Word Is Out

Hair ball
While the Kala Ghoda Festival kicked off on a rather tedious note with the lifeless leaps of Padmini Chettur and company, it couldn8217;t have come to a better end. It was Ustad Zakir Hussain8217;s first performance after his father8217;s death. Surely an evening to remember. Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi couldn8217;t help but stop for minutes together when the maestro completely took over with the sound of a horse8217;s hooves in a cavalry march, his tousled hair punctuating the rhythm. The audience 8212; which interestingly comprised beggars and hippies, the coporate and the culturatti 8212; was mesmerised.

The backdrop was a M F Husain painting of a kala ghoda8216;, which the artist obviously finished on time to get to Goregaon to be present at the Filmfare Awards. The concert may not have been for strictly classical ears, but it worked with the audience. As did Hussain8217;s tribute to his father. But the two long condolence speeches from the organisers on Ustad Allah Rakha Khan8217;s demise stretched the point too far. To many lofty adjectives. Zakir8217;s words were enough. Art reached the man on the street.

Word Is Out is .