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World-Renowned Tabla Artist
Zakir Hussain
 presents
“Masters of Percussion”

with

Fazal Qureshi (Tabla, Djembe, Percussion)
Bhavani Shankar (Pakhawaj (barrel shaped drum of North India))
Taufiq Qureshi (drums, percussion)
Manipuri Jagoi Marup (dancing drummers from Manipur, India)

Khete Khan (Khartal)

and special guests

Sultan Khan (Sarangi (bowed lute of North India)) and
Niladri Kumar (Sitar (stringed lute of North India))

Date and Venue:

Monday, May 15, 2006, 7:30 pm

Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
1111 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403

Bhavani ShankarSultan KhanZakir HussainFazal QureshiKhete Khan
Taufiq QureshiNiladri Kumar
Manipuri Jagoi MarupManipuri Jagoi MarupManipuri Jagoi Marup
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 HussainZakir 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 QureshiFazal 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 ShankarBhavani 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 QureshiTaufiq 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 KhanKhete 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 MarupManipuri 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 KhanSultan 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 KumarNiladri 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).

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For more information, please contact:

Shivanthi Sathanandan (651) 698-0774 shivanthi@imsom.org
A. Pavan (612) 508-3716 pavan@imsom.org


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