Zakir Hussain
Credit: X/@ghatamudupa
Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain passed away at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said on Monday.
Hussain died due to complications arising out of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the family said in a statement. He was 73.
Hussain, who is regarded as the greatest tabla player of his generation, is survived by his wife, Antonia Minnecola and his daughters, Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi. Born on March 9, 1951, he is the son of legendary tabla master Ustad Alla Rakha.
In his career spanning six decades, the musician worked with several renowned international and Indian artistes, but it was his 1973 musical project with English guitarist John McLaughlin, violinist L Shankar, and percussionist TH 'Vikku' Vinayakram that brought together Indian classical and elements of jazz in a fusion hitherto unknown.
Here we list some of the many achievements of Zakir Hussain
- Starting early at the age of seven, he went on to collaborate with virtually all of India’s iconic performers, including Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and Shivkumar Sharma in his career.
- His groundbreaking work with Western musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Charles Lloyd, Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Mickey Hart, and George Harrison brought Indian classical music to an international audience, cementing his status as a global cultural ambassador.
- Hussain has received four Grammy Awards in his career, including three at the 66th Grammy Awards earlier this year.
- The percussionist, one of India's most celebrated classical musicians, received the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2023.
- Hussain was also a recipient of the Government of India's Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990, and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 2018.
- In 1996, Hussain was involved in composing music for the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Atlanta
- In 1999, the late musician received that United States National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship, which is the highest lifetime honour for the traditional artists
- Zakir Khan received the Downbeat Critics’ Poll Best Percussionist Award for both 2020 and 2021
- Zakir Hussain won the 2022 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Arts and Philosophy
- The tabla maestro received the Aga Khan Music Awards for life time achievement in 2022 in Oman
- Hussain was one of the founding members of Bill Laswell's world music supergroup Tabla Beat Science
(With PTI inputs)