Silence ... !

 

A SUDDEN silence fell on the massive auditorium. The nimble fingers beating the tabla came to a halt -- followed by a thousand-plus hearts of the audience holding breath, wondering what was happening. ... And suddenly, the tabla beats came alive -- after the pause, with greater vigour, with imperceptible lifting of spirits -- trailed by thunderous applause that went on for long minutes. Whenever and wherever Ustad Zakir Hussain was performing, such scenes were a regular experience of the connoisseur-audiences the world over. This time, however, the concert will not pick up its beat and rhythm again. For, the maestro who made those tabla beats sound heavenly for decades on end has chosen eternal silence over the brief, creative pauses that often dotted his performances for five-plus decades. Ustad Zakir Hussain’s heart has stopped beating. His fingers have gone numb in death. His genius will linger only in recorded music -- and in the memory of the connoisseurs all over the world. No matter if they did not understand the grammar of Indian classical music in which the tabla often plays a stupendous role, the concerts of the tabla wizard endowed with a dramatic persona and charismatic presence were always successful, making audiences extremely satiated.

 

There was so much to those concerts: Beat, rhythm, lilt, music, almost verbal words -- and finally great optics that had the power to keep audiences captivated by the artistic signature of the man whom the world often thought to be a young lad who launched himself under the tutelage of his iconic father Ustad Allah Rakha. In the thought of music connoisseurs, Ustad Zakir Hussain stayed frozen in that young age -- refusing to grow with passing years. Grow, of course, he did -- in age and in stature ... and in people’s fondness for him. No matter that, the people still cherished the memory of the young lad picking up threads of excellence from his father and adding tremendous value to the artistic treasure he had inherited -- for decades on end. Never did his concerts appear stale or stymied by his growing persona. The classicism of music continued unhindered, unabated, unsullied by fame and fortune. The trajectory of Zakir Hussain’s life was as dramatic as his personality -- endowed with a rare charisma and also a rare chemistry with audiences. Even though the connoisseurs kept looking at him as a young lad of those early years, they also realised the power his penance was adding to his art.

 

The stories of his riyaaz became part of the lore of world music. The anecdotes of his performances became integral to the collective memory of connoisseurs the world over. In Zakir Hussain’s accompaniment on the tabla, Indian classical music gained an altogether sublime touch. And on many occasions, modern music, too, found a creative companionship whose merit could not be pictured correctly in mere words. That fantastic accommodation of different genres of music by him brought him international honours -- including several Grammy Awards. But at the core of those successful experimental forays was Indian classicism which the world had already started accepting as universal treasure. Countless numbers of Indian masters of vocal and instrumental music and classical dance were acting as the country’s cultural ambassadors for decades. And to that galaxy joined Zakir Hussain with so much ease. Of course, people like Ustad Allah Rakha or Pandit Samta Prasad were already dominating the musical stage with their masterly renderings on the tabla for decades. There were many others as well. But when the young Zakir Hussain joined the league, the entire quality quotient went up several notches all at once. Such was the merit of the young man’s genius. Such was the quality of whatever he offered to the people who understood and loved classical music. But to the commoners, Zakir Hussain offered something much different -- in the form of what came to be known as popular classicism.

 

With his experimental renderings, Zakir Hussain offered to the audiences not just creative elements of classicism, but also of modernity that the average mind craved for. Life at the highest point in art and public esteem, however, appeared to have had their toll on Zakir Hussain’s health. Towards the end, he struggled with health issues, but his smile never waned. Right until the end, he fought hard to do past the challenges of weak lungs and a weak heart. But then, there does come a point in everybody’s life when living gives way. No matter this realism, Padma Vibhushan Zakir Hussain lost his battle rather too early -- at just 73 years of age. He could have gone on for another 10-15 years. In Death’s court, such human wishfulness has little value, so to say. Now that Ustad Zakir Hussain is no more, the tabla will feel bereft -- and will look for another mentor to lift its spirits, to uphold its honour, in the same manner as did the man who attained certain immortality for himself because of his art. Besides the classicism he brought to tabla, Ustad Zakir Hussain also gave the instrument a popular appeal the like of which no other instrument ever enjoyed. The tabla, after the ascendence of Zakir Hussain, became an altogether different point of reference of Indian music.

 

Not only did he popularise the tabla but also reminded the audiences of the instrument’s historic contribution to making classical or non-classical music fully acceptable to audience of connoisseurs or of others all over the world. So potent was his art that he cut across all political and social barriers to make the tabla an instrument that every body missed when not in concert. To such an icon, we pay our heartfelt tributes, and pray for his eternal Peace ! May he keep inspiring generations of music lovers the world over !