Chan Centre Connects Series: Zakir and His Friends: A Rhythm Experience

Presented by The Chan Centre Connects Series and Pacific Cinémathèque

Part documentary portrait and part travelogue, German filmmaker Lutz Leonhardt’s propulsive, percussive film profiles legendary Indian tabla drums player and “musician without frontiers” Zakir Hussain, capturing the Bombay-born, California—based master percussionist, famous for his fleet fingers, in conversation, performance, and while teaching. Interspersed in this “rhythm experience” are colourful, beautifully shot vignettes of percussion performances from around the planet. “Leonhardt prefers the term ‘adventure film’ to documentary. His choice for this label is not so strange, because for Zakir and His Friends he has travelled across half the world — India, Indonesia, Japan, Venezuela, Trinidad, and Burkina Faso — in search of musical adventure and to capture rhythm experiments. The performance of a group of young ‘cheek clappers’, who use their face as their instruments, is one of the most phenomenal variations” (International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam). 88 mins.

This special screening of Zakir and his Friends has been organized in conjunction with the Chan Centre’s presentation of Zakir Hussain and Masters of Percussion, performing at the Chan on Sunday, April 1 at 7:00 pm.

The Chan Centre Connects Series presents outreach activities related to visiting artists performing in the annual concert season at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC.