The Savannah Music Festival is generally pretty tight-lipped about its bookings until the entire lineup is unveiled late in the year, but sometimes director Rob Gibson drops names in his introductions of acts. Tonight, in his introduction to Masters of Indian Music & Dance: Amjad Ali Khan & Zakir Hussain/Vijayalakshmi at the Lucas Theatre, Rob told the audience — which had many members of the Indian community in the Savannah area — that the 2012 SMF would include Zakir Hussain’s Masters of Percussion.
Anyone who has heard Hussain play the tabla will be excited about that show. After seeing Hussain play last night with Edgar Mayer and Bela Fleck and then seeing him again tonight, it’s pretty much a no-brainer that I’ll plan to see the 2012 show. I haven’t tried to track down all the locations and dates of the tour for Masters of Percussion, but one stop is at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on March 21, 2012.
Here’s a quick taste of Hussain on tabla. There are lots of bad videos out there on YouTube, but this one recorded for WNYC radio gives a good feel for the instrument as well as his virtuosity:
I’ll be posting more tonight or tomorrow about Hussain’s amazing shows in Savannah this week.