Co-presented by:
Tickets:
$17,
$22, $32, $52.
Group discounts available.
For
purchasing tickets, call 612-371-5656 or go to: www.minnesotaorchestra.org
About the Artists:
 Zakir Hussain, a
classical Tabla
maestro of the first order, has made unprecedented strides in bringing his instrument to a global audience.
Widely appreciated as an international phenomenon, his consistently
brilliant
and exciting performances have established him globally as one of India's
most
renowned cultural ambassadors. His playing is marked by uncanny
intuition and
masterful improvisational dexterity founded in formidable knowledge and
study. The
favorite accompanist for most of the greatest classical musicians and
dancers
of India,
Zakir has also been a chief architect of the world music movement with
his
prodigious, incomparable and historic collaborations. These include “Shakti”, with John McLaughlin and L.
Shankar, the “Diga Rhythm Band”, “Planet
Drum” with Mickey Hart, and recordings and performances with artists as
diverse
as George Harrison, Joe Henderson, Van Morrison, Jack Bruce, Tito
Puente, Billy
Cobham, the Hong Kong Symphony and the New Orleans Symphony. The foremost disciple of his father,
the legendary
Ustad Allarakha, Zakir was a child prodigy who began his professional
career at
the age of twelve and was already touring internationally with great
success by
the age of eighteen. Zakir came to the USA in 1970, embarking on
an
international career which includes no fewer than 150 concert dates a
year.
Zakir has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the "Padma Bhushan", awarded January 26,
2002, "Padma Shri", the Sangeet Natak
Akademi Award and the 1999
National Heritage Fellowship Award, the USA’s highest award for masters
in the
traditional arts. Zakir's career includes much work as a composer,
having
composed music for many film scores including “In Custody”, Ismail
Merchant’s
directorial debut and Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Little Buddha”, and, more
recently,
the opening music for the '96 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He also performs and records
on a
dazzling array of percussion instruments and has received a Grammy
(1991 Best
World Music Album) for his part as performer, composer and co-producer
of
“Planet Drum”, an ensemble with which
he tours regularly. His album "Saturday
Night in Bombay"
with his band “Remember Shakti” was nominated
for the World Music Grammy in 2002. Most recently, he received a
special
commission to compose for the Silk Road Project, which he performed
live with
cellist Yo-Yo Ma for the Mark Morris Dance Group.
 Fazal Qureshi
began his training early under the keen eye
of this father and Guru, Ustad
Allarakha. With encouragement and
inspiration from his elder brother Ustad
Zakir Hussain, Fazal has developed a style distinguished by a fine
sense of
rhythm, versatility and eloquence. He has performed both as a soloist
and as an
accompanist in prestigious "Sangeet
Sammelans" in India
as well as major festivals abroad. The remarkable ease with which Fazal
accompanies veteran as well as young Indian classical instrumentalists,
vocalists and dancers of both North and South, as well as Western
instrumentalists, speaks of the discipline and dedication with which
this
young, talented artist has pursued music.
 Bhavani
Shankar, one
of India’s
leading Pakhawaj players, hails from
a great musical family and began his study of Pakhawaj
and Tabla with
his father, Pandit Babulalji, at the
age of eight. He has toured extensively with Zakir Hussain, accompanied
a
wealth of India's
greatest classical instrumentalists and popular vocalists and is a
prolific
composer for films and recordings. A versatile percussionist, he is
brilliant
on a host of other drums, including the Dholak.
Hailing from a family of Kathaks, he
is well versed in the ancient (poetic compositions) and rhythmic
compositions
of these storytellers.
 Taufiq
Qureshi,
an ace percussionist of India, is also an acclaimed
composer. Being the son and disciple of the legendary Tabla
maestro Ustad
Allarakha, Taufiq’s performances showcase the traditional flavor and
intricacies of Indian rhythm and the sparkle of contemporary world
percussion.
Taufiq’s trademark style incorporates body and vocal percussion to
create
unique rhythmic motifs spanning across cultures. His sense of tone and
his
command over a wide variety of percussion instruments and styles is
phenomenal.
