Zakir Hussain – An Xperience Interview

Zakir Hussain – An Xperience Interview – by Rob Smittix.

ZH: Rob, thanks again for calling.

RRX: I’m excited to be talking to you. You’re coming to our area on October 18 to the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.

ZH: It’s a great place to play by the way!

RRX: Oh, you’ve been there before?

ZH: I’ve been there with Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer not too long ago, I think, maybe a year or so.

RRX: Oh, no kidding. Yeah, it’s a really cool, nice historical building.

ZH: Yeah, it’s a great-sounding room. I’m looking forward to coming back there.

RRX: It was interesting. I just watched a little documentary piece on it, and apparently the chairs have built-in holders for your top hats but nobody’s wearing top hats these days.

ZH: (Laughs) Yeah. The way they built this hall, it’s amazing. There’s a whole passageway behind the stage. I guess that was used by people who had to go from one end of the stage to the other for one act, and then turn around and go back to the other side. And then the underneath-the-stage thing, it’s really cool. That’s amazing that they’ve preserved this heritage building so well.

RRX: They really have and glad you’re gonna be there again. This will be my first time seeing you there. Tell us about the tour that you have going on and what it’s all about.

ZH: Well, I guess in some ways it’s about reliving or … how should I say … resolving a relationship that has existed for almost 50 years. I’m not talking about Rahul Sharma who I’m playing with, but I’m talking about his dad, Shivkumar, who I grew up playing with in my formative years. We spent quite a lot of time with him, traveling all over India, playing lots of concerts with him, and then eventually expanding the touring to Europe and then to America. I must have played over 500 concerts with him. He was responsible in many ways to help shape the way I have finally turned out as a musician. There are four people that I call my mentors, who have helped me in various ways apart from my teacher who was my father. One of them is John McLaughlin, the jazz guitar maestro. The other one is Mickey Hart, drummer of the Grateful Dead. Another is Shivkumar, Rahul’s father. And finally, Ali Akbar Khan, the great Instrumentalist musician of India; who gave me a job here in California to teach at his music school and sort of mentored me to the point where I was able to figure out how to perform my music, my interpretation of what I’ve learned from my father, in these parts of the world. It is very important for me to tie this relationship as a send-off to Rahul’s father because his father just recently passed away. It was a big blow to Indian classical music as well as to me. It was a heart-wrenching event that took place.

Rahul is of course a worthy successor to his father. So to bring him here, and then with the audiences who saw Shivkumar and I play many concerts all over America. There is a big following that existed for him and me playing concerts. So to relive those moments with not just his son, who’s an incredible player himself, but also with the audiences to have a big send-off to Shivkumar. So that basically was the idea behind putting this together. But having said that, it’s also important that Shivkumar’s legacy carries on with his son who’s such an incredible musician. He deserves to be seen and heard on the world stage … everywhere. I guess, I’m just repaying Shivkumar for taking me along with him and showing me off to the world in India and other places and just doing the same for his son, Rahul.

RRX: Well, that’s a tremendous way to honor him. That’s fantastic. So it’s not just a remembrance tour, this is a tour to honor someone who has been so impactful in your music and life in general.

ZH: Yeah, absolutely, and it includes not just me and Rahul but the fans all across the USA who have seen Shivkumar and I perform over the past 25 years. I know that they’re gonna show up and they’re gonna give a nod and say goodbye. When we play the music that was brought to us by him, the audience as well will recognize a lot of the stuff. We’ll see how his son has blossomed into being almost equally as great as his father.

RRX: I love that. That’s a really nice way to put it. Now, you mentioned that you went out to California to do a little teaching.

ZH: I used to teach. I started off my American stay way back in 1971. Well, actually I started when I was called to America to replace my father as the accompanist to the great Ravi Shankar. My father was not feeling well, he was in India while I was in Europe playing some concerts. Ravi Shankar called me and said your father is not feeling well, so you have to get on a flight and get to New York and play these five concerts with me. That’s how I ended up in America and I played my first few concerts in America with Ravi Shankar. Then Ravi Shankar arranged for me to go to University of Washington in Seattle and teach in their music department; Indian percussion. That’s how I ended up on the West Coast. And having heard that I was on the West Coast, the Great Ali Akbar Khan (who was actually the brother-in-law of Ravi Shankar and teacher’s son) called me and said, “Why don’t you come down to San Francisco and teach at my school?” That’s how I ended up here. And within a year of having arrived here, I met my wife and here we are, 50 years down the road, living in the same town and having an incredible life. Two daughters, I’m a grandfather now and it goes on.

RRX: Congratulations. And you know what? You mentioned earlier about your mentors in music, but it comes full circle and you actually got to mentor some as well.

ZH: Yeah, I do and I did and what’s great about having these mentors, these great musicians who helped me along is that I’m still connected to them. I’m. working with John McLaughlin 50 years down the road. We just finished a tour last year and our album “This Moment” won the Grammy this year for the best global music album. And Mickey Hart and I released the “Planet Drum” album 32 years ago. So we’re still working together. And then this year, Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, and I also received a Grammy for the best contemporary global album of the year. And that was the group that came and performed in Troy a year ago.

RRX: Oh, no. way.

ZH: So, it’s great that all of years later, the connections haven’t been broken. In fact, they’ve strengthened.

Tour in Remembrance of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma

Zakir Hussain and Rahul Sharma at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

Friday, October 18, 7:30pm

For Tickets Visit: troymusichall.org

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