Zakir Hussain (1951-2024) ‘Miracle never dies’

Zakir Hussain looking towards the Arabian Sea in his bedroom at Shimla House, Nepean Sea Road, Mumbai. , Photo Credit: Copyright: Dayanita Singh

Dear Guruji,

On Sunday night, when I saw the full moon rising, I thought to myself that I have to spend the next Guru Purnima day with you and take pictures of you with all your students. It must have been 45 years since I met you. Now! Two weeks ago, when I was talking about your impact on my life—showing the Zakir Hussain maquette wall to the audience at the Indian Museum in Kolkata—I said, “I will continue taking pictures of Zakir until I die.” I told her how you had said at the release of the maquette, “I play the tabla and she plays the photograph.”

And now, all your life lessons that I carry within me will guide me. You taught me how to learn and to never stop learning. You taught me toughness and that single-minded focus: learning one’s medium like the back of one’s hand, and only then attempting to play with it. I didn’t realize when we were traveling across India in the musicians’ bus, that annual three-week road trip, how much of a privileged world you had transported me into. I was the kid on the bus, the young woman with the camera, and because of your introduction everyone accepted and accepted me.

you always said Riyaz It has to be there in your every breath. I was lucky to see this in your life, even when the tabla was not in front of you and you were creating new balls in your head. You forced the tabla to speak in an unimaginable way. When I first photographed you, the tabla was an accompaniment instrument. I’ve seen you turn it into a solo instrument and so much more. And yet when you have to accompany someone, you become the direct accompanist.

I saw you connect with all kinds of people, Making everyone, from the security guard to the most senior musician, feel “seen” and special. Yet when the VIPs interfered with the performance, you would tell them to finish what they had to do and then you would play. You mesmerized everyone, even those who had not heard your music. As chaat wala The waiter in the old Bengali market or Karim’s in Delhi who used to explain the different menus. Talas and for you Abbaji (Ustad Allarkha Khan)I wish I had learned your incredible humility, your ability to stay away from anything unpleasant, your ability to never make anyone feel small. And also, how you found humor in every situation.

Yours “Who is it“Rings in my ears, like you welcome people into the green room. In a way, you led me into the green room of life – the preparationThe preparation that goes into every performance, every action.

I feel completely broken now but I am sitting at the press and trying to print a catalog for my Bombay exhibition. This is also what I have learned from you – keep moving forward. The only time I saw you move Abbaji passed, and how difficult the first concert after his passing was. I don’t know how I will enter the room in the Indian Museum, Kolkata, which is filled with your photographs as part of my show at the Bengal Biennale. I was hoping that you would come and that I could thank you in person for the invaluable world you opened up to me. What you showed me was an artist’s commitment to life, his never-ending curiosity medium.

I am sorry that we were unable to collectively express the miracle of your survival. But then you are a miracle and miracles never die.

Your unlikely student,

– Dayanita Singh

When my guru went to his guru, both of them placed their hands on the tabla and they were exactly alike. For me, a dream come true. , Photo Credit: Copyright: Dayanita Singh

The musicians’ bus was conceived by Pt. Vijay Kitchlu (left), director of Sangeet Research Academy. Zakir is sharing jokes with him and Pt. VG Jog and Pt. Jitendra Prasad. , Photo Credit: Copyright: Dayanita Singh

(L-R) Zakir at the house of his dearest friends Pt. Shivkumar Sharma and Manorama YesWhen? Riyaz It’s in your breath, in every exhale and inhale, so it’s true RiyazZakir always said. , Photo Credit: Copyright: Dayanita Singh

While traveling on the musicians’ bus, we would often stop and have picnics. Here Zakir is batting with the lid of the pressure cooker on. Anand Gopal is fielding and Shivkumar Sharma is sitting on the right; (Right) Zakir loved playing cricket and he is here in Goa trying to get all the musicians to play with him. , Photo Credit: Copyright: Dayanita Singh

Zakir resting during the shooting of the film ‘Wah Taj’. He had the amazing ability to fall asleep anywhere. , Photo Credit: Copyright: Dayanita Singh

Zakir loved coming home and meeting my mother, who of course had a crush on him and made him corn bread And greensShe used to attend all his concerts and sit in the front row. , Photo Credit: Copyright: Dayanita Singh

And finally that magical evening at the Artisans Gallery in Mumbai, when Zakir launched the Zakir Hussain Maquette and we displayed it on the walls. , Photo Credit: Copyright: Dayanita Singh

Singh started his career by photographing Zakir Hussain. His first book was on tabla art and was published in 1986. He received the prestigious Hasselblad Award in 2022, the same year Zakir Hussain was awarded the Kyoto Prize.