URBANA – Zakir Hussain is one of the most prominent percussionists in the world. Following in his father’s footsteps with the tabla, a pair of hand drums from India, Hussain has performed with other world-renowned musicians, including his father, Ustad Allah Rakha, John McLaughlin of Shakti, and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead.
This year alone, Hussein won three Grammy Awards, and he’s performing on Tuesday, October 27 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana. Morning Edition host Kimberly Schofield spoke with Hussain about his career and his current tour with Rahul Sharma.
SCHOFIELD: You’re a world-renowned musician and percussionist. Your father was a musician. He -at an early age for you- recognized your talent. When did you, yourself, recognize that music was something that you wanted to pursue?
HUSSAIN: I guess it was through my need to want to be connected to my father that I realized that the only way to do that is to make sure that our paths are musically aligned. And I knew that that was the way to inspire him to want to give me a second look. Because for him, music was everything. I mean, I saw him all day long sitting with so many students and just teaching them and and then in the evening, just getting ready and going to go play a concert. So I realized that I cannot be sitting on the periphery all the time looking in. I have to be in.
I started by, you know, wanting to play the instrument so that he will notice me. And slowly realized that the spirit that lived in the instrument was akin…somebody who had the same DNA as I did, and was a brother, a friend, a sister. It became obvious to me that it worked really well when I was connected to the instrument and I felt good, I felt legitimate, I felt valid, I felt that it was the special place to be. And the silver lining on that was that my father started to notice me, and it was happiness.
SCHOFIELD: There must have just been so much pride throughout your life with the music…just spreading and connecting both of you together.
HUSSAIN: Yeah. And one thing I have to say is, my father, since I was, like, two or three days old, he would hold me in his arm, and he would sing rhythms in my ear. And he would do that for an hour or two every day, you know, until I fell asleep and then he would hand me over to my mother. And I guess the idea for him was to be able to get information into my subconscious. For two or three years, this process was always there. And then after that, he just let me be. And the whole point was, ‘Okay, now you have this information in your head. Now you’re watching me teach my students. Now figure out how you’re going to be able to take all that and transpose it onto the same instruments that the students are playing and connect with me.’ So that is exactly what happened.
And with the help of some of his students who kind of gave me pointers, I was able to connect what was inside my head to the instrument. And that’s how me and my instrument started our relationship. I noticed when I was sometimes allowed to go to the concert with my dad, as soon as he would start playing, I would break into a smile, like a mile long smile. It was like I couldn’t hold it back, and I was so happy, and at times I would put my head down, because I didn’t want people to think that I was making some kind of a joke or being insulting to what he was doing. That wasn’t the case. It’s just that he played and I was in the most joyous and happy zone that I could ever be, and the greatest playpen with the most fabulous toy in the world. So that’s what it was. It was a, I guess, in a way, I would be looking at the world and saying, Look, well, look what he’s doing. Isn’t that so incredible? It’s something that he installed in me with, not just teaching me, but by his actions and his relationship with the instrument, the way he connected with that and the kind of joy and happiness he felt in that relationship was infectious and got into me, I guess, in the same way. And I feel lucky that that happened.
SCHOFIELD: Yeah, you’re spreading the success and the joy that music brings.
HUSSAIN: Well, I hope so.
SCHOFIELD: What is it like to play with somebody else?
HUSSAIN: When I’m playing solo? I’m the boss, I’m the captain of the ship and the master of my soul, as said by somebody called Shakespeare, I think, I don’t know. But when I’m accompanying, that’s the most challenging thing. As far as Indian music is concerned, a major portion of that relies on improvising, on spontaneity. Now you have to judge and analyze the person you’re playing with to be able to build this canvas into a beautiful painting that you would do together. And so the two brushes moving in tandem, in a dance, in a ballet that allows, eventually, for this visual element of the audio element to become, in some ways, an experience that is not only just felt, but seen. So it’s a big challenge to be able to do that in a more spontaneous and impromptu manner.
Having said that, I must add that it’s an interesting challenge when I’m playing with Rahul Sharma, as opposed to his father, who I played with for 40 years, who just recently left us. And him being a mentor, a lot of what I do when I’m playing Indian classical music has been developed working with him in tandem. So my initial approach with Rahul was okay, what I did with Shivkumar will work with Rahul, but that’s not the case. He’s a different person. And even though he represents the music that I played with Shivkumar Sharma, he has his own way to be able to tell it, to speak it. So to readjust to that brings out, at least for me, visually and in my ears, a different layer or a shade that I did not experience playing with Shivkumar. So to see that facet of Shivkumar Sharma suddenly materializing in his son is a revelation that is incredible, because it means our connection is not broken, it goes on, and that is such an incredible source of relief that somebody has gone but is still here with us.
SCHOFIELD: When you come to the Foellinger Great Hall in Urbana, what do you hope to pass along to audience members, or what can audience members hope to take away from the performance?
HUSSAIN: This tour is a homage to Shivkumar Sharma. This is the first tour of me playing with the instrument that he used to play and he just having passed away. And we’ve done seven, eight, maybe nine tours of the United States and Canada over the last 35 years, and there are an incredible number of fans spread across United States who remember our musical conversations. So this would be not just me and Rahul reminiscing, but us reminiscing along with some of the fans who might actually be in Urbana, who have heard us before and know what that was. In that way, it’s more like…well, it’s not a wake…it’s a joyful reunion of friends and fans with us, and looking back and then looking forward to the musicality of Rahul Sharma and having a joyful moment of what Shivkumar brought to us and what my relationship with him and partnership with him shared with the audiences, and take that forward with his son.
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is an underwriter of Illinois Public Media.