Back by popular demand, after a sold out performance in the Spring of 2006 at the Chan Centre, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain will once again grace the stage of one of North America’s premiere performing arts venues on May 6.

Easily the leading musician of his generation to have emerged from India, Zakir is appreciated both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon. A classical tabla virtuoso of the highest order, his consistently brilliant and exciting performances have not only established him as a national treasure in his own country, but gained him worldwide fame.

The favourite accompanist for many of India’s greatest classical musicians and dancers, from Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar to Birju Maharaj and Shivkumar Sharma, he has not let his genius rest there.

His playing is marked by uncanny intuition and masterful improvizational dexterity, founded in formidable knowledge and study.           

      
Under the direction of percussion legend Zakir Hussain, the concert offers the audience an opportunity to experience both melodic (raga) and rhythmic (tala) development as well as witness the dazzling and athletic dancing drummers of Manipur.

The concert will feature the traditional repertoire of North Indian drumming on tabla in solo and duet as well as excursions exploring the frontier between traditional and contemporary, between folk and classical.

Zakir leads a dynamic program featuring various other virtuosos including Hussain’s brothers — Fazal Qureshi (tabla and kanjira) and Taufiq Qureshi (percussion), Dilshad Khan (sarangi), Abbos Kozimov (daira), Vijay Chauhan (western Indian folk drums), Ram Kishan (nagada), Niladri Kumar (sitar) and the Meitei Pung Cholom Performing Troupe (dancing drummers of Manipur).

Widely considered a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement, Zakir’s contribution to world music has been unique, with many historic collaborations including Shakti, which he founded with John McLaughlin and L. Shankar, the Diga Rhythm Band, Making Music, Planet Drum with Mickey Hart and recordings and performances with artists as diverse as George Harrison, Joe Henderson, Van Morrison, Jack Bruce, Tito Puente, Pharaoh Sanders, Billy Cobham, the Hong Kong Symphony and the New Orleans Symphony.

On May 6, the Pandit Jasraj School of Music is presenting Zakir Hussain and Masters of Percussion “. . . a dazzling display of drumming, music, and dance from India . . .” at Chan Centre.