Search - Zakir Hussain :: Selects

The best of the best

Nandakumar Sankaran | San Francisco Bay Area, CA USA | 11/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My tabla teacher recommended this CD by saying that Zakir has started releasing his best sessions to date in this album. Hence the title "Selects". This is truly an astounding album.



Two tracks are particularly memorable - one in which he plays a teen taal peshkar and another in which he plays kaydas. The peshkar is a traditional one - a great tutorial for tabla students on how to build up discrete sounds into a peshkar phrase and then play variations finally segueing into a kayda. The kayda track is my favorite - he plays a series of kaydas which every student typically learns but is rarely heard in recordings. Despite the fact that these kaydas are "fundamental", the dexterity and clarity with which he plays them and the phenomenal number of variations he showcases is astounding. There is absolute clarity in every note. If you pay careful attention, you'll notice that he plays one kayda twice (back to back), changing only the emphasis on a phrase, making the composition sound so different.



I have quite a few of Zakir's solo recordings and the selections he plays and the mood of the performance are quite stereotyped - primarily customized to appeal to the mass audience and not to a serious tabla student. This CD is exactly the opposite - you'll fall in love with the sounds whether or not you understand tabla compositions. I am eagerly waiting for his next "selects" release."

Select Zakir Hussain

Nandakumar Sankaran | 12/14/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Selects is more than a luminous example of Zakir Hussain's
unparallelled virtuosity. It is even more than a staggeringly
beautiful collection of rhythms and timbres that leave you
breathless waiting for the next auditory surprise. It is
transportation to a musical moment filled with elements to
please and move anyone responsive to the power of music. For
dancers, this percussion masterpiece is a must. For listeners
to Western Classical/Pop/Folk/Country/Rock, Indian Classical/Pop/Bollywood, North/South/East/West African, Middle Eastern,
Jazz, Fusion...Selects should be owned and kept accessible.
Zakir Hussain is a living treasure, and Selects proves it."