Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussain Passes Away In San Francisco Hospital

Bhubaneswar: Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain breathed his last on Sunday while undergoing treatment in the ICU of a San Francisco hospital. He was 73.

He died due to complications arising out of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the family later said in a statement on Monday.

“He passed away very peacefully after the ventilation machine was switched off. This was 4 pm San Francisco time,” Zakir’s sister Khurshid Aulia told PTI.

Earlier, his friend and flautist Rakesh Chaurasia had informed media about his hospitalisation after experiencing heart-related problems. The US-based musician had been having blood pressure issues. “He is unwell and we all are worried about the situation,” Chaurasia told PTI.

He was in the hospital for the past two weeks and shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) after his condition deteriorated.

His brother in law, Ayub Aulia, based in London, had also requested his followers to pray for his speedy recovery.

Regarded as the greatest tabla player of his generation, he is survived by his wife, Antonia Minnecola, and his daughters, Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi.

In February this year, Zakir made history at the 66th Grammy Awards, becoming the first Indian to win three trophies –  Best Global Music Performance, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and Best Global Music Album categories – in a single night.

He had won his first Grammy in 1992 for Best World Music Album, which was the first Grammy in this category, for Planet Drum album when he was part of the rhythm band along with Mickey Hart, Sikiru Adepoju, and Giovanni Hidalgo. The band reunited after 15 years and released another album – Global Drum Project – on October 2, 2007, which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2009.

In October, he alongside acclaimed musicians Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, and Rakesh Chaurasia, had unveiled plans for the ‘As We Speak’ India tour set for January 2025 to celebrate classical music. He was scheduled to perform in Bengaluru (January 4), Hyderabad (January 5), Mumbai (January 10), and New Delhi (January 11).

Son of the legendary tabla maestro Ustad Alla Rakha Khan, Zakir had moved to San Francisco with his family about four decades ago. The Government of India has awarded him prestigious civilian honours, including the Padma Shri in 1988, Padma Bhushan in 2002, and Padma Vibhushan in 2023. He was conferred with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, India’s highest music recognition, in 1990.

In 1999, America conferred the United States National Endowment for the Arts’s National Heritage Fellowship on Hussain. It is the highest honour given to traditional artists and musicians in USA.

He also composed music for several films. His first cinematic stint was Ismail Merchant’s Heat and Dust, a 1983 romantic drama in which he also acted. His other notably compositions were for In Custody (1993) and The Mystic Masseur (2001) by Ismail Merchant. He played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little Buddha, and other films.

He was also the first Indian musician to be invited to the White House by the former US President Barack Obama in 2016 to attend the All-Star Global Concert.

He began training under the guidance of his father when he was just three and was already performing in concerts across India by 12. He later did his doctorate degree in music from the University of Washington.

Zakir’s death marks the end of an era for Indian classical music in the world.