Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, battling heart-related problems, died at a US hospital today. He was 73.
His manager, Nirmala Bachani, said he was admitted to a hospital in San Francisco.
“Zakir Hussain, the peerless North Indian tabla player, favors an impish strain of virtuosity. He’s a fearsome technician but also a whimsical inventor, devoted to exuberant play. So he rarely seems overbearing, even when the blur of his fingers rivals the beat of a hummingbird’s wings,” wrote New York Times about the artist when he performed at Carnegie Hall in 2009.
The Bombay-born eldest son of legendary tabla player Allah Rakha, Zakir Hussain followed in the footsteps of his father, becoming a marquee name in India and across the world.
Once narrating the story of his first booking, the percussionist said a letter came to their house offering a concert date to his father. Zakir wrote back saying that his father would not be able to accept the engagement but that his son was available. However, he didn’t mention in the letter that he was only 13. It worked, and his musical career was under way.
A recipient of many awards, he received five Grammy Awards in his career, including three at the 66th Grammy Awards earlier this year.
In a 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.
The percussionist, one of India’s most celebrated classical muscians, received the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2023.
