Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussain, who left us last year, would have been 74 on March 9.
In an interview with me, table player Sandeep Das paid Zakir Saab handsome tributes. When he played the Tabla, it was magic. I have learnt so much just observing him. I remember when Zakir Bhai met my guru Pandit Kishan Maharaj ji, Zakir Bhai was so respectful and attentive. He took off his footwear before entering the room. This is the kind of humility he had. His qualities went far beyond the Tabla. He was an exemplary human being as well. He will be much missed by all.”
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Above all, the quality that Sandeep admired in Zakir Hussain’s performance was the performing equipoise. “The balance Zakir Bhai created between rhythm and execution…his maths during his performances were perfect, and yet he was a fountain of improvisation. I would say, there is no joy in being a carbon copy. Zakir Bhai may have started as a shagird of his great father. But he soon branched out on his own. A true artiste is not the one who can follow his seniors to perfection. He is the one who imbibes the legacy and takes it forward. Zakir Bhai did that.”
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Zakir Hussain and R D Burman had a looming common factor between them. The shadow of a formidable father falling on their careers. Just as R D Burman had to prove he was more than a chip off the old (Sachin Dev) block, Zakir Hussain too came into his own despite his father the great Allah Rakha. When Sai Paranjpye had offered Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain a role as a camouflaged R D Burman in her skimpily concealed Asha Bhosle biopic Saaz in 1998, Zakir Saab (he hated to be called that) was quite tickled.
But Sai was adamant. She wanted to cast someone as talented as RD and hugely charismatic to play the romantic lead opposite Shabana Azmi who played the Asha Bhosle doppelganger. Of course, Zakir Saab was not named R D Burman in the film. To avoid legal ramifications Zakir Saab was named Himaan Desai and the Tabla maestro had abundant fun with the part.
Zakir Saab also composed some songs for Saaz. The two tracks composed by the indomitable percussionist Kya tumne keh diya sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy and Phir bhor bhayee by Devaki Pandit stood out in a film that was all about music.