THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: German cultural centre Goethe-Zentrum will organise a jugalbandi as a tribute to the late tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, at the Goethe Amphitheatre in the city on February 6, at 6.30pm.
The programme will bring together renowned tabla players Florian Schiertz from Germany and Prafulla Athalye from India, who will be joined by the eminent Indian sarangi maestro and Hindustani singer Dilshad Khan to pay a rare musical tribute to the late tabla maestro. Widely regarded as one of the most influential percussionists in history, Ustad Zakir Hussain passed away in the US in December 2024.
Singen-born Florian Schiertz is a disciple of Indian musical legends Pandit Ravi Shankar, Udai Mazumdar and Pandit Ashutosh Bhattacharya. Being a well-known artist in Europe, Florian has performed with renowned musicians, including Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee and Rakesh Chaurasia across the world. He has given more than 60 concerts in Europe and India with Pandit Kushal Das.
Along with German classical-western percussionist Wolfram Winkel, Florian developed a tabla and percussion project, which was broadcast by the German television BR Klassik with the comment “Encounter of music cultures of breathtaking energy”. Along with his musical performances, Florian also teaches at the Jazz and Rock School in Konstanz, Germany. Hailing from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Dilshad Khan is the tenth generation in his family to take up sarangi. He was trained under his uncle and noted sarangi player and vocalist Ustad Sultan Khan Sahab. Khan is known for his excellent command over this difficult instrument.
He has played sarangi with Ustad Zakir Hussain in the album Global Drum Project, which won the Grammy Award in 2009.
Prafulla Athalye is an ‘A’ grade artist of All India Radio (AIR) and a senior disciple of the tabla legend Ustad Allarakha. Prafulla has toured extensively internationally, making him a global ambassador of Tabla. His videos are featured in the ‘Music of India Gallery’ section in ‘Musical Instrument Museum’ (‘MIM’), world’s largest museum of musical instruments in Phoenix, Arizona. Prafulla has performed with stalwarts like Ustad Allarakha, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (Sarod), Pt Jasraj(Vocal), Pt Birju Maharaj (Kathak Dance), Dr N Rajam (Violin), Ustad Shahid Parvez (Sitar) and many other artistes of all generations.