Emotions run high during tribute to Ustad Zakir Hussain
Times of India | 16 January 2025
123 Kolkata: Most eyes were misty when the 100-minute-long ‘Dha Forever' tribute to Ustad Zakir Hussain — curated by Indrayudh Majumdar from the maestro's 300 hours of footage of his own recitals from 2013 to 2023 at Kolkata's Swara Samrat Festival (SSF) — concluded on Tuesday evening. The giant screen displayed close-ups of him from his SSF concert in 2023 and his gracious acceptance of Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumdar and Madhumanti Maitra's save-the-date request to perform at the same festival on Dec 15, 2024. Little did anyone then anticipate that fate would intervene differently. Sentiments intensified when the screen displayed a message stating that the Ustad couldn't fulfil his commitment, as he passed away on that very date.
Yet, everyone at Nazrul Manch, including Pt Yogesh Samsi, Ustad Fazal Qureshi, and Sabir Khan, who rendered a taalvadya tribute to Hussain, felt his presence. So did Pt Swapan Chaudhuri, Pt Ajoy Chakraborty, Pt Anindo Chatterjee, and Ustad Nishat Khan, who shared their memories with him. Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia said, "People are saying he's gone, but I met him at the airport today, and he said he's coming. Then I came here and heard so many things. I can't believe this. I'm certain he is sitting somewhere, listening to all of this. I'll never believe that Zakir isn't here."
Epithets like ‘yugpurush' and ‘mahapurush' were used abundantly to describe him. Recalling his first experience of listening to the legend in Kolkata, Ustad Sabir Khan said, "My father, Ustad Karamatullah Khan, who took me along to the concert, described him as the eighth wonder of the world. ‘Remember, he revolutionised tabla playing with his performance today', my father said. He would always say that he was not the best tabla player in the world but was among the 20/30 other excellent tabla players. But if all those players looked up to just one, who is truly the best?" Pt Tanmoy Bose added, "There exists a pre-Ustad Zakir Hussain era and a post-Ustad Zakir Hussain era."
Describing him as a true superman, Pt Bickram Ghosh recounted an incident from 1997 when Hussain was supposed to perform with Pt Ravi Shankar in Indianapolis. "I saw him drive in. When I offered to bring his tablas, he replied, ‘My tablas haven't arrived'. He was coming from Paris or somewhere, but they went to New York… On his suggestion, a virtually unplayable tabla from a neighbouring Indian restaurant's display window was procured. I was astounded even as a tabla player to see how he barely used the ‘kinar' and played mostly with two fingers. It was an incredible feat. Afterward, several said, ‘Did you see? Today he played Ajrara style'. He managed it brilliantly. That day, I was convinced he was indeed a superman."