The key(s) to his success

Just when I thought that the most incredible thing about Adnan Sami is the massive amount of weight he has lost, I was in for a shock. A pleasant one, but it was a shock nevertheless. If that makes sense.

As many of you probably know by now, I spend my weekends writing books for children (and here come the "Bhai, future generation ko barbaad kyun kar rahe ho?" jokes) and during writing-breaks, Youtube-ing to keep myself updated on the latest in the Indian music scene. It was during one of my crazy Youtube-ing rounds (I had exhausted all videos of Shekhar dammit!) that I came across this gem. "There she goes again!" I hear my friends who are fed up of my particular fondness for Pakistani musicians and my crazy raving about them (by the way, have you heard Atif Aslam's "Kuchh is tarah"? It's a killer, that song. A killer.) but I just had to share this!

Watch him (Adnan, not Atif) as he matches tabla player Ustad Fazal Qureshi (Zakir Hussain's bro) beat for beat, pause for pause, in a piece played so fast that I swear if you step away from your computer and just listen to it, you would think it's a santoor (or even a sitar at times) playing, not a keyboard. And if you step back on to your computer, you will notice that his fingers seem to be treating the musical keyboard the way we treat a computer keyboard. And he's so chilled-out the entire time he's playing, he actually has time to look up and casually flash cheeky smiles at Ustad Fazal Qureshi. I made Viv listen to it (yes, I keep him in touch with music, and this is what I get in return. Sheesh.) and switched off the TV while F1 was on (oh the horror!) and played it three times over.

I knew the man was talented (Adnan, not Viv) but I was so not prepared for this. Absolutely stupendously enthralling.



The man may not be big anymore, but his talent sure still is. And boy, aren't we all glad about that.