Ustaad Zakir Hussain Rocks The Jailhouse With Riveting Tabla Show

For the first time, Ustaad Zakir Hussain performed inside a jail in Pune.

Zakir Hussain performs at Yerawada prison in Pune. (Photo: Prachee Kulkarni/The Quint)

An Evening With The Maestro

On Friday afternoon, officials at Pune’s Yerawada prison started counting the inmates, letting them in, one by one. Like every day, prisoners walked past the two huge wooden doors of the prison but they did not head to their usual barracks.

They walked towards a pavilion instead. There were other jail inmates waiting there too. All of them sat in a proper rows with their eyes on the road. After a few minutes there was a continuous round of applause. The man they were waiting for had finally arrived. And it was none other than the tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain.

Claps continued till he finally arrived on stage and bowed before the people present. This was a special day. An internationally renowned artist had arrived at Yerawada jail, especially to perform for the jail inmates. He was invited to be a part of an initiative ‘Preranapath’ – organised by the Maharashtra Prison department and Bhoi Pratisthan. It is an initiative that aims at inspiring prisoners to start life anew after their sentence is served.

After the formal introduction and felicitation ceremony was over, the celebrated tabla maestro was requested to address the jail inmates and was handed over the microphone.

Instead of uttering a single word, he started playing tabla. “This is the only language that I know and can understand,” he said. He went on to display his unique tabla skills and mesmerised everyone present. Considering the audience he was performing for, he chose to connect the tabla with day-to-day life.

He invited everyone for the performance with his tabla beats. A chunk explaining the traffic chaos in cities in India followed. And he chose to end his performance with Damru and Sankhanaad – all of this played on tabla.

After enquiring if any of the jail inmates could sing, he even invited one of them to the stage and requested him to sing his favourite number. Ustaad Zakir Hussain sang along while accompanying the singer inmate with tabla during his performance.

But the surprises were still not over. It was a dream come true moment for Jailer Tejashree Powar who had come from Satara to attend the performance. She got the opportunity to perform on the legendary artist’s set of tabla. Hussain sat alongside, appreciating her performance and reciting the beats of the bandish she was performing.

“I was playing the tabla after a gap of almost 1.5 years. I had never even dreamt that it would be Ustadji’s tabla that I would get a chance to perform on,” she said.

She recalled: “I had to beg for the passes when he performed in my hometown Kolhapur a few years ago. And today I got to perform on the maestro’s tabla. This is the best day of my life.”

After the formal function and performance was over, the maestro headed straight to the audience and interacted with the jail inmates.

“I have performed almost all over the world. But this was the first time I performed in a jail. This place has a historical significance. I did not feel like I was inside jail premises. The response was just like the one I get in classical music concerts across the world,” he said. “I feel this project is a very good idea as it gives them an opportunity to understand that this jail is just a transit stop and that their life is not over. They have new opportunities waiting for them. And hopefully, will start their new life after the jail term, on a positive note,” Ustaadji added.

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam