How Ustad Zakir Hussain’s daughter Anisa Qureshi is keeping his memory alive

In galore ways, Anisa Qureshi has spent her beingness astatine the intersection of bushed and storytelling — 2 worlds shaped profoundly by her father, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain. Now 50, and preparing to beryllium portion of a peculiar festival successful Delhi celebrating his beingness and legacy, Anisa stands not conscionable arsenic his daughter, but arsenic a originative unit successful her ain close — 1 who is carrying his ethos into caller creator frontiers.

A producer, director, and originative strategist, Anisa’s vocation has unfolded crossed film, music, gaming and interactive entertainment. She has held influential roles astatine large planetary companies specified arsenic 2K Games and Electronic Arts, wherever she worked connected cross-platform storytelling and assemblage engagement — blending communicative with emerging exertion agelong earlier it became manufacture shorthand. Her aboriginal producing enactment began with Waterborne, a task that recovered a location connected the Sundance Channel, mounting the code for a vocation that would fluidly determination betwixt autarkic storytelling and large-scale production.

As a director, her documentary Zakir Hussain – Sessions premiered astatine the Mill Valley Film Festival successful 2014 — a profoundly idiosyncratic task that offered audiences an intimate model into her father’s artistry.

Yet, for each her nonrecreational accomplishments, it is her enslaved with her begetter that forms the affectional halfway of her story. “The memories of him are each similar shining stars. He was truthful intuitive — helium could consciousness each of our moods and conscionable wanted to attraction for us,” says Anisa, whose parent is Italian-American Kathak dancer and grounds statement owner, Antonia Minnecola.

Those memories are not grand, distant recollections of a planetary icon, but profoundly human, tender moments. She recalls a nighttime erstwhile her babe girl Zara wouldn’t sleep. Exhausted, Anisa had drifted off, lone to aftermath up and find her begetter mildly holding and rocking the babe successful the stillness of the night. “I walked retired into the surviving country and determination was dada holding her. He looked astatine maine and silently gestured for maine to spell backmost to bed.”

That beingness — truthful often described by those who knew him — was arsenic defining arsenic his virtuosity. “He was ever flying successful and out,” she adds, “but erstwhile helium was with us, helium was each ours.”

Unlike galore children of legends, she was ne'er pressured to travel successful his footsteps. “My begetter ne'er pushed maine to play the tabla,” she says. “He knew the roadworthy would beryllium precise pugnacious and felt it had to beryllium a calling.” When she did explicit interest, helium embraced it fully. “When I was ready, helium was incredibly generous successful teaching me. We had beauteous sessions together.”

Ultimately, her calling led her elsewhere. “I was not called to beryllium a nonrecreational musician,” she reflects, “but I person a heavy emotion for music, creation and theatre. Choosing movie and amusement strategy felt earthy and helium was precise supportive of that.”

That path, though not philharmonic successful the accepted sense, has ever been infused with sound. “Music is portion of my DNA,” she says. “I grew up successful signaling studios and soundchecks, exposed to truthful galore styles due to the fact that of him.” That immersion shaped her instincts. “For my work, my begetter would say, ‘Anisa, you cognize what it’s expected to dependable like.’ That stayed with me. Learning to ‘talk music’ and go friends with it was antithetic for maine — but it was ever there.”

Her puerility reads similar a tapestry of creator immersion. She and her sister spent their aboriginal years backstage astatine concerts, often near to research freely portion their begetter performed. On Mount Tamalpais successful California, they would prevarication successful the writer listening to euphony drift done open-air venues, oregon invent playful schemes specified arsenic selling set merchandise with made-up slogans for his fusion group, Rhythm Experience. “We got wholly into it —making up songs and slogans to merchantability the shirts,” she recalls with a smile. “At the extremity of the night, helium came to cheque connected america and we were inactive astatine it. We each had a bully laugh.”

Even now, arsenic she navigates beingness aft his passing, those memories stay vivid anchors. Earlier this year, Anisa attended the Grammy Awards, an lawsuit her begetter had graced galore times and for which helium had received aggregate nominations. “He was nominated for 3 Grammys this year, and we went successful his honour,” she says. “To beryllium determination without him was truthful strange.” The lack was profoundly felt. “His household and friends, on with truthful galore artistes and producers miss him truthful much.”

And yet, she is clear: his bequest is acold from static. “Though determination are albums, recordings and teachings inactive to beryllium released, his passing near a void successful the euphony world, and of course, successful his family,” she says. “But helium lives connected successful us, successful truthful galore musicians helium mentored, successful the euphony helium created and successful that grin that made everyone consciousness similar they mattered.”

Her existent enactment reflects that belief. She is wrapping up Zakir Hussain Eternal astatine Carnegie Hall, a landmark tribute performance featuring 30 artistes, timed to what would person been his 75th birthday. “It was an incredibly peculiar show,” she says.

More significantly, she is spearheading the Zakir Hussain Institute of Music, a non-profit inaugural dedicated to preserving and evolving his creator vision. “Through euphony education, mentorship, events specified arsenic Carnegie Hall, and the archives, we proceed his mission,” she explains. “He believed successful the transcendent powerfulness of euphony to unite radical — and wow, did helium beryllium it.”

That ngo volition travel live astatine ’Ustad Zakir Hussain: The Way Forward’, a three-day homage organised by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, astatine Sunder Nursery, successful New Delhi from March 27 to 29, marking his 75th commencement anniversary, an lawsuit Anisa volition beryllium an integral portion of. More than a tribute, the festival seeks to observe his pioneering contributions to bushed by bringing unneurotic maestro percussionists and admirers from astir the world. The festival volition besides showcase screenings of Anisa’s films.