THE STRENGTH OF SHAKTI

Music is all about collaboration, say Zakir Hussain and the band members of Shakti, after the Grammy win

- Aarti Kapur Singh

“It’s A TIHAAI!” QUIPS TABLA MAESTRO Padma Shri Zakir Hussain on being congratulated just a day after the triple whammy at the Grammy Awards. Just a month short of his 73rd birthday, he made history at the ceremony in Los Angeles, becoming the first Indian to win three of these trophies in a single night—in the Best Global Music Performance, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and Best Global Music Album categories. Hussain now has five of these awards in all, equalling the tallies of the late sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and the master conductor Zubin Mehta; they are all in top spot, incidentally, on the list of Indians with the most Grammy wins.

“It is all about love, all about harmony, all about diverse sounds coming together as one,” says Hussain. “The kind of talent that I am honoured to work with is hard to even come by and, here I am, blessed with the privilege of working with them!”

‘Pashto’, a track Hussain wrote and recorded in collaboration with American banjo player Béla Fleck, American bassist Edgar Meyer and Indian flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, won in the Best Global Music Performance. A tribute to the tradition of Indian classical musicians playing with British imperial bands in early 20th-century India, the song weaves a rich tapestry of rhythm that is signature Zakir Hussain. ‘Pashto’ features on