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A Pathway to Knowledge
piano since he was a child. He had picked up cello and tabla by his
early university years in Chicago and was now living and performing
in San Francisco. Peter had, like Leen, traveled to India many times
to study with Zakirji’s father, learn Hindustani music, and follow Za-
kirji on tour. He often spoke of the classical music culture in Mum-
bai, telling us stories about learning to accompany with Hariprasad
Chaurasia’s bansuri (Hindustani flute made of bamboo) classes. Har-
iprasad Chaurasia, affectionately known as Hariji by many and as gu-
ruji by his own disciples, is one of the most popular bansuri players in
India today. As a master of his instrument, Hariji attracts many disci-
ples from around the world including Israel, Japan, America, France,
and Canada.
There are many more opportunities to learn about the music in In-
dia. Being there counted in a multiplicity of ways. Although there were
fewer chances to learn about the music in the larger scheme of things
in California, in my newly found family there were daily opportuni-
ties to learn about tabla. Just being around older, more skilled students
affected my skills and my aesthetic sensibility toward tabla.
We talked at great length about learning and performing tabla as
non-Indian artists. The reality is that serious artists in India begin to
study between the ages of five and seven, whereas many drummers
in North America and Europe take up tabla in their early, mid-, or
late twenties and thirties. Very few tabla players of non-Indian ori-
gin choose to compete in the professional classical market. The chal-
lenge for those who take up this instrument as a way of life outside
of India is to somehow bring together classical tabla with their tradi-
tions, be it jazz or types of musical fusions.
Now and then, when the house was quiet, I had a chance to talk with
Leen about her relationship with her teacher. Zakirji was a constant
topic in many conversations anyway. It was not difficult to get his stu-
dents to open up about their life with their teacher. Leen’s very first en-
counter with Zakirji was in a dream. He woke her up in the middle of
the night playing loudly, frantically, intensely. Leen did not know any-
thing about this man or the instrument at the time of her first dream.
This “calling” instigated a long search, which eventually took her to
India. On her journey, she went from one tabla teacher to another but
