look news india
Mumbai: The unexpected demise of Ustad Zakir Hussain, famous throughout the world as a tabla player, has spread a shadow of mourning among his countless fans and music lovers. Haridas Vatkar, who created the pair for the tabla that Utsadji played on the stages in the country and abroad, said in a happy voice that I made the tabla for Zakir Bhai and he made my life.
The Steinway company makes some of the best pianos in the world. In that context, Zakir Hussain used to call Kanjurmarg-based tabla maker Haridas Vatkar the Steinway of India.
Ustad Zakir Hussain, who made the most significant contribution in building a melodious bridge between Hindustani classical music and Western jazz music, breathed his last at the age of 73 in a hospital in San Francisco, USA yesterday.
Haridas Vatkar’s tabla making workshop is located in Kanjurmarg. The 59-year-old tabla maker said in an emotional voice that whatever I am today, the credit goes to Zakir Bhai. I used to make tabla for Zakir Bhai’s father and the excellent tablan maestro Allarkha Saheb. After that from 1998 till date he has been making tabla for Zakir Hussain Sahab.
Haridas said that his first meeting with the maestro was at a Gurupurnima concert. After that, when I went to his house at Shimla House on Nepean-Sea Road, both of us were so engrossed in the discussion about the construction of the tabla that we lost track of the hours. An unbreakable relationship was formed with him for life.
Haridas, a native of Miraj in western Maharashtra and a third-generation tabla maker, said the maestro was very precise about which lime tabla he wanted and what kind of tabla he wanted, and he had a very good understanding of how to pick up the strings effortlessly. Or play down the tabla to different tunes.
Ustad Zakir Hussain Nasreen had told Munni Kabir in an interview about Haridas Vatkar that Haridas lived in Mirj, when he saw me playing the tabla on the stage, he made a mental note that I would make a tabla for Zakir Bhai. In such a situation, he left Miraj and came to Mumbai.
Zakir Hussain once said that machine made tablas are easily available in the market, but Haridasji’s hand made tablas will never match the standard tablas available in the market.
Zakir Hussain was also giving stipend to Haridas Vatkar. That’s why when he stayed in America for months, he did not worry about money.
In response to the question how many tablas have been made for the maestro so far, the tabla artisan said that countless pairs of tablas have been made. Not only making it, I was also responsible for applying ink and fixing the evening repairs. The world’s greatest tabla players would call me and say that they needed a new pair of tablas or had the instrument repaired. Although we did not talk to him regularly, he would call me whenever I needed him.
Haridas inherited tabla making from his grandfather Kerappa Ramchandra Watkar and father Ramachandra Watkar and now his children are also moving forward in this field.