Tabla Master Zakir Hussain and Santoor Player Rahul Sharma, In-Studio
The Indian-born tabla player and composer, teacher, and advocate Zakir Hussain, son of Ustad Alla Rahka, who passed away in late 2024, wasn’t just a virtuoso improviser - he was one of the world’s exceptional percussionists, working in many genres, and was the world’s preeminent tabla master. He was a great communicator in many musical languages, including jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Nigerian talking drums, or Indonesian gamelan; he was also a great listener and a bringer of joy (editor can’t help herself.) One of the most exciting ways that Zakir Hussain shared tabla specifically, and percussion more broadly was by way of the Masters of Percussion Tour – which was exactly as stunning and marvelous as a music fan (especially a drum nerd) might ever imagine.
Zakir turned the tabla into a global instrument by way of his incredible collaborations, playing with everyone from George Harrison to Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, from John McLaughlin's Shakti and Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Project; he’s laid down beats for Scottish fiddlers Charlie McKerron (Capercaillie) and Patsy Reid (formerly of Breabach); played concertos with western orchestras, with and without banjo player Bela Fleck and bassist Edgar Meyer, and performed and recorded with scores of Indian classical musicians.
Zakir Hussain enjoyed the different challenges that each new collaborator would "throw at him”. For this edition of the Soundcheck Podcast, Ustad Zakir Hussain joined Pandit Rahul Sharma, the son of illustrious santoor master Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, who established the pedigree of the santoor within Indian Classical Music. Pt. Rahul Sharma has since built on his father’s style, “taking the santoor to new corners of the world”, (Darbar.org). Rahul Sharma has also collaborated widely across genres, having released some 60 albums, split between classical Indian music and more experimental recordings. Rahul Sharma and Zakir Hussain played in-studio in Oct of 2024, just about six weeks before Hussain passed away. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Dhun: Misra Pahadi 2. Dhun Keharwa
Sharma explains the roots of the santoor, and gives a quick demonstration of its 94 strings which require precise tuning:
Zakir Hussain also gave an intimidatingly fast explainer of some of the syllables of tabla, what the left and right hand might do, with unbelievable and impressive speed:
See their performances:
