Friday, 15 July 2016

Zakir Hussain (musician)

Zakir Hussain (Hindiज़ाकिर हुसैनUrduذاکِر حسین‎; born 9 March 1951) is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.



He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1988, and the Padma Bhushan in 2002, by the Government of India.[1] He was also awarded theSangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990, given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. In 1999, he was awarded the United States National Endowment for the Arts's National Heritage Fellowship, the highest award given to traditional artists and musicians.

Early life and education

Hussain was born to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha.He attended St. Michael's High School in Mahim, and graduated fromSt. Xavier's, Mumbai.[3]
Hussain was a child prodigy. His father taught him Pakhawaj from the age of 3 years.[4] He was touring by the age of eleven. He went to the United States in 1969 to do his PhD at the University of Washington, receiving a doctorate in music. After that he began his international career, including more than 150 concert dates a year.
Zakir Hussain Qureshi
ذاکِر حسین
Ustad Zakir Hussain 1.jpg
Zakir Hussain Qureshi in Konark Natya Mandap, Odisha, India 2012
Background information
Birth nameZakir Hussain Qureshi
Also known asZakir hussain
Born9 March 1951 (age 65)
OriginMumbai, Maharashtra, India
GenresHindustani classical music,jazz fusionworld music
Occupation(s)Tabla Maestro
InstrumentsTabla
Years active1963–present
LabelsHMV
Associated actsRemember Shakti
Websitewww.zakirhussain.com

Career[edit]

The first Planet Drum album, released in 1991 on the Rykodisc label, went on to earn the 1992 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album, the first Grammy ever awarded in this category.[ The Global Drum Project album and tour brought Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, and Giovanni Hidalgo together again in a reunion sparked by the 15th anniversary of the ground-breaking album Planet Drum. The album Global Drum Project won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 51st Grammy Awards Ceremony held on 8 February 2009.)
He composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor for the Malayalam film Vanaprastham, a 1999 Cannes Film Festival entry which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI Fest) in 1999, and won awards at 2000 Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkey), 2000 Mumbai International Film Festival (India), and 2000 National Film Awards (India). He has composed soundtracks for several movies, most notably In Custody and The Mystic Masseur by Ismail Merchant, and has played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola's Apocalypse NowBernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha, and other films.
He starred in several films specifically showcasing his musical performance both solo and with different bands, including the 1998 documentary "Zakir and His Friends",[9] and the documentary "The Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain and the Art of the Indian Drum" (2003 Sumantra Ghosal).[10] Hussain co-starred as Inder Lal in the Merchant Ivory Film Heat and Dust in 1983, for which he was an associate music director.)
Hussain is a founding member of Bill Laswell's 'World Music Supergroup' Tabla Beat Science.
In 2016, Zakir Hussain was amongst many legendary Jazz, World and Fusion musicians invited by President Obama to the International Jazz Day 2016 All-Star Global Concert at the White House

Personal life

Zakir Hussain married Antonia Minnecola, a Kathak dancer and teacher, who is also his manager. They have two daughters, Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi. Anisa graduated from UCLA and is trying her hand in video production and film making. Isabella is studying dance in Manhattan.
He was named an Old Dominion Fellow by the Humanities Council at Princeton University, where he resided for the 2005–2006 semester as full professor in the music department. He was also a visiting professor at Stanford University. He now resides in San Francisco.

Nathuram Godse

Nathuram Vinayak Godse (19 May 1910 – 15 November 1949) was a Hindu nationalist and the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. On 30 January 1948, Godse shot Gandhi three times in the chest at point blank range outside of the Birla House in New Delhi.

Godse thought Gandhi favored the political demands of India's Muslims during the partition of India. He plotted the assassination with Narayan Apte and six others. After a trial that lasted over a year, Godse was sentenced to death on 8 November 1949. Although pleas for commutation were made by Gandhi's two sons, Manilal Gandhi and Ramdas Gandhi, they were turned down by India's prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, deputy prime minister Vallabhbhai Patel and the Governor-General Chakravarti Rajagopalachari,[1] and Godse was hanged in the Ambala Jail on 15 November 1949.

