Zakir Hussain, born on 9th March 1951 in Mumbai is the son of another Tabla expert Ustad Allah Rakha. With Tabla playing skills running through his veins there was no doubt that Zakir Hussain will make big in his future, but the unknown fact about Hussain Sahab is that in his childhood he was considered an unlucky child because of his fathers’ ill health at his birth time. But later things changed as Zakir grew up.
Since the age of 3, Zakir’s father used to wake him up at 3 am and vocally teach him many rhythms. Since the very young age, Zakir accompanied the Hindustani classical music vocal as well as instrumental. He has followed musicians like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit Jasraj and many others. Later in his career, Zakir also performed internationally and his fame rapidly began to spread across boundaries.
The list of awards won by Ustadji is very long, he won the Grammy Award in 1992 for Best World music Album, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and many other such awards are all on display in Ustadji’s award collection.
To his honor, the whole story of his life is scripted in a book named ‘Zakir Hussain: A Life In Music’. The book consists of every moment of Hussain Sahab’s life from his childhood to his recent days.
