BENGALURU: Taufiq Qureshi, son of the famous tabla player Ustad Allarakha Qureshi and brother of Ustad Zakir Hussain, got his big break in 2000. It was when he released his album Rhydhun. It won him recognition and he even started an academy named after it, in 2010.
The turning point came thanks to mosquitoes, he says. The percussionist and composer was in the city to collaborate with Indian playback singer and composer Vijay Prakash at the 54th edition of Bengaluru Ganesh Utsav.
“I did a performance in a remote village in Maharashtra,” he says. “When I returned to my guest house, there was no electricity and I could not sleep because of the mosquitoes. Usually, people find their buzzing irritating but I tried to figure out the pitch of these sounds... It led to the making of Rhydhun. The album changed my life and brought me recognition.”
The city’s Ganesh Utsav is a great opportunity for musicians, says Taufiq. “People here are more receptive. They are open to listening to new music, new ideas and experiments. They also appreciate it. That is why there are more concerts of different genres of music here than in Mumbai.”
Taufiq is also known for his role in popularising the African instrument djembe in India. “I have been playing djembe for a while,” he says. “When I started 15 years ago, no one knew about the instrument. But now, many are learning it. I have students from Bengaluru who are learning djembe from me.”
He synced the tabla’s rhythmic pattern with djembe’s. “Djembe is played differently in Africa,” he says. “I try to bring the knowledge I got from my guru and father Ustad Allarakha into my performance. That's how I am able to play djembe sounds innovatively.”
While his father’s tutelage helped him innovate on djembe, he started with the instrument when he found classical music “not enough”. “I wanted to come up with new things,” he says, “that’s how I started working on djembe. I also do vocal percussions... I do not want my audience to say that they have heard this music before.”
Taufiq is busy with his concerts and albums, and is working on an album with his solo songs which will be dedicated to his earlier album Rhydhu. He is also working on an album with his band Mumbai Stamp.
Mumbai Stamp has left its indelible ‘stamp’ on many Bollywood blockbuster songs and background scores such as for Dhoom 2, Bhool Bhulaiya and ABCD 1 and 2. What is unique about the band is that it performs with trash materials. He adds, “The primary aim is to recycle and reduce waste. There are lot of trash materials such as trash bins and barrels in my garage. We create rhythmic patterns with them.”