Legendary tabla player dies at 73 happymamay

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 recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award.

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

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

As news of Hussein’s death spread, condolences began to flow.

Nayan Ghosh, who plays the sitar and tabla, described the news as “devastating” and said his connection with Hussain goes back 60 years to their childhood.

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

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

Hussein performed his first concert when he was only seven years old.

“In later years, his masterful virtuosity and creative genius led to him becoming one of the most sought-after accompanists for the finest Hindustani classical musicians and dancers,” Nasreen Muni Kabir wrote in a 2018 biography of him.

Reviewing his 2009 performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, The New York Times called him “a fearsome technician but also an eccentric inventor.”

“So he rarely sounds arrogant, even when his blurry fingers rival the rhythm of a hummingbird’s wings,” she added.