WASHINGTON DC: Zakir Hussain, the internationally acclaimed tabla virtuoso celebrated for his role in bringing Indian classical music to global prominence, died on Sunday, December 15, 2024, in San Francisco. He was 73.
The cause was complications related to heart disease, according to his manager, Nirmala Bachani. Hussain had been hospitalized recently after experiencing heart-related issues, she added.
Born on March 9, 1951, in Mumbai, India, Hussain was the eldest son of Ustad Allah Rakha, hailing from Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir, himself a legendary tabla player who accompanied the sitar maestro Ravi Shankar on many iconic performances.
Immersed in music from an early age, Zakir Hussain inherited not only his father’s talent but also his mission to share the tabla’s intricate rhythms with the world.
Zakir Hussain completed his early education at St. Michael’s High School in Mumbai before graduating from St. Xavier’s College. While pursuing his studies, he simultaneously honed his skills on the tabla, quickly earning recognition as a prodigy.
Zakir Hussain: "I just want to request all the media not to follow wrong information about Zakir's passing," the table player's sister Khurshid Aulia said.
Zakir Hussain, the peerless tabla player and multiple Grammy award winner, was critical and was in a US hospital over serious heart-related ailments, his family said on Sunday.
His manager, Nirmala Bachani, said the artist has been in a San Francisco hospital for the last two weeks.
"My brother is deeply ill at this time. We are asking for all his fans around India and around the world to pray for him, to pray for his health. But as India's greatest ever exports, do not finish him off just yet," Zakir Hussain's sister Khurshid Aulia told a news agency amid multiple reports that her brother had died.
"I just want to request all the media not to follow wrong information about Zakir's passing. He is very much breathing at the moment. He is very very critical, but he's still with us. He has not yet gone. So, I will request (the media) not to spread this rumour by writing or saying that he has passed away. I feel so bad watching all this information on Facebook which is very wrong," she added.
"He is unwell and admitted to the ICU right now. We all are worried about the situation," Zakir Hussain's friend and flutist Rakesh Chaurasia also told the news agency.
Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, and others posted on X paying tributes to the tabla maestro amid death reports though there was no official statement from Zakir Hussain's family.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Ministry, which posted about the artist's death, later deleted its post on X.
"I am Zakir Hussain’s nephew and he has not passed away. We ask for prayers for my Uncle's health. Can you please remove this misinformation? He is in a serious condition and we ask for all his fans around the world to pray for his health," said Ameer Aulia on X.
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.
"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 the New York Times about the artist when he performed at Carnegie Hall in 2009.
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 underway.
The musician has 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 musicians, received the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2023.
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