Zakir Hussain (musician)

Ustad Zakir Hussain Qureshi (9 March 1951 – 15 December 2024) was an Indian tabla player, composer, arranger, percussionist, music producer and film actor who was based for much of his career in the San Francisco Bay Area. The eldest son of esteemed tabla player Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain was widely regarded as the greatest tabla player of his generation and one of its finest percussionists. He produced music across multiple genres and contributed to popularizing Indian classical music to a global audience.

Often prefixed by the honorific title of 'Ustad', Hussain was awarded the United States National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship, the highest award given to traditional artists and musicians. He was also given the Government of India's Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, Ratna Sadsya, in 2018.

Hussain received nine Grammy Award nominations, winning four times, including three in 2024. He was described as the most recognizable exponent of the tabla by The Guardian. The New York Times marveled that the "blur of his fingers rivals the beat of a hummingbird's wings."

Early life and education

Zakir Hussain Qureshi was born on 9 March 1951 in Bombay (Mumbai), Maharashtra, to Alla Rakha Qureshi, one of the most celebrated tabla players in the history of Indian classical music. His formal training in Hindustani classical music began at the age of seven, starting each of his mornings with three hours of tuition. He started performing in concerts at aged seven, and began touring by the age of twelve.

Hussain studied at St. Michael's High School in Mahim and graduated from St. Xavier's College in Mumbai. After college, he discovered the music of Jimi Hendrix and The Doors and considered becoming a rock drummer. However, he was soon dissuaded from this by George Harrison, lead guitarist of The Beatles, who told him that, as a tabla player, he could combine Eastern and Western music to create his own unique sound.

In the late 1960s, Hussain moved to San Francisco. There, he said he learnt as much from the Grateful Dead's drummer as he had from his classical studies, including 'how to find the groove and understand the backbeat, and not to play too many notes'. He recalled jam sessions with the band lasting two or three days.

Career

Hussain played on George Harrison's 1973 album Living in the Material World and John Handy's 1973 album Hard Work. He was a founder member of jazz-rock guitarist John McLaughlin's fusion group Shakti. Hussain also performed on Van Morrison's 1979 album Into the Music and Earth, Wind & Fire's 1983 album Powerlight.

Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, who had known Hussain since the 1960s, invited him to create the special album Planet Drum, featuring drummers from different parts of the world. Featured with Hussain, also from India, was Vikku Vinayakram, with whom he had collaborated in Shakti. The first Planet Drum album, released in 1991 on the Rykodisc label, earned the 1992 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album, the first Grammy ever awarded in this category. The Global Drum Project album and tour brought Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, and Giovanni Hidalgo together again on the 15th anniversary of the Planet Drum album. The album Global Drum Project won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 51st Grammy Awards Ceremony held on 8 February 2009.

Hussain composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor for the Malayalam film Vanaprastham, a 1999 Cannes Film Festival entry which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI Fest) in 1999. It won awards at 2000 Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkey), 2000 Mumbai International Film Festival (India), and 2000 National Film Awards (India). He composed soundtracks for several movies, most notably In Custody and The Mystic Masseur by Ismail Merchant, and played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha, and other films. He starred in several films which showcased his musical performance, both solo and with different bands, including the 1998 documentary Zakir and His Friends and the documentary The Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain and the Art of the Indian Drum (2003 Sumantra Ghosal). Hussain co-starred as Inder Lal in the 1983 Merchant Ivory film Heat and Dust, for which he was an associate music director. Hussain was a founding member of Bill Laswell's world music supergroup Tabla Beat Science.

For over eighteen years, Hussain's tablas were made by Haridas R. Vhatkar. Vhatkar said he learned how to make tablas so that he could make them for Hussain.

Hussain lived most of his life in America, but spent several months each year in his native India, making music for Bollywood films. In 1983, he acted in the Merchant-Ivory film Heat and Dust, opposite Julie Christie. On one of his return visits to Mumbai, he formed an ensemble, 'The Masters of Percussion', with musicians from different parts of the country, later touring the world with the group. He said his heritage was important to him, and two-thirds of his shows consisted purely of Indian music.

In 2016, Hussain was amongst many musicians invited by President Obama to the International Jazz Day 2016 All-Star Global Concert at the White House.

At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on 4 February 2024, Hussain became the first musician from India to receive three Grammys at one ceremony: This Moment for Best Global Music Album, Pashto for the Best Global Music Performance, and As We Speak for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, a live collaboration with bluegrass banjo player Bela Fleck and classical double bassist Edgar Meyer.

In a conversation with author Nasreen Munni Kabir, recorded in her book Zakir Hussain: A Life in Music, Hussain stated that he did not play at private gatherings, corporate events, or weddings. He believed that music should not be heard at events where people came to socialise, drink or eat, but instead should be the sole purpose of the event.

Hussain was named an Old Dominion Fellow by the Humanities Council at Princeton University, where he resided for the 2005–2006 semester as full professor in the music department. He was also a visiting professor at Stanford University. In May 2022, he was awarded the honorary Doctor of Law (LLD) degree for his contribution to the field of music by the University of Mumbai.

Book

Nasreen Munni Kabir compiled fifteen interview sessions from 2016 through 2017, each lasting about two hours, into the book Zakir Hussain: A Life in Music, which was published in 2018. The book described Hussain's life from his youth, his years of intense training and his growth as a musician.

Personal life

Hussain married Antonia Minnecola, a Kathak dancer and teacher, who was also his manager. They had two daughters, Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi. Anisa graduated from UCLA and is a film maker. Isabella is studying dance in Manhattan.

Hussain has two brothers: Taufiq Qureshi, a percussionist, and Fazal Qureshi, also a tabla player. Their brother Munawar died at a young age when he was attacked by a rabid dog. His eldest sister Bilquis died before Hussain was born. A sister, Razia, died from complications during cataract surgery, a few hours before their father's death in 2000. He has another sister, Khurshid.

Death and legacy

Hussain died on 15 December 2024 in San Francisco, California, from complications from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was 73.

Hussain was one of the world's greatest tabla players. English guitarist John McLaughlin, who performed with Hussain in the band Shakti, described him as "the King, in whose hands, rhythm became magic."