World-Class Indian Musicians to Perform at MACC

Two world-class musicians from India, Zakir Hussain and Niladri Kumar, will perform at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Thursday, March 21. Hussain is known in India for his mastery of the Indian tabla drums, while Kumar is considered a virtuoso of the sitar, a stringed instrument used in classical Indian music. The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Castle Theater.

According to the MACC, Hussain and Kumarʻs performance is an opportunity for transcendent, musical imagination grounded in one of the world’s greatest musical traditions, Hindustani, or Northern Indian classical music.

A multiple Grammy award winner, Hussain is considered an international phenomenon both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large. A national treasure in his native India, he is one of the world’s most esteemed and influential musicians. Hussain is also known for his genre-defying collaborations with a variety of artists, including George Harrison, YoYo Ma, Joe Henderson, Van Morrison, Airto Moreira, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Cobham, Mark Morris, and Rennie Harris. As a composer, he has scored music for numerous feature films and major events.

Kumar comes from a lineage of five generations of sitar players and is considered a global music icon. After years of training in classical Indian music from his father, Kumar went on to revolutionize the style of sitar playing and invent his own instrument, the red electric sitar, which he coined as the ‘Zitar.’

Tickets to the concert cost either $35, $50, or $65 plus fees. Anyone interested in attending the concert may purchase tickets at the MACC Box Office, by phone at 808-242-SHOW, or online. The MACC Box Office is open from Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for window and phone sales. Online sales are available at any time. MACC members will receive a 10% discount and tickets for kids 12 and under are half price. Anyone interested in becoming a MACC member may register online.