The Musical Box

ustad zakir hussain and pandit shivkumar sharma.

As last night’s immensely involving performance by Pandit Skivkumar Sharma and Ustad Zakir Hussain unfolded at the Singletary Center for the Arts, a few points of discourse were explained for the sake of the audience.

First, Sharma mentioned that the five minutes of musical exploration on the hammer dulcimer-like santoor that opened the concert wasn’t a makeshift improvisation, but simply an extended segment of tuning.

Then came a brief - and, as it turned out, very helpful - overview on the Indian classical music that Sharma and tabla player/accompanist Hussain are internationally recognized masters of.

Specifically outlined was the rag (pronounced “rahg”), a musical component that defines the melodic and emotive core of a composition. That was handy to know, especially when the cry of an unsettled infant suddenly became a dominant sound between tunes.

“Her rag,” Sharma remarked, as parents carried the child out of the hall, “did not match our rag.” In the two hours that followed, it stood as fact that nobody’s rag could have matched the very real but understated drama Sharma and Hussain summoned.

To these very Western ears, the bulk of program seemed like studies in dynamics. Sharma established the rags with improvisations that centered on taps and sometime circular sounding motions on the strings of the santoor (although, late in the program’s second set, Sharma used the palm of his left hand to create, whether intended or not, sounds that mimicked the funk phrasing of a clavinet). The notes developed shapes over time - sometimes in a matter of minutes, sometimes over the course of a half-hour - before falling in line as a melody.

Hussain then added rhythm on the two hand drums of the tabla. At times the percussive element was barely more than a subtle but precise tap. But at the height of the duo’s interplay, Hussain created a firestorm of rhythm, whether he was in tandem with the agitated grace Sharma’s playing evolved into, or creating a meditative dialogue between tabla and santoor.

In either instance, Hussain’s mightier rolls were rightly rewarded rock star adoration by the audience, proving exactly what made these rags roll.