Zakir Hussain & Masters of Percussion
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CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS Saturday, March 24, 2012, 8pm Van Morrison, Airto Moreira, Pharoah Sanders, Zellerbach Hall Billy Cobham, Mark Morris, Rennie Harris and the Kodo drummers. His 2009 recording with frequent collaborators and trio-mates Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, The Melody of Rhythm, was Zakir Hussain nominated for a Grammy Award in 2010. The foremost disciple of his father, the leg- & Masters of Percussion endary Ustad Allarakha, Mr. Hussain was a child prodigy who began his professional ca- with reer at age twelve and had toured internation- ally with great success by age 18. He has been the recipient of many awards, grants and hon- Zakir Hussain tabla ors, including Padma Bhushan (2002), Padma Fazal Qureshi tabla & kanjira Shri (1988), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Rakesh Chaurasia bansuri (1991), Kalidas Samman (2006), the 1999 National Heritage Fellowship Award, the Bay T.H.V. Umashankar ghatam Area Isadora Duncan Award (1998–1999), and Sabir Khan sarangi Grammy Awards in 1991 and 2009 for Best Navin Sharma dholak World Music Album for Planet Drum and Global Drum Project, both collaborations with Mickey Abbos Kosimov doyra Hart. His music and extraordinary contribution dancing drummer of Manipur Ningombam Joy Singh to the music world were honored in April 2009, Susana Millman with four widely heralded and sold-out concerts and special guest in Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives series. Also in akir hussain (tabla) is today appreciated 2009, Mr. Hussain was named a Member in the both in the field of percussion and in the Order of Arts and Letters by France’s Ministry Antonia Minnecola Kathak dancer Z music world at large as an international phe- of Culture and Communication. Most re- nomenon. A classical tabla virtuoso of the high- cently, the National Symphony Orchestra with est order, his consistently brilliant and exciting Christoph Eschenbach commissioned and pre- performances have not only established him as miered Mr. Hussain’s Concerto for Four Soloists PROGRAM a national treasure in his own country, India, at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, but gained him worldwide fame. His playing is which was met with great acclaim. Tonight’s program will be announced from the stage. There will be one intermission. marked by uncanny intuition and masterful im- provisational dexterity, founded in formidable Antonia Minnecola (Kathak dancer) is one knowledge and study. The favorite accompanist of few American artists recognized as a seri- for many of India’s greatest classical musicians ous exponent of Kathak, the dynamic classical and dancers, he has not let his genius rest there. dance style of North India. As a choreogra- Widely considered a chief architect of the pher, she employs Kathak to present contem- contemporary world music movement, Zakir’s porary works, often collaborating with artists Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. contribution to world music has been unique, of different genres, including musicians Zakir with many historic collaborations, including Hussain, Aashish Khan, Terry Riley, Mickey Shakti, which he founded with John McLaughlin Hart and Taufiq Qureshi, singer Molly Holm, and L. Shankar, Remember Shakti, the Diga poet Michael McClure and hip-hop artist Rhythm Band, Making Music, Planet Drum with Rennie Harris. Twice a recipient of the Marin Mickey Hart, Tabla Beat Science, Sangam with Arts Council Individual Artist Grant for Charles Lloyd and Eric Harland, and record- Choreography, Ms. Minnecola is the disciple ings and performances with artists as diverse of Sitara Devi, widely considered the great- as George Harrison, Yo-Yo Ma, Joe Henderson, est female Kathak dancer of our time, with 20 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 21 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS whom she has studied under the auspices of at classical and semi-classical concerts in Japan, father insisted he learn from tabla master Ustad two Smithsonian Fellowships. Ms. Minnecola Australia, Europe, South Africa and the United Allarakha, with whom he studied for several has appeared in many tours and festivals in- States. He is also an accomplished and versatile years. Mr. Sharma has performed with many cluding the Bay Area’s Other Minds Festival, studio performer, having recorded with most of master musicians over his career, and with many the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Asian- the leading stalwarts of the Indian film industry. ensembles, including jazz, fusion, pop, rock, Pacific Performing Arts Festival, the Auckland ghazal and bhajan. Festival and at Jacob’s Pillow. As a solo Kathak T.H.V. Umashankar (ghatam) is descended artist, she is often accompanied by her hus- from a lineage of highly accomplished Carnatic Abbos Kosimov (doyra) was born in