Grammy-winning tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain makes highly anticipated return to Vancouver, at the Chan Centre April 27

Presented by Caravan World Rhythms, musician teams up with flute player Debopriya Chatterjee and sarangi legend Sabir Khan

Debopriya Chatterjee (left), Zakir Hussain, and Sabir Khan.

Caravan World Rhythms presents Zakir Hussain, Debopriya Chatterjee, and Sabir Khan in TISRA at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on April 27 at 8 pm

GRAMMY-WINNING TABLA player Zakir Hussain is making a highly anticipated return to Vancouver in concert with female bansuri flutist Debopriya Chatterjee and celebrated sarangi player Sabir Khan at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on April 27.

Caravan World Rhythms is presenting the virtuosic trio in Hussain’s concert titled TISRA.

Hussain is a leading figure in contemporary world music, having collaborated with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma, George Harrison, Mickey Hart, and Van Morrison. The classical tabla player first learned from his late father, Ustad Allarakha, a pioneer of Indo-jazz fusion. Considered one of the greatest Indian percussionists of our time, Hussain has helped lift the status of the tabla in India and around the globe. Among his many honours are being named Officier in France’s Order of Arts and Letters and earning the 2022 Aga Khan Music Award.

The bansuri and sarangi are folk instruments with roots in ancient India. The bansuri is a side-blown flute traditionally made of bamboo. Chatterjee is one of very few female flutists performing Hindustani classical music. The sarangi is a short-necked, bowed, stringed instrument said to possess the sound closest to the human voice. Khan began training at age six and is among the 10th generation of his family to play sarangi.

TISRA will draw from folk-music forms of Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and Punjab as well as the musical traditions of Rajasthani nomads.

Featured

Gail Johnson

Gail Johnson is cofounder and associate editor of Stir. She is a Vancouver-based journalist who has earned local and national nominations and awards for her work. She is a certified Gladue Report writer via Indigenous Perspectives Society in partnership with Royal Roads University and is a member of a judging panel for top Vancouver restaurants.

Articles

Club Origami's folded paper allows kids' imaginations to flourish at Vancouver International Children’s Festival

Presented with Boca del Lupo, the accessible production by the U.K.’s Seven Circles encourages interactive learning

Theatre review: Here We Go's fleeting glimpses of mortality are quietly unsettling

In Western Gold Theatre’s spare staging of Caryl Churchill’s taut, wry work, roles rotate across performances with some astonishing results

Kicking off Tremors Festival, Erin James infuses music with her passion for fashion

The violinist’s Fantasy Vignettes interweaves Baroque music, costume changes, and sewing machines

Bard on the Beach presents The Two Gentlemen of Verona, June 13 to September 19

On the BMO Mainstage, director Dean Paul Gibson puts an ’80s spin on this resonant tale of young love

Elektra honours outgoing artistic director Morna Edmundson’s ability to “lead with love”

All-Canadian program Legacy celebrates spring and rebirth as Cassie Luftspring prepares to take the baton

A Simple Space serves up acrobatic feats without the sequins, at the Kay Meek Arts Centre May 22

Aussie troupe Gravity & Other Myths’ stripped-down spectacle has been a hit around the world

Queer Arts Festival steps into the future with 18th annual edition, June 6 to 28

Centred around portals, this year’s just-announced lineup includes several visual-art exhibitions, Vancouver International Jazz Festival concerts, and more

Vancouver Short Film Festival unveils lineup for 15th annual edition, June 13 to 15

HATCH, Clementine, One Day This Kid, and Beyond the Salish are among the 47 Canadian shorts screening this year

Inverso Productions' LIFT festival brings generations together through dance

Senior dance artists offer decades of insight to the new event’s joyful collaborations with younger performers

Tanzanian percussion and indie icons as Vancouver Folk Music Festival unveils 2025 lineup, July 18 to 20

The Zawose Queens, The Milk Cartons Kids, and more to hit the Main Stage at ʔəy̓alməxʷ Jericho Beach Park

Ballet BC announces 2025-26 season, complete with a Jiří Kylián work and new Saturday matinees

Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber share a full-evening work, and hit productions of Crystal Pite’s Frontier and Shahar Binyamini’s BOLERO X return

At the rEvolver Festival, playwright Sarvin Esmaeili gives femme body hair a voice

In Hair Hair Everywhere, Shabnam debates whether or not she should shave

Surrey Art Gallery hosts an all-ages Family Art Party, June 1

Event inspired by the current exhibition A Tangled Thicket features hands-on art activities and a theatrical performance

Theatre review: Henry VIII's queens bring down history and the house in defiantly catchy SIX

In girl power–fuelled show, performers channel sounds of Beyoncé, Lily Allen, and more in turning the tables on doomed relationships

Doors Open Richmond returns for its 18th annual edition, June 7 and 8

At Richmond Museum event, visitors can explore over 50 partner sites, ranging from Seawrack Press Studio to LuLu Island Winery

With Arts Umbrella's Season Finale, Rena Narumi returns to source of artistic independence and community

In the midst of an international career, the Kidd Pivot dancer is setting a short Crystal Pite work for the student showcase

Cinematheque celebrates the spare, transcendent vision of Robert Bresson

In the retrospective Secret Laws of the Cinematograph, the enigmatic French director’s hugely influential career comes into intense focus

Cree artist Michelle Thrush pokes fun and puts her own truth onstage as Kookum Martha

In Inner Elder at the Firehall Arts Centre, the Calgary-based theatre veteran draws on more than three decades of Indigenous clowning experience

Otto Tausk leads the VSO and guest soloists in Beethoven’s Ninth: “Ode to Joy”, June 6 and 7

Program also features North American premiere of Danish composer Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen’s Violin Concerto with violinist Simone Lamsma

Theatre review: CTORA shows off triple-threat chops in gripping West Side Story

Moving into ambitious new territory, the company meets the many challenges of the Broadway classic and its still-relevant message

Dancing on the Edge unveils program full of local works by the likes of MascallDance and Ziyian Kwan, June 12 to 21

Moroccan and Spanish choreographers join the international contingent of event that runs at Firehall Arts Centre and SFU Woodward’s

Vancouver Chamber Choir sings Sonnets by the Sea, June 6

Season-closing concert features guest artist Christopher Gaze and a world premiere by composer Thuthuka Sibisi

Theatre review: Casey and Diana's portrait of early AIDS era builds to poetic climax

Arts Club play edges true-life story of Princess Di hospice visit into unexpected transcendent realm

Much Ado About Nothing hits the BMO Mainstage at Bard on the Beach, June 10 to September 20

All is not as it seems as two of Shakespeare’s most tumultuous couples navigate secret love and mistaken identities

DOXA Documentary Film Festival names 2025 award winners

Saints and Warriors, #skoden, and Sudan, Remember Us are among the titles that secured wins

Seeds of Resistance honours the vibrant legacy of Mexican poet Rosario Castellanos

With the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre, artists Marco Esccer and Carla Alcántara celebrate the centenary of the feminist writer’s birth

Theatre review: Seventies-era touches bring high-spirited glam to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

With its flared costumes and feisty performances, Metro Theatre’s production of a Rice and Lloyd Webber favourite offers a quirkily fun tour of musical genres

Vancouver Chopin Society hosts famed Russian pianist Mikhail Voskresensky, May 30

Now based in the U.S., artist brings more than 60 years of performance experience and award wins to the stage

Theatre review: Every Day She Rose poses unsettling, unanswered questions about privilege

As storylines switch between playwrights and the characters they’ve created, this challenging Zee Zee Theatre production spotlights hidden disparities separating two best friends