Zakir Hussain, top artistes to perform on Feb 12

Mumbai, Feb 6 (UNI) Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, vocalist Shankar Mahadevan and percussionist Sivamani will perform together at the ''Hearbeat'' concert, organised by weekly musical magazine ''Every Weekly'', at Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya Ground here on February 12.

''Unlike a Western classical set, Indian music is best expressed in its spontaneity, so we would not be playing a predetermined set.

And the nature of the audience will also be a factor in our set list,'' Hussain said.

He added, ''With artistes of their caliber, I am confident that we will come out with something unique and magical.'' Hussain will be in the company of elite Indian classical artistes like mandolin maestro U Shrinivas and Vikku Vinayakram (the Ghatam).

Joining them on stage will be child prodigy percussionist V Selvaganesh on the Kanjira-a Carnatic tamborine-like hand drum.

Hussain told mediapersons that ''Heartbeat'' is based on the rhythm of the human heartbeat that ''reflects the emotional graph of a human being's life''.

On a broader level, the concert would be a show of support and solidarity to undiscovered young artistes of Indian classical music, he added.

Hussain urged the media to take a more active role in promoting young artists in the Indian classical music genre.

''For me what is important is that now there is a strong media to promote players still on the fringes. We must make sure the next generation of artistes are well settled. Very few in the media 'adopt' these talented artistes. They should adopt artistes, not for their sake but, for the sake of art,'' he said.

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