For Zakir, it was an experience like no other. Zakir has made music with fellow musicians from many parts of the globe -- recently he performed in Delhi with an Israeli jazz troupe -- but this was an altogether different sound, rhythmic and as natural as it can get.

The thayambaka performance, by Mattanur Sankaran Kutty and members of his troupe -- his sons Srikanth and Sriraj, Ramanunny and Asiad Sasi -- was basically for Zakir to get a feel of the sounds of Kerala. The tabla maestro is composing the music for Shaji N Karun 's film Vanaprastham, shooting for which is on at the Kuthiramalika.

The thayambaka demonstration was scheduled to last 30 minutes but when two `men of sound' meet, time literally flies. After a musical Odyssey which lasted nearly an hour, Zakir emerged, clearly delighted.

``He told me that he was thrilled. It must have been the most pleasant shock of his life. Zakir is all keyed up,'' said Shaji, when The Indian Express visited him at the site of shooting.

Zakir arrived in the city on Tuesday afternoon, along with his lesser known but equally talented brother Tauffiq Qureshi. It was only after, that the film-makers decided to let the famed tablachis have a feel of Kerala's percussion sound. A phone call to Cherplassery and the Thayambaka team was on its way. The performers arrived in Thiruvananthapuram around 4 am on Wednesday and, within an hour, were ready. Waiting eagerly were Zakir and Tauffiq.

``Zakir even tried to play the chenda with his nimble fingers. He and Sankaran Kutty were seen engaged in a long conversation. The subject, quite clearly, was music. They seemed to have immense respect for each other,'' said a crew member.

Zakir left Thiruvananthapuram shortly after the thayambaka performance. When he comes back in a few weeks, it will not be just to honour the contract to compose the music. Zakir has a yen for fresh sounds and the rhythm of the music he heard at the Kuthiramalika would be tempting enough for him to seek more sounds of Kerala.

Zakir's schedule is crowded, to put it mildly, and it is only rarely that he agrees to compose music for films. Ismail Merchant's Muhafiz (In Custody) had Zakir's haunting tunes, sung by a variety of singers like Hariharan, Kavitha Krishnamoorthy, Suresh Wadkar and Shanker Mahadevan. Sai Paranjpe's Saaz is another film which had his compositions.