Aneesh Pradhan: Zakir Hussain’s legacy encourages us to innovate, anticipate and communicate

There will no longer be another concert season in India to which audiences can throng to listen to the expressive music of the tabla maestro Zakir Hussain. Tabla solo recitals, accompaniment to instrumental or vocal music or kathak, intercultural music projects, percussion ensembles, Hindustani-Carnatic dialogues, projects with philharmonic orchestras – from now, these will not bring to us the sonic tapestry that he wove into each performance through his instrument.

We will, of course, continue to witness music and dance performances. But he will not be present to regale listeners with his communicative and playful presentations.

Does that mean memories of him and his music will fade away with the passage of time? They most certainly will not. As with other geniuses who have already departed, trendsetters like him leave legacies for successive generations to make sense of and gain inspiration from. Going beyond the adulation that Zakir Hussain will continue to receive from his seniors, contemporaries, juniors and fans, students of music like me need to understand the contours of his legacy.

To make an attempt in this direction, one would have to step back to a time in history when the tabla player occupied a position in the social hierarchy of musicians and in...

Read more