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Music Talks > 2015 Spring
Music Club: Wednesday 18 March 2015 (7 pm)
Two Separate Classical Indian Music Concerts:
1) Zakir Hussain (Tabla) (1 hr 15 min) at Fourviere
2) Hariprasad Chaurasia (Indian Bamboo Flute: Bansuri) (52 min) in Nancy (Salle Poirel 2010)
Zakir Hussain (1951) is an
Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer. He was awarded
the Padma Shri in 1988, and the Padma Bhushan in 2002, by the Government of
India. He was also awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990, given by
the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance &
Drama. In 1999, he was awarded the United States National Endowment for the
Arts's National Heritage Fellowship, the highest award given to traditional
artists and musicians. Zakir is well known for his fusion work with John
McLaughlin in a group called Shakti who performed in Beiteddine in the late
90s. This concert is totally Indian.
Zakir is the son of Allah
Rakkah one of the best Tabla players India has ever produced. Allah Rakkah was
the Tabla player of Ravi Shankar for the longest time (and performed with him
in AUB in the 70s, twice). Hussain was a child prodigy, and was touring by the
age of eleven. He went to the United States in 1970, beginning his
international career which includes more than 150 concert dates a year. Hussain
is a founding member of Bill Laswell's 'World Music Supergroup' Tabla Beat
Science.
Click Here for a lovely clip by Chaurasia
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (1938) is an Indian
classical flautist. He plays in the North Indian tradition. He was born in
Allahabad in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. His father was a wrestler. His
mother died when he was 6. He had to learn music without his father's
knowledge, for his father wanted him to become a wrestler. He did go to the
Akhada and train with his father for some time, although he also started
learning music and practicing at his friend's house. He often credits his
wrestling training for giving him the immense stamina and lung power that are
the hallmarks of his flute playing, stating that, "I was not any good at
wrestling. I went there only to please my father. But maybe because of the
strength and stamina I built up then, I'm able to play the bansuri even to this
day."
Hariprasad Chaurasia started learning vocal
music from his neighbor, Pandit Rajaram, at the age of 15. Later, he switched
to playing the flute under the tutelage of Pandit Bholanath Prasanna of
Varanasi for eight years. He joined the All India Radio, Cuttack, Odisha in
1957 and worked as a composer and performer. Much later, while working for All
India Radio, he received guidance from the reclusive Annapurna Devi, daughter
of Baba Allaudin Khan. She only agreed to teach him if he switched from
right-handed to left-handed playing. Another version is that she only agreed to
teach him after he (of his own) took the decision to switch from right-handed
to left-handed playing to show her his commitment. In any case Hariprasad
Chaurasia plays left-handed to this day.
Apart from classical music, he has made a mark
as a music director for Indian films along with Shivkumar Sharma, forming a
group called Shiv-Hari. He has collaborated with world musicians in
experimental cross-cultural performances, including the fusion group Shakti.
He serves as the artistic director of the World
Music Department at the Rotterdam Music Conservatory in the Netherlands. He was
also the founder of the Vrindavan Gurukul in Mumbai (opened 2006) and Vrindavan
Gurukul in Bhubaneshwar (opened 2010). Both of these institutes are schools
dedicated to training students in Hindustani Bansuri in the Guru-shishya
tradition. As a Guru, he has produced many noted disciples including his nephew
Rakesh Chaurasia, Rupak Kulkarni, Vivek Sonar, Sameer Rao, Jay Gandhi, Santosh
Sant and Himanshu Nanda.
He has collaborated with several western
musicians, including John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, and Ken Lauber, and has
composed music for Indian films. He has performed throughout the world, winning
acclaim from varied audiences and fellow musicians including Yehudi Menuhin and
Jean-Pierre Rampal. Chaurasia also played on The Beatles' 1968 B-side "The
Inner Light", which was written by George Harrison.
