# Zakir Hussain is one of the world’s most in demand percussionists: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/09/26/zakir-hussain-is-one-of-the-worlds-most-in-demand-percussionists-video-photos/
- Published: 2023-09-26T00:02:12+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Zakir Hussain is one of the world’s most in demand percussionists. From his collaborations
with jazz greats Charles Lloyd and Herbie Hancock to his explorations with the Grateful
Dead, Mickey Hart, Bela Fleck and Earth Wind and Fire, Hussain has been blending
eastern rhythms with western music for decades.**

Hussain’s father, Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla master who specialized in Hindustani
classical music. As a child in Mumbai, Hussain was put through vigorous musical 
training. He first came to the U.S. in 1970 to play a concert in New York City with
the legendary Ravi Shankar.

Zakir briefly considered a career as a rock drummer but after recording with George
Harrison on “Living in the Material World,” it was Harrison who suggested he continue
flavoring music of the west with eastern influences via tabla.

Hussain and John McLaughlin are long time friends. Their pioneering Indo-Jazz supergroup
Shakti is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a world tour including a stop at
the Mondavi Center in Davis and a brand new album.

CapRadio’s Gary Vercelli spoke with Hussain about his career of collaborations, 
Shakti’s anniversary tour and the essence of Indian music.

_This interview has been edited for clarity and length._

![](https://i0.wp.com/jazzblues.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Dave-Holland-Zakir-
Hussain-Chris-Potter.jpg?resize=640%2C409&ssl=1)

**On the evolution of Shakti’s genre-blending music**

It is interesting to be a part of a band and tradition that maintains the same feeling
and experience through so many different incarnations. The feeling that we experience
on stage now, the joy that permeates, and the fun we have together is the same as
what it was in 1973.

When we got together again after being away for some years and experiencing other
musical situations, it felt like we were just starting from where we left off. Shakti
brings the past into the present and creates an environment with the past and the
present so that both become valid into all future shapes and forms that it takes.

**On first meeting John McLaughlin over 50 years ago**

What happened was John was getting interested in Indian music and Indian culture,
and he was meditating and also starting to learn a South Indian instrument of ancient
origin. But he had really had no connection or contact with North Indian musicians.
He just asked, “Do you know anything about Indian ragas or melodic structures?”

And of course, we all grew up learning the process. I said, “Yes, I do.” And the
process required that I sing the modes — or melodic structures — out to him. I did
that, and it turned out that I was only slightly better at singing than John was.
We exchanged phone numbers. I had no clue who John McLaughlin was.

That led to us eventually playing together in the living room of a great Indian 
musician, Ali Akbar Khan. And that was an experience that definitely suggested that
we are spirits that pass through many incarnations because it felt right. It felt
like we had been playing together for many, many generations and many incarnations.
It was almost like finding a long-lost cousin.

**On defining Shakti and the emotions projected in Indian music**

Shakti has, for us, a very special meaning, because it has that positive, happy,
contented, peaceful energy that is the balance between chaos and order. And therefore,
it represents all that is good. And that definitely appears in the music in India.

When we play, there are nine moods that music represents like sadness, happiness,
courage, love, disgust, and so on and so forth. But out of the nine emotions, the
negative ones like disgust and horror are something that Indian music does not represent.
All that is positive when it comes to the creative process and inside of a human
being, when it comes to all these nine emotions are projected through art and culture
and music in India.

![Courtesy of the artist](https://i0.wp.com/www.capradio.org/cdn-cgi/image/format%
3Dauto%2Cwidth%3D1200/media/12271014/zakir-hussain-04p.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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