Legendary Indian tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain passes away

Ustad Zakir Hussain, the legendary Indian tabla maestro from the subcontinent, passed away on Sunday in San Francisco, United States. He was 73.

According to reports by several Indian media outlets quoting his friend flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, the artist was admitted to the ICU of a hospital in San Francisco after battling heart ailments.

Hussain was receiving treatment at the hospital for the past week and had been suffering from blood pressure issues, a media outlet reports.

Official details regarding his demise and last rites are yet to be disclosed by his family.

Widely considered one of the greatest tabla players of all time, Ustad Zakir Hussain was also a composer, percussionist, music producer and film actor.

Born to Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi on 9 March, 1951, Zakir Hussain attended St. Michael's High School in Mahim and graduated from St Xavier's College, Mumbai.

He showcased a prodigious talent for the tabla at an early age, and by the time he was seven, he was already performing alongside his father, Ustad Alla Rakha.

Zakir's worldwide popularity was largely fueled by his creative contributions to Indian classical music, which included working with luminaries such as Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

He was a pioneer in fusing Indian classical music with other genres, broadening its appeal on a worldwide scale by co-founding the renowned fusion band Shakti with John McLaughlin.

His pioneering work expanded the tabla's popularity and reach by introducing it to listeners throughout the world.

For his contribution to music, Zakir Hussain received the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2023, the highest state accolades by the Government of India.

At the 51st Grammy in 2009, he received the Grammy Award in the Contemporary World Music Album category for his collaborative album Global Drum Project with Mickey Hart, & Giovanni Hidalgo.

Hussain has received seven Grammy Award nominations in total, with four wins. He received three Grammys in February 2024.

He was also awarded the United States National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship, the highest award for traditional artists and musicians.

His death has cast a grim shadow on the global cultural sphere.