Legendary Indian Tabla Player Zakir Hussain Dies at 73

Zakir Hussain, one of the world’s greatest tabla players, has died at the age of 73.

The Indian classical music icon died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said in a statement.

Hussain was a four-time Grammy award winner and has received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award.

Through his performances, he transformed the tabla into a globally loved solo instrument that was the star of the show.

The tabla – a pair of drums used in north Indian classical music – was historically viewed as an accompaniment to the main performance.

As news of Hussain’s death broke, tributes have begun pouring in.

Nayan Ghosh, who plays the sitar and tabla, called the news “devastating” and said that his association with Hussain went back 60 years to their childhood.

“He was a pathbreaker, a game-changer, an icon who put tabla and Indian music on the world map by transcending the boundaries of genre and inspiring generations of artistes,” he told the BBC.

Born in Mumbai in 1951, Hussain began training under his father Ustad Allarakha Khan, a tabla maestro himself.

Hussain performed his first concert when he was just seven years old.

“In later years, his masterful dexterity and creative genius led to his becoming one of the most sought-after accompanists to the very best of Hindustani classical musicians and dancers,” wrote Nasreen Munni Kabir in a biography of him published in 2018.

Reviewing his 2009 performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the New York Times described him as “a fearsome technician but also a whimsical inventor”.

“So he rarely seems overbearing, even when the blur of his fingers rival the beat of a hummingbird’s wings,” it said.

By BBC News