‘Urja’ - Zakir Hussain, Taufiq Qureshi, Niladri Kumar, Dilshad Khan live!
Yesterday was India’s 63rd Republic Day; I decided to attend a classical music event - ‘Urja’.
Urja means Energy and indeed the event was so aptly named because with exponents like Ustad Zakir Hussain, the event had to be high energy and high excitement. The other artists performing at the event were Taufiq Qureshi (Percussion Specialist), Niladri Kumar (Sitar) and Dilshad Khan (Sarangi).
The event began with Dilshad Khan, Zakir Hussain & Taufiq Qureshi performing. Dilshad Khan played the Sarangi continuously while Zakir Hussain & Taufiq Qureshi played the Tabla & percussion turn-by-turn. I must admit that the Ustad obviously stole the show here with his speed on Tabla after which we all were an excited audience hungry for more!
Enter Niladri Kumar & the show went a level up. He played the Sitar & for the first time almost matched up to the Ustad. After some time, there was a jugalbandi of Drums, Tabla & Sitar & it was simply amazing! Niladri Kumar touched frequencies which are difficult to reach & the Ustad added speed in the most unbelievable way. At times, they both played so fast, that we had our hands in our mouths. The Ustad proved why he is an Ustad; he did certain things on his Tabla which left the audience clueless, thinking “How did he do that?!”; eventually resulting in applause because we did not know the answer anyway!
There were times when the Ustad was winking at the other two or laughing as if they shared a mutual joke! A point where Taufiq Qureshi & the Ustad played with such conviction, it seemed Ustad Alla Rakha was smiling from the heaven!
Finally Dilshad Khan again joined in. & now with 4 beautiful musical instruments playing, it seemed as if the Gods had descended! The 4 played a long medley of some choicest songs. A funny moment was when Niladri Kumar played a part of Smoke On The Water followed by cheer from the young crowd while simultaneously the older people were wondering what the cheer was all about! :D
They played a few songs and finally concluded with Vaishnav Jan & Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram. It was a sight to watch! 3 Muslims & a Hindu playing those songs on the Republic Day! There is nothing as secular as Music!
Truly this was my best Republic Day ever. :)
