Today is Zakir Hussain’s 71st birthday. Hussain creates a world of magic on the tabla with the beat of his fingers and hand, hence he is called ‘Ustad’ Zakir Hussain. Zakir Hussain was born on 9 March 1951 in Mumbai. He inherited this skill from his father, Alla Rakha Khan, who was himself a famous tabla player. Today we are going to tell you about Zakir Hussain, who has proved his art at the global level.
Zakir Hussain learned to play pakhawaj from his father at the age of just three. He did his studies from St. Xavier’s College. At the age of 11, he performed his first concert in America and in 1973 launched his first album, ‘Living in the Material World’. This album of his got a lot of applause from the public.
Hussain is very famous in India as well as in the world. He was the first Indian musician to be invited to the White House by former US President Barack Obama to participate in the All-Star Global Concert. He has also been honored with many awards. At the same time, he has received the biggest Grammy Award in the world of music twice, for ‘The Planet Drum’ in 1992 and ‘Global Drum Project’ in 2009.
Along with this he has been honored with various awards, including Padma Shri, Padma Vibhushan and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. Hussain was not only interested in playing the tabla, but he was also fond of acting. In 1983, Zakir Hussain made his acting debut with the film ‘Heat and Dust’. After this, he tried his hand in acting in the film ‘The Perfect Murder’ in 1988, ‘Miss Baty’s Children’ in 1992 and ‘Saaj’ in 1998.
In 1978, Zakir Hussain married Kathak dancer Antonia Minicola. She was Italian and so was his manager. They have two daughters, Anissa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi. Zakir Hussain is also a founding member of Bill Lauswais’s global music supergroup ‘Tabla Beat Science’.