Indian tabla maestro, composer, percussionist, music producer and film actor Zakir Hussain died 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. He had been hospitalised for the last two weeks and was later taken to the ICU after his condition deteriorated.
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. His groundbreaking work with Western musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Charles Lloyd, BĂ©la 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 was also awarded the Govt of India’s Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, Ratna Sadsya in 2018. In 1999, he was awarded the United States National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship, the highest award given to traditional artists and musicians. Hussain has received seven Grammy Award nominations, with four wins, 3 in 2024.
Zakir 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.