Zakir Hussain & The Rhythm Experience

by Backroads Music/HeartbeatsTabla-master Zakir Hussain heads The Rhythm Experience, a world percussion ensemble founded in 1984. His new release is world music at its very best, weaving the rhythms of India, Cuba, Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia into combinations of skillfully improvised exchanges with precise unison drumming. Guests include Mickey Hart, Narada Michael Walden, Mel Martin and Jim Loveless, as well as Zakir's father, Ustad Alla Rakha. The core group, with Fazal Qureshi, Dana Pandey, and ex-Diga Rhythm Band members Vince Delgado, Aushim Chaudhuri, Syed Arshad and Ray Spiegel, work out on an array of instruments, such as tabla, congas, darbukka, temple bells, maracas, claves, talking drum, vibes and others, using rock beats, call-and-response spoken boles and a surprisingly melodic base along the way. There are seven other Moment releases, each with Hussain, and Collection, Vol. 1, with tracks from each.