Legendary Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussain Passes Away, Family Confirms

Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain passed away, confirmed his family on Monday. He was 73 years old.

Hussain died at a hospital in San Francisco due to complications arising out of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the family said in a statement.

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.

Born March 9, 1951, son of the great tabla legend Ustad Alla Rakha.

"He will leave an extraordinary legacy behind that's cherished by a million more music lovers in the whole world with a reflection that the influence he spread will prevail for ages and ages ahead," said a statement.

Throughout his sixty-year career the musican collaborated with quite a few international and Indian icons. In 1973, he collaborated for a musical project with British guitarist John McLaughlin, violinist L. Shankar and percussionist T.H. 'Vikku' Vinayakram merging Indian classical with hints of jazz in a confluence hitherto untrod.

He has worked with almost all the icons of Indian music, be it Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Shivkumar Sharma and many others. His association with western musicians like Yo-Yo Ma, Charles Lloyd, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Mickey Hart and George Harrison exposed Indian classical music to international audiences.

Hussain has bagged four Grammys so far in his career and three of those at the recently concluded 66th Grammy Awards.

He received the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2023.

In October, Hussain revealed that he was spending the autumn season in the US. He took to his social media handle and shared a video in which he gave his followers a glimpse of the changing weather in the US. "Just sharing a wonder moment.," he captioned the post.

Condolence messages poured in on social media as the news of Hussain's death began to spread.