Early life

Nathuram Vinayakrao Godse was born at the nativity mission center, Pune District. His father, Vinayak Vamanrao Godse, was a postal employee; his mother was Lakshmi (née Godavari). At birth, he was named Ramachandra.[3] Nathuram was given his name because of an unfortunate incident. Before he was born, his parents had three sons and a daughter, with all three boys dying in their infancy. Fearing a curse that targeted male children, young Ramachandra was brought up as a girl for the first few years of his life, including having his nose pierced and being made to wear a nose-ring (nath in Marathi). It was then that he earned the nickname "Nathuram" (literally "Ram with a nose-ring"). After his younger brother was born, they switched to treating him as a boy.[4]
Godse attended the local school at Baramati through the fifth standard, after which he was sent to live with an aunt in Pune so that he could study at an English-language school. During his school days, he highly respected Gandhi.[5]

Political career

Group photo of people accused in the murder of Mohandas Gandhi.Standing (L to R)Shankar Kistaiya,Gopal GodseMadan Lal Pahwa,Digambar Ramchandra Badge.Seated (L to R)Narayan Apte,Vinayak D. Savarkar, Nathuram Godse, Vishnu Karkare
Godse dropped out of high school and became an activist with Hindu nationalist organizations Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) andHindu Mahasabha, although the exact dates of his membership are uncertain.[6][7]
Godse started a Marathi language newspaper for the Hindu Mahasabha called Agrani, which some years later was renamed Hindu Rashtra. Godse rejected Gandhi's philosophy, believing Gandhi repeatedly sabotaged the interests of Hindus by using the "fasting unto death" tactic on many issues. In Godse's view, Gandhi was giving in to Muslim interests in ways that seemed unfair and anti-national.[8][9]

Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi

Godse approached Gandhi on 30 January 1948 during the evening prayer at 17:17. When Godse bowed, one of the girls flanking and supporting Gandhi, said to Godse, "Brother, Bapu is already late" and tried to put him off, but he pushed her aside and shot Gandhi in the chest three times at point-blank range with a Beretta M 1934 semi-automatic pistol. Raghu Nayak, who worked as a gardener at the Birla House, was the first to chase down Godse and overpower him.[10] Gandhi was taken to Birla House, where he died.[11]

Trial and execution

Godse was put on trial at the Punjab High Court, at Peterhoff, Shimla. On 8 November 1949, he was sentenced to death. Although pleas for commutation were made by Gandhi's two sons, Manilal Gandhi and Ramdas Gandhi, they were turned down by India's prime ministerJawaharlal Nehru, deputy prime minister Vallabhbhai Patel and the Governor-General Chakravarti Rajagopalachari,[1] and Godse was hanged at Ambala Jail on 15 November 1949.[2]

Aftermath

Millions of Indians mourned Gandhi's assassination; the Hindu Mahasabha was vilified and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was temporarily banned. However, investigators could find no evidence that the RSS bureaucracy had formally sponsored or even knew of Godse's plot. The ban on the RSS was lifted in 1949. To this day it denies any connection with Godse and disputes the claim that he was a member.[7] However, Godse's brother Gopal Godse claims that all the Godse brothers were members of the RSS at the time of the assassination. According to Gopal Godse:
“All the brothers were in the RSS. Nathuram, Dattatreya, myself and Govind. You can say we grew up in the RSS rather than in our home. It was like a family to us. Nathuram had become a baudhik karyavah [intellectual worker] in the RSS. He has said in his statement that he left the RSS. He said it because Golwalkar and the RSS were in a lot of trouble after the murder of Gandhi. But he did not leave the RSS.”[12]

Attempts at rehabilitation

In 2014, following the Bharatiya Janata Party's rise to power, the Hindu Mahasabha began attempts to rehabilitate Godse and portray him as a patriot. It requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to install the bust of Godse. It created a documentary film Desh Bhakt Nathuram Godse (Patriot Nathuram Godse) for release on the death anniversary of Gandhi on 30 January 2015.[13] There were attempts to build a temple for Godse and to celebrate 30 January as a Shaurya Diwas ("Bravery Day").[14] A civil suit was filed in Pune Court asking for a ban on the documentary film.[15]