Zakir Hussain

Zakir Hussain transformed the landscape of Indian percussion during the latter half of the twentieth century through an extraordinary output of recordings and performances that earned him widespread acclaim. As the son of Ustad Allah Rakha, he carried forward his father’s ambition to bring Indian music onto global platforms. His discography encompasses hundreds of sessions, both under his own name and alongside figures ranging from George Harrison, Joe Henderson, Tito Puente, and Pharoah Sanders to countless Indian classical artists. In 1975 he helped establish the group Shakti alongside guitarist John McLaughlin and violinist L. Shankar. Throughout the 1980s he appeared as a featured collaborator with Ustad Salamat Ali Khan and Ustad Sharafat Ali Khan, while also issuing Making Music, a landmark Western debut that paired him with Jan Garbarek and McLaughlin. The Indian government conferred the title Padma Shri upon him in 1988, making him the youngest percussionist to receive the honor. Two years later he joined Mickey Hart for the Grammy-winning Planet Drum project, and he released the pioneering Indian jazz-fusion album The Elements: Space. He also participated in Remember Shakti reunions and served as a member of Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith’s Yo Miles! ensemble. Further collaborations yielded Save the Children with Pharoah Sanders in 1999, The Melody of Rhythm with Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer in 2012, and Good Hope with Dave Holland and Chris Potter in 2019. Hussain maintained an active schedule of recordings and performances in varying configurations until his death in December 2024.

Born in Mumbai in 1951, Hussain received early training from his father, tabla maestro Alla Rakha. At the age of three he began lessons on the pakhawaj, the ancient barrel-shaped, two-headed drum, and delivered his first solo recital at seven. In 1970, at nineteen, he traveled to the United States as accompanist to sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. Following Shankar’s counsel, he accepted a teaching post in the Department of Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington and later relocated to the Bay Area to work with Ali Akbar Khan. From the 1970s onward he sustained a touring pace exceeding one hundred fifty concerts annually, eventually performing with virtually every leading Indian classical artist of his era, among them Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit VG Jog, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, and Pandit Jasraj. His efforts elevated the tabla’s international stature. While based in California he met Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and joined both the Diga Rhythm Band and the later Planet Drum collective. In 1975 he formed Shakti with McLaughlin and L. Shankar; the trio recorded three Columbia albums—Shakti with John McLaughlin, A Handful of Beauty, and Natural Elements—before disbanding in 1978 and reconvening as Remember Shakti in 1998. He contributed to Shankar’s ECM releases Who’s to Know and Song for Everyone, the latter also featuring Garbarek. Leading his own ensembles, he toured with Zakir Hussain’s Rhythm Experience and received a Cannes nomination in 1983 for his score to the Merchant Ivory film Heat and Dust. Additional film work included The Apocalypse Now Sessions with Hart’s Rhythm Devils. His first Western solo album, Making Music, appeared in 1987, followed the next year by Tabla Duet with his father.

Recognition continued to accumulate. After establishing himself as a bandleader, Hussain remained an indefatigable sideman, contributing to seventy-five albums during the 1980s alone with artists that included the reunited Mahavishnu Orchestra, Earth Wind & Fire, Bill Laswell, and Kitaro. He rejoined Hart for 1990’s At the Edge, which featured Jerry Garcia, Airto Moreira, and Babatunde Olatunji, and the same ensemble issued the Grammy-winning Planet Drum in 1992, also named Best World Music Album in the DownBeat Critics’ Poll. That year he released Zakir Hussain and the Rhythm Experience with guest appearances by Hart and Narada Michael Walden. In 1993 he recorded Hazir: Ghazals from India with vocalist Hariharan and participated in the soundtrack for Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little Buddha as well as his own Music of the Deserts. The 1995 release The Elements: Space, recorded with Taufiq Qureshi and a large Indian ensemble, blended electronic, folk, new age, and Carnatic elements and received international acclaim. The classical trio album Tabla followed in 1997, and the Remember Shakti tour that same year produced a 1999 Verve double album drawn from performances including one at Royal Albert Hall. Also in 1999 he appeared on Pharoah Sanders’ Save Our Children and on Hart’s Spirit Into Sound.

Entering the new century, Hussain issued the live album The Believer with Remember Shakti, now including U. Srinivas and Vikkam Selvaganesh, while Tabla Beat Science delivered Tala Matrix. Remember Shakti’s Saturday Night in Bombay appeared in 2001. In 2002 he released Virtuoso from Afghanistan, a tribute to Ustad Mohammad Omar, and Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove with Tabla Beat Science. The live DVD Talamanam Sound Clash followed in 2003. Two further Remember Shakti concert documents, Live at Miles Davis Hall and Live at 38th Montreux Jazz Festival, surfaced in 2004, alongside the Carnatic albums Punjabi Dhamar and Raag Chandrakauns and the project Sangam with Charles Lloyd and Eric Harland, later documented on the 2006 ECM release. That year he also participated in Soukha under V. Selvaganesh’s direction and on McLaughlin’s Industrial Zen. In 2007 he rejoined Hart for the Global Drum Project. After a journey to Africa, Béla Fleck assembled a trio with Hussain and Edgar Meyer that recorded The Melody of Rhythm in 2012 with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin. Hussain returned to traditional repertoire with 2013’s Live in Mumbai alongside Ustad Vilayat Khan and Hidayat Khan, and Hazir 2 appeared the following year. He also contributed to Hafez Nazeri’s Rumi Symphony Project: Untold featuring Shahram Nazeri and Deepak Chopra. A subsequent trio with Dave Holland and Chris Potter produced Good Hope in 2019. In 2020 he recorded Is That So? with McLaughlin and Shankar Mahadevan. Further 2022 sessions included In the Groove with Planet Drum and Trios: Sacred Thread with Lloyd and Julian Lage. The next year brought As We Speak with Fleck and Meyer and This Moment with Shakti. DownBeat named him Percussionist of the Year in both 2022 and 2023, and both 2024 releases received Grammy awards. He remained active on tour until his passing in December 2024.