His albums have been released internationally and he has performed at
prestigious music festivals all over the globe. Taufiq has been greatly
influenced
by his illustrious brother Zakir Hussain and is privileged to receive
guidance
from Ghatam Vidwan Pandit
“Vikku”
Vinayakram. While the realm of studio music keeps him constantly
engaged
creatively, Taufiq is continuously evolving as a percussionist in the
ever-inspiring world of live
performance. He has
performed as a percussionist with a host of
international luminaries including Jeremy Spencer of Fleetwood Mac,
Sivamani,
Louis Banks, Vishwamohan Bhatt, T.H. Vinayakram, Dinshaw Sanjana,
Ranjit Barot
and others. He has participated in many international jazz festivals,
frequently plays with India's
premier rock band, “Indus Creed”, and regularly composes music for
films, TV
and theater. His pet project has been the creation of his own
world-music band,
“Surya”, which features versatile vocalist Shankar Mahadevan and
brother Fazal
Qureshi.
 Khete Khan
is
a
brilliant young musician born into the Manganiyar caste of
musicians living near the beautiful city of Jaisalmer in western Rajasthan. He is
the son
of Pempa Khan, a renowned surnai/shehnai
player in the folk tradition of the region. His entire family of
uncles,
cousins and brothers are all musicians, the most famous of whom is his
uncle,
Sakkar Khan, maestro of the bowed kamaicha.Khete’s
instrument is the khartal, an unusual
percussion instrument comprising four small flat rectangular pieces of
wood
held two in each hand. Both an outstanding soloist and accompanist,
Khete has
taken the art of playing khartal beyond its folk idiom, having
developed an
extraordinary and refined technique.
 Manipuri
Jagoi Marup (dancing drummers of Manipur) is
one of India’s
premier performance troupes, combining dance, drumming, and
martial arts in its repertoire. Dedicated to the rejuvenation
of
traditional folk and classical Manipuri dance styles, the
ensemble was
established in 1963 by the late Guru Padmashri Amubi Singh. The group has performed thousands
of
concerts in India,
and has enjoyed many successful international tours. Known
for
their dynamic athleticism and proficiency as well as their
unique-sounding drums, they dazzle their audiences with their
acrobatic choreography.
Special Guests:
 Sultan Khan is
one of the foremost Sarangi players of India,
renowned for the emotional depth of his playing, and his extraordinary
technical and melodic control over this difficult string instrument. A
scion of
illustrious lineage of Sarangi
players, he began his training at age seven, learning from his father, Ustad Gulab Khan and his first
performance at the age of 11. He came to be recognized on an
international
scale, performing along with PanditSangeet NatakaAcademy
Award and the American
Academy
of
Artists Award in 1998. In
1997 he had the honor and privilege of playing for Prince Charles' 50th
birthday celebration. A widely recorded artist, he has composed and
recorded
music for films such as “In Custody”, and “Gandhi”. He has a
longstanding
creative relationship with Zakir Hussain, performing, touring,
recording and
composing together for more than twenty years.
 Niladri
Kumar
is
one of India’s
finest young sitar virtuosos, already recognized for his dazzling
technical
prowess and the maturity of his melodic acumen. Under the able guidance
of his
renowned father Pandit Kartik Kumar
he started learning the Sitar at the
tender age of four and gave his first public performance at six.
A rare
instrumentalist equally at home playing
traditional classical or contemporary world music, he has proven to be
one of
the brightest talents of his generation, regarded with high esteem by
his peers. Among several accolades and awards, he
has been awarded the titles
SUR-RATNA, SURMANI, JADUBHATTA PURASKAR, and the SANSKRITI AWARD.
Acknowledgement:
This
concert is supported,
in part,
by an award from the National
Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) Access to Artistic Excellence Grant (in
Folk and Traditional Arts),
the Xcel Energy
Foundation’s Arts and Culture Grant
and
a grant from the OTTO
BREMER FOUNDATION, facilitated by the Saint Paul Foundation and PATH (Pan Asian Tsunami
Healing).
For
more information, please contact:
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