Internationally acclaimed tabla player and Indian classical music innovator Zakir Hussain has died at the age of seventy-three in San Francisco due to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The eldest son of the legendary tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha, Hussain displayed prodigious skill as a child and began playing professionally at 12; by age 18, he was touring internationally.
Ever since, Hussain has enjoyed a storied career in which he’s collaborated with George Harrison, Yo-Yo Ma, and Herbie Hancock. Shakti, He formed the fusion band Shakti along with British guitarist John McLaughlin and won a Grammy for their album This Moment this year.
He was also felicitated with four Grammy Awards during his lifetime and became one of the few recipients to receive the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademy Award from India. Born in Mumbai in 1951, Hussain moved to the US as a teenager. India’s most famous tabla player took his music global and helped make it relevant beyond classical styles.
