Tabla master Zakir Hussain has died at 73

yesterday

NPR

Tabla master Zakir Hussain has died at 73 Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain died on Sunday. He united musicians from diverse cultures and shaped modern world music.

Obituaries

December 16, 20244:36 PM ET

Encore: ZAKIR HUSSAIN OBIT

Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain died on Sunday. He united musicians from diverse cultures and shaped modern world music.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The tabla master Zakir Hussain died yesterday. He shaped modern world music with the Indian hand drum that has a unique sound that dating back centuries. Hussain's talents bridged cultures and genres, uniting musicians from around the world. NPR's Ryland Barton has this remembrance.

RYLAND BARTON, BYLINE: During Hussain's more than five-decade career, he was revered as a national treasure in India and admired across the world. He formed jazz fusion band Shakti with guitarist John McLaughlin. Here they are during a 2010 Tiny Desk concert.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BARTON: His father, Alla Rakha, was considered one of the world's greatest tabla performers and frequently accompanied sitar legend Ravi Shankar. In 2015, Hussain told NPR his father trained him in the classical tradition of tabla during middle-of-the-night lessons and expanded his mind with music brought home from world tours.

ZAKIR HUSSAIN: I was the only kid on the block who was walking down the street with a boom box on my shoulder, playing as loud as I could, "Light My Fire."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIGHT MY FIRE")

THE DOORS: (Singing) Try to set the night on fire.

BARTON: Moving to the San Francisco Bay area in the '70s, Hussain would go on to work with Western rock stars like George Harrison, Van Morrison and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. This year Hussain became the first musician from India to receive three Grammy awards in the same year. His music defied genres, collaborating with jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd and bluegrass masters Edgar Meyer and Bela Fleck.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BARTON: During that 2015 interview, Hussain said his father taught him to find similarities between rhythmists around the world, no matter the style.

HUSSAIN: We were all on the same wavelength, the same quest, looking for the perfection which we will never find. But that didn't matter because it's all about the journey, not the goal.

BARTON: In a statement, Hussain's family said his cause of death was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was 73. Ryland Barton, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.