Performance

One of my friends here in Mumbai had planned an evening in which she could introduce me to her pending boyfriend - well her friend that's a boy and from what I have heard so far I already approve - but not an official boyfriend...yet. We were to meet up at the Blue Frog, Mumbai's live music hot spot for the young and the young at heart (good thing the second one was okay).

I had no idea who we were off to see but was told we had to arrive early or else risk not getting in at all. Arriving, we ordered a couple of Kingfisher beers, the home-grown libation here, and made our way to the floor. The inside is set up like an amphitheatre: an open floor surrounded by a curved wall of rounded out circular burrows at varying levels in which were tables to sit and order dinner (take the virtual tour available at the Frog site for exact details). A bit pricey, we opted to eat at a nice place afterwards.

Things were supposed to have started at 7:00 but the star was stuck in traffic (which I knew all about) so we waited and talked. Her man had text'd that he couldn't make the Frog but would make dinner (he does media spots for MTV India) if he could get out of work. I told her to tell him he had better hurry up, she was talking to a tall white guy holding a couple of beers.

I watched as the stage began to take shape. There were moving graphics of light above the stage all along the wall; translucent doves flying between tall green trees against a blue sky background with rolling clouds. People were busily arranging mics and such all across the platform, red lights making the atmosphere all the more 'night club'. I knew that while I was indeed on what appeared to be the dance floor, there was not a snowball's chance in Texas that I was actually going to dance. But I wondered if anyone else was going to.

The centerpiece of the whole setup was a couple of drums, obviously Indian, set on the floor upon red Maharaja-esque round pillows. Another set of various exotic drums were on stands off to my left, a veritable percussion section, while a standard drum set was placed all the way to the right. A keyboard was also in place. Electricity filled the air.

Suddenly the crowd threw up a deafening cheer as a small man dressed in white with a Gene Wilder hairdo (only darker) stepped out from the wings. Taking his place in behind the center set of drums he began to play. They were sound checking but that didn't matter, it was an amazing sound. Soon the other players came out and joined in to what became an impromptu 5 minute jam, with various participants looking past the heads of the crowd while pointing to a particular monitor and then thumbing up or down to the sound man in the back. Luckily I had my FLIP cam that annoyed so many of my co-workers last fall and it was put to good use now.

The guy in the middle? His name is Zakir Hussain, an internationally renown classical tabla virtuoso. Before tonight I didn't even know what a tabla was save for street vendors who insist I have my own set. Everyone one on stage was famous in their own right, apparently. But the best (at least for me) was yet to come.

Zakirs father, Ustad Alla Rakha, was a also very famous tabla instrumentalist in his own right. This past Sunday Zakir had observed the anniversary of his father's passing by holding a tribute concert in his honor featuring other artists at the top their respective fields from around the world. Included in this were America's own Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, two Americana artists that I have long admired; Bela on the banjo and Edgar on the stand-up bass. I own everything they have ever recorded together, and nearly everything they have recorded separately. OMG, when Zakir announced who 'just happened to be in the neighborhood' I nearly fainted. Here I was in Mumbai, half a world away from home, and about 10 feet away from a collection of the best musicians alive today.

Dude!!

This is the blurb from the Frog's web site:
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SPECIAL EVENT: Mon 04 Feb 7-10 PM (free entry!)

ZAKIR HUSSAIN hosts jam by legendary musicians

Bela FLECK (banjo - US),
Antonio SANCHEZ (drums - Mexico/US),
Edgar MEYER (upright bass - US)

with masters

Taufiq QURESHI (percussion - India),
Ranjit BAROT (drums - India),
Niladri KUMAR (sitar - India) &
SIVAMANI (percussion - India)!

Jam runs 7-10pm - come early, do NOT miss this one: history in the making!
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