As part of our series on Hindustani musicians engaged as composers for Hindi films, we listened to songs composed by two percussionists. The third episode featured songs composed by AR Qureshi more popularly known as tabla maestro Alla Rakha, and the tenth episode looked at songs created by Ghulam Mohammad. In the eighteenth episode of this series, we listen to songs composed by yet another percussionist, the iconic tabla maestro Zakir Hussain.
The first track is sung by Hariharan for the film In Custody (known as Muhaafiz in Hindi) (1993). The credit for music composition for this film has been given jointly to Zakir Hussain and sarangi exponent Sultan Khan.
The next two tracks are from Saaz (1998), a film in which Zakir Hussain also plays the role of a film composer. In addition to songs composed by Zakir Hussain, the film also has songs composed by Yashwant Deo, Bhupen Hazarika and Raj Kamal. Of the two tracks included below composed by Zakir Hussain, the first is sung by Devaki Pandit.
The song picturisation of the next song sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy shows Zakir Hussain in his role as a composer.
One of India’s leading tabla players, Aneesh Pradhan is a widely recognised performer, teacher, composer and scholar of Hindustani music. Visit his website here.
