Sunday, February 15, 2009

Jazz legend Hancock to cut album with Zakir, Anoushka



Zafri Mudasser Nofil
New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) Legendary jazz pianist and multiple Grammy winner Herbie Hancock will record an album with sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar and gramophone winning tabla player Zakir Hussain later this month.

"I am excited about this latest project. The record is a global collaborative project about peace and what can be achieved in a combined way by different cultures," Hancock, who is in India as part of a US cultural delegation to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the visit of Martin Luther King Jr, told PTI.

"It is great to perform with Zakir who has just won a Grammy award. Also Anoushka just plays great sitar," he said, adding several other Indian musicians will be part of the project.

He described the project as a "beautiful tapestry of dreams and one of eternal bond of cultures".

On his third visit to India, Hancock will play with fellow musicians - singers Chaka Khan, Dee Dee Bridgewater, pianist George Duke, and young students who are studying with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz performers in New Orleans in the national capital and Mumbai.

"On the first trip I was humbled meeting Mother Teresa and then filled with joy having several opportunities to contribute to the cultural fabric of the Indian people through performance workshops," he said. PTI

No comments: