72-year-old Zakir Hussain, the world’s top tabla player plus musical producer, this July, in collaboration with Society for Performing Arts (NZ) and Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (AUS), Internationally acclaimed musical phenomenon Triveni makes its premiere in Australia and New Zealand! Featuring global percussion luminary Ustad Zakir Hussain (Tabla) with string players extraordinaire Kala Ramnath (Hindustani Violin) and Jayanthi Kumaresh (Carnatic Veena), the concert marks the return of the Tabla maestro to ANZ after more than a decade.
Hussain made history at the recent 2024 Grammy Awards becoming the first Indian individual to win three of these Grammys in a single night. He was among the winners in the Best Global Music Performance, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and Best Global Music Album categories.
Like the namesake Triveni, the mythical site of the union of three sacred rivers in India, the magical trio brings a confluence of varied musicality to audiences. With Kala Ramnath, an innovative representative of North Indian raga tradition, Jayanthi Kumaresh, the leading exponent of the ancient South Indian Veena, and Zakir Hussain seamlessly stitching North and South Indian rhythm traditions to provide a bridge for the veena and violin to meet, Triveni promises to be a fluent, joyous and entirely original musical conversation – a sonic experience of the highest order.
Hussain’s consistently brilliant and exciting performances have not only established him as a national treasure in his own country, India, but gained him worldwide fame. As a composer Zakir has scored music for numerous feature films, major events and productions. Widely considered a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement, Zakir’s contribution has been unique, with many historic and ground-breaking collaborations.
Zakir’s father, the legendary Ustad Allarakha Hussain, is praised for his ground-breaking work at the forefront of brilliant musical dialogues between Hindustani and Carnatic music. Zakir was a child prodigy who began his professional career at the age of twelve, accompanying India’s greatest classical musicians and dancers and touring internationally with great success by the age of eighteen.
The live concert is scheduled to play on 5 Jul 2024 at the prestigious Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University (Melbourne), and on 7 Jul 2024 at the iconic Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House (Sydney) – after we tour New Zealand’s Christchurch (27 Jun 2024) and Auckland (29 Jun 2024).
