Indian tabala virtuoso Ustad Zakir Hussain performs at a live performance on the Indian Music Expertise (IME), Indias first interactive music museum, in Bangalore on July 27, 2019.
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Manjunath Kiran/AFP by way of Getty Photos
Indian tabla participant Zakir Hussain — who united musicians from various cultures and by doing so, formed fashionable world music — died on Sunday in San Francisco. He was 73.
In an announcement, his household mentioned the reason for dying was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
“His prolific work as a instructor, mentor and educator has left an indelible mark on numerous musicians. He hoped to encourage the subsequent era to go additional. He leaves behind an unparalleled legacy as a cultural ambassador and one of many best musicians of all time,” his household added.
Hussain’s profession spanned over 5 a long time, throughout which he was revered as each a nationwide treasure in India and admired worldwide.
He defied genres and collaborated with a formidable vary of musicians, together with jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd, bluegrass artists Edgar Meyer and Béla Fleck, in addition to rockstars George Harrison and Van Morrison. His versatility earned him the uncommon distinction of performing twice on NPR’s Tiny Desk — as soon as in 2010 after which in 2023.
“You already know, you come from India and also you say, ‘OK, I am representing a 3,000-year-old historical past,’ so that you assume you are gonna educate the world about rhythms and drums and so forth,” he instructed NPR in 2015. “And then you definately arrive right here. You all of a sudden notice that you realize nothing. You are only one little dot within the portray that’s the music of the universe.”
Past his performances, Hussain was admired for his ardour to educating Indian drumming, additional spreading appreciation for the artwork type.
Hussain usually mentioned that his musical journey started quickly after he was born in Bombay. Within the 2015 NPR interview, he recalled a convention the place a father whispers a prayer into his new child son’s ear. As a substitute, his father selected to sing him rhythms.
“My mom was very upset and mentioned, ‘Why are you doing this?’ And he mentioned, ‘As a result of this is my prayer,'” Hussain mentioned.
He instructed NPR that it was his father’s dream for him to hold on the custom of being an Indian classical musician. His father, Alla Rakha, was thought-about one of many world’s best participant’s of tabla, a centuries-old Indian hand drum. His father taught Hussain how one can play the tabla when he was 7 years outdated.
However his father additionally launched Hussain to music from around the globe, which is how Hussain fell in love with rock and Western music.
“I used to be the one child on the block who was strolling down the road with a boombox on my shoulder, taking part in as loud as I might ‘Mild My Fireplace,'” Hussain recalled.
In 1970, at 19, Hussain traveled to the U.S. the place he spent the next years working with rockstars like George Harrison, Van Morrison and Mickey Hart, the drummer from The Grateful Lifeless. He additionally performed with jazz musician John Useful.
In 1973, Hussain shaped the Indian jazz fusion band Shakti with jazz guitarist John McLaughlin. With its melodic and rhythm devices, the band helped American listeners admire sounds and devices past Western music.
Guitarist John McLaughlin (L) and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain hearken to a journalist’s query upon arrival at their lodge in Bangalore, India, on Jan. 30, 2003.
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In 2024, Hussain turned the primary musician from India to obtain three Grammy awards in the identical 12 months after Shakti gained Greatest World Music Album, and Hussain’s collaboration with Edgar Meyer and Béla Fleck that includes Rakesh Chaurasia gained Greatest World Music Efficiency and Greatest Up to date Instrumental Album.
Hussain instructed NPR in 2015 that all through the course of his profession, he has discovered similarities between rhythmists around the globe — no matter strategy or type.
“We had been all on the identical wavelength, the identical quest, in search of perfection, which we’ll by no means discover. However that did not matter as a result of it is all in regards to the journey — not the objective,” he mentioned.
NPR’s Felix Contreras contributed reporting.
