Tabla player Fazal Quereshi chatted with Shana Maria Verghis about a collaborative album called leylines with a Swedish saxophonist and a Palestinian oudh player
April 30 marks the late Ustad Allah Rakha’s 94th birthday. His son’s Ustad Zakir Hussain and Fazal Quereshi will celebrate the event with a concert at the Nehru Centre in Mumbai, called The Journey Continues.
As Quereshi, who seems to use the word “positive energy,” a lot when he talks explained, “My father was the man associated with making tabla rhythms popular. This concept has been continued by my brother and I. And now through our students.. We will celebrate rhythm, and a session depicts how this has evolved within Indian philosophy.”
Quereshi, who has recently completed an album called leylines (Times Music), said, “We are including the African point of view in the music, which is basic, earthy and from the heart. The Indian part has tabla and pakhawaj, moving to a section on Western rhythms. And last, folk. In the end 14-15 musicians will jam, crossing genres like flamenco and South Indian music.”
Not long back, Taufiq was on a concert tour with the Swedish jazz saxophonist, Anders Hagberg, (earlier in his world music band, Mynta), and a Palestinian oudh player named Ahmad Al Khatib, who is also Sweden-based.
Initially, Mynta was mostly made up of Swedish and Indian musicians. Today, it features a mixture of people from Cuba, the US and Sweden.
Quereshi shared, “When Ahmad, Anders and I played, I felt it was like three worlds connecting. So I thought about the leylines. They refers to the energies which cross the earth at strategic points, marking places of historical interest, such as Stonehenge. Music is a similar energy connecting us. And we three send it out through our performance.”
Anders, who has been invited to deliver a lecture on music — he teaches at the University of Gutenberg — will also play at The Journey Continues, where compositions from leylines will be showcased. “Rhythm is the pulse that links percussionists who cannot communicate otherwise,” remarked Quereshi.
“In leylines we designed compositions that have a flow between harmonies. like an Oudh player with a Rajasthani folk musician. It’s not a common thing. The music has mainly been designed in such a way that it creates a happy feel.”
He mused, “We all have energy, and there are abstract things, half of which we do not know. Sometime back I conceived an idea for percussion called ‘Mega Drums’, which featured many artistes, including drummers from Meghalaya, who kept the dholak around their necks.”Taufiq spends most of his time “with performance.”
like his dad and brother. He is also occupied by Mynta, which formed in 1979, and means ‘mint’ in Swedish.He said, it “is about world music, rather than fusion. The latter blends different styles. But you cannot fuse a red and blue rose. So you take influences from various places and see what happens.”
Taufiq also runs a music institute which was initiated by his father, on a tract of land in Mumbai at the Shivaji Park.The music school is starting a website. But Quereshi does not seem taken up by the idea of teaching online. “I guess its useful with foreign students. I personally prefer face-to-face lessons.”
After 26 years, the Tabla academy has produced many students, including Anuradha Pal and Yogesh Shamsi.
Taufiq who generally keep a low profile shared, “I am mostly involved with classical music. Occasionally I do fusion. I must say there is no dearth of audiences for Indian classical. Many festivals are happening at venues like IIT and IIM, attracting younger crowds. Classical music has a history that goes back some 4,000 years. So the audience for it will not dwindle.”