Tashkent, band, tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, and has (South Indian classical) percussionists. The Uzbekistan, to a very musical family. He stud- also appeared with his ensembles, Masters of grandson of Shri T. R. Hariharan Sharma and ied at the College of Culture and Music under Percussion and The Rhythm Experience. She son of ghatam legend T. H. “Vikku” Vinayakram, doyra master Mamurjon Vahabov and graduated has assisted Mr. Hussain in his guest professor he has distinguished himself as an accompanist in 1988. In 1991, Mr. Kosimov won second prize tenures at Princeton and Stanford universities, to the esteemed Carnatic musicians of our time, in Central Asia and Kazakhstan’s Competition in several of his Meet the Composer residencies including M. S. Subbulakshmi, Balamurali of Percussion Instruments. A few years later, he and at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. Krishna and U. Srinivas. He has also performed established the Abbos School, where he taught Most recently, she has been teaching Kathak with great musicians in the Hindustani (North the talented youth of his country to play the for LINES Ballet’s B.F.A. Program in Dance at Indian classical) tradition, with such Western jazz doyra (presently there are over 100 students in Dominican University. artists as John McLaughlin and Jonas Hellborg, his school). In 2001, in honor of the tenth an- and as a regular session artist for such Indian film niversary of Uzbekistan’s independence, Abbos Fazal Qureshi (tabla & kanjira) began his train- music composers as A. R. Rahman and Illayaraja. was awarded a medal celebrating his status as ing early under the keen eye of his father and an “Honored Artist of Uzbekistan.” In 2005, he guru, Ustad Allarakha. With encouragement Sabir Khan (sarangi) is an Indian sarangi play- moved to the United States and he has since re- and inspiration from his elder brother Zakir er belonging to the Sikar Gharana (School) of corded and/or performed with the likes of Stevie Hussain, Mr. Qureshi has developed a style dis- Music—the same school which has produced Wonder, Randy Gloss’s Hands OnSemble, tinguished by a fine sense of rhythm, versatility some of the most respected, prodigious tal- Giovanni Hidalgo and Zakir Hussain. and eloquence. He has performed both as a solo- ents in Indian classical music. Mr. Khan was ist and as an accompanist in prestigious classical exposed to music when he was six years old Ningombam Joy Singh (dancing drummer music festivals in India and around the world. through his grandfather Ustad Gulab Khan. of Manipur) is a member of the Meitei Pung The remarkable ease with which Mr. Qureshi He is well known today for his delicate mastery Cholom Performing Troupe, one of India’s accompanies veteran as well as young Indian of sarangi. His technique of playing is a rare premier performance troupes, combining classical instrumentalists, vocalists and danc- combination of sur and laya (note and rhythm). dance, drumming and martial arts in its rep- ers of both North and South, as well as Western Mr. Khan has performed alongside great Indian ertoire. Dedicated to the rejuvenation of tradi- instrumentalists, speaks of the discipline and artists such as Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit tional folk and classical Manipuri dance styles, dedication with which this talented artist has Kumar Bose, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, ghazal Meitei Pung Cholom was established in 1963 pursued music. For the past 16 years, he has per- maestri Ustad Gulam Ali and Talat Aziz, and by the late Guru Padmashri Amubi Singh, formed with and composed for his world music the legendary singer Asha Bhosle. Mr. Khan has performed thousands of concerts in India, band Mynta, based in Sweden. The group has six most recently released an album with the great and has enjoyed many successful international immensely popular and successful albums and Lata Mangeshkar. tours. Known for their dynamic athleticism tours regularly. and proficiency as well as their unique sound- Navin Sharma (dholak) was born in the ing drums, the dancing drummers of Manipur Rakesh Chaurasia (bansuri), nephew of flute Ulhasnagar district of Maharashtra in 1975 are a visual feast, dazzling audiences with their maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, is the to a musical family and started studying the acrobatic choreography. most accomplished disciple of his uncle and dholak at a very young age. His first guru was promises to carry the Chaurasia legacy to new his father, Shyam Rughuram Sharma, and heights. Mr. Chaurasia possesses the right bal- through these studies was introduced to other ance of strength and serenity, critical factors local musicians who were actively composing for an exceptional flutist. He has already globe- scores for Bollywood films. After realizing his trotted many times over, enthralling audiences desire to study more Indian classical music, his 22 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 23.