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Jazz Articles about Zakir Hussain
Shakti: This Moment
by Ian Patterson
Forty-six years is a hefty chunk of time between studio releases. Half a lifetime, in fact. Shakti, however, is no ordinary band. The lengthy hiatuses that have punctuated the pioneering Indo-jazz band's fifty-year journey have not dimmed the collaborative flame of co-founders John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. Following its 2012-13 tour, they placed the dust covers over the band-- redubbed Remember Shakti in 1997--once more. That hiatus soon seemed set to be permanent following the premature death of mandolinist Uppalapu ...
Continue ReadingA Different Drummer, Pt. 8: Ustad Zakir Hussain Talks Tabla
by Karl Ackermann
Origins of the Tabla The twin hand drum was developed in its current form about 300 years ago on the Indian subcontinent but the roots of the tabla may date to pre-Muslim, Arabia. The name comes from “tabl," the Arabic word for drum, and temple carvings of tabla-like double-hand drums date to 500 BCE. Tabla is commonly used in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. The drum's use crosses most genres in that region; it is used in ...
Continue ReadingZakir Hussain: Making Music, Part 2-2
by Ian Patterson
Part 1 | Part 2 It seemed inevitable that Zakir Hussain would collaborate with jazz musicians as the '70s unfolded. Jazz had been sidling up to Indian classical music gradually since the early '60s. In 1962, Gary Peacock and Bud Shank played on Ravi Shankar's album Improvisations (World Pacific), although this was very much a Shankar album; flautist Shank played in Indian style, while Peacock's presence was subdued. The sitar also gravitated towards jazz, ...
Continue ReadingZakir Hussain: Making Music, Part 1-2
by Ian Patterson
"Everybody wants to play with Zakir. He's amazing..." The words were spoken by Herbie Hancock, one of many musicians who paid tribute to the great Indian tabla player and composer Zakir Hussain on the occasion of his Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Francisco Jazz Centre in 2017. In a short film made for the occasion, directed by Hussain's daughter, Anisa Qureshi, jazz luminaries Vijay Iyer, Eric Harland, Charles Lloyd and John McLaughlin paid glowing tribute to Hussain, ...
Continue ReadingZakir Hussain: The Best Jazz / Crossover Albums
by Ian Patterson
Zakir Hussain turned 70 on March 9th. In an unparalleled career, which began in earnest aged 7, the man widely acclaimed as the world's greatest tabla player has played with the giants of both Indian classical music and jazz. It is hard to think of another musician who has straddled both worlds to such a prominent degree. Since the 1970s, Hussain has been at the forefront of so-called World Music, experimenting with Indo-rock in Shanti, pioneering pan-global rhythms ...
Continue ReadingOut of the Roma Villages of Turkey, Clarinet Reigns Beyond Its Traditions
by Arthur R George
The clarinet, foundational for jazz from Sidney Bechet unto Eric Dolphy, remains in strong use in the indigenous Roma music of the eastern Mediterranean. Elsewhere in the world clarinet generally has been moved aside by saxophone's bigger sound. But in the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey, clarinet provides jazz shadings to traditional music, speaks a range of human emotions, and engages in electronically-enhanced experimentation. Clarinetist Barbaros Erköse is Turkish, and Roma: “gypsy," the oft-utilized but less preferred word. He ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin Shankar Mahadevan Zakir Hussain: Is That So?
by Ian Patterson
When mandolinist Uppalapu Srinivas passed away in 2014 it seemed to signal the end of Remember Shakti. A great loss to music on both scores. Five years later, in early 2019, the band reformed with violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan for a one-off concert in India, sparking a new lease of life for the band. And many, no doubt, will eagerly seize upon this John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain and Shankar Mahadevan project as a scaled down Remember Shakti. After all, from the ...
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