Man who made tablas for Zakir Hussain recalls association with his most celebrated customer

Haridas Vhatkar who began making tablas for Zakir Hussain since 1998 recalled his association with his most celebrated customer and tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain. The Mumbai resident told PTI that tabla making won't be the same again. “I first began making tablas for his father Alla Rakha, and made tablas for Zakir Hussain saab since 1998,” an emotional Vhatkar, 59, told PTI.
Speaking from his workshop at Kanjurmarg in Mumbai, Vhatkar said he last met the 73-year-old tabla maestro in August this year in Mumbai. “It was Guru Poornima and we met at a hall where lot of his admirers were also there. The next day, I went to his house in Simla House Cooperative Society on Nepean Sea Road neighbourhood and were engrossed in conversation for a couple of hours,” Vhatkar said. Hussain was very particular about what sort of tabla he wanted and when. “He paid a lot of attention to the tuning' aspect of the musical instrument,” said Vhatkar, a third generation tabla maker, hailing from Miraj in western Maharashtra.

He said he has made innumerable number of tablas for the maestro over the last two decades and added that he had many tablas which were left behind for him. “Besides making new instruments, I was also his sort of repair department for maintaining the collection of the older ones. I made tablas for him and he made my life,” the tabla maker added.

Vhatkar entered tabla making following in the footsteps of his grandfather Kerappa Ramchandra Vhatkar and father Ramchandra Kerappa Vhatkar. His sons Kishore and Manoj have also carried forward the family tradition of tabla making. Haridas learnt the art of tabla making at an early age and developed a keen sense of innovation and perfection. He came to Mumbai in 1994 and started working as a tabla maker for the famous Haribhau Vishwanath company in Mumbai.

Zakir Hussain, who is regarded as the greatest tabla player of his generation, died at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said on Monday. The Mumbai-born tabla maestro is survived by his wife Antonia Minnecola and daughters Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi.