Ustad Zakir Hussain

The exponent who got tabla to the centre stage was born on 9 March 1951. Trained by his father, Ustad Alah Rakha, who traces his lineage to the Punjab Gharana, Zakir Hussain accompanied Pandit Ravi Shankar at a very young age.

Zakir Hussain has performed throughout the world as a solosit. He has completed courses in Chinese, African and Indonesian music at the University of Washington in Seattle and since has been active in fusion of music from several countries, particularly drums and percussion.

Zakir Hussain has performed at a variety of concerts, embracing both Eastern and Western classical music together with jazz, rock and fusion. He has composed music for films like Apocalypse Now, Heat and Dust, Vietnam and A Television History. He has 145 albums to his credit and is teaching tabla at Washington, California, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Port and other Universities. He has been honoured with a Padma Shree in 1988.