sense that they have started coming down from the hills or the villages and playing performances all over India," Hussain said. "Now they also have students who come and study with them. Things are becoming more and more open."
eileen.mcclelland@chron.comCourtesy: The Houston Chronicle
What do you think of the comments by Zakir Hussain on the Manipuri Dancers?
