|
Music lovers braved one of the coldest, windiest days in the UAE on Friday to experience tabla maestro Zakir Hussain's world music concert aptly titled Nirvana.
Despite the cold and the sandstorm that raged all day, hundreds of diehard fans came to the Tennis Stadium at the Dubai Aviation Club to listen to a star line-up of well-known musicians. And they were not disappointed.
Right from the opening fusion between sitar, kanjira and tabla to the final jam session between ten musicians from around the world on different instruments, the concert was magical, making the audience forget the cold and taking them to a different plane.
Main point
Zakir claimed that he was an insignificant part of a gathering of major stars. But he was the one who threaded together diverse instruments and genres ranging from classical Indian and Western music to jazz and American bluegrass.
With his hair blowing in the wind and a shawl draped over his shoulders, he stayed on stage throughout the evening creating some incredible fusion pieces first with sitarist Niladari Kumar, kanjira maestro V. Selva Ganesh and jazz drummer Antonio Sanchez and then with banjo player Bela Fleck and bassist Edgar Meyer.
Impressive
Each one of the musicians was impressive. Niladari Kumar's sitar is at home in any genre of music and the sounds Selva Ganesh coaxes out of his tiny kanjira are unbelievable. Percussionists Sanchez and Taufiq Qureshi were fantastic and the audience also enjoyed Taufiq's wind song inspired by the howling winds.
Fleck and Meyer provided the perfect balance of melody demonstrating why they are considered the best players in the world on their chosen instruments. Drummers from Rajasthan, playing traditional folk music on stick drums added a unique flavour to the show. And Zakir was as good as ever on the tabla.
The event was presented by Emirates NBD and organised by RNH Events.
|
