ustad zakir hussain

Ustad Zakir Hussain (Hindi: ज़ाकिर हुसैन, Urdu: زاکِر حسین), (born 9 March 1951), is a famous Grammy Award winning Indian tabla player. He is widely considered the world's best tabla player. He has also won national as well as international awards and recognitions for his contribution to the world of music.

Early life and background

Zakir Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha.^[1]

He attended St. Michael's High School in Mahim, and graduated from St Xaviers, Mumbai.^[2]

Performing career

Zakir Hussain was a child prodigy, and was touring by the age of twelve. He went to the United States in 1970, embarking on an international career which includes no fewer than 160 concert dates a year.^{[citation needed]}

He has composed and recorded many albums and soundtracks, and has received widespread recognition as a composer for his many ensembles and collaborations.^{[citation needed]}

He starred in the Merchant Ivory Film Heat and Dust, in which he also composed the score. He has composed soundtracks for several movies, most notably In Custody and The Mystic Masseur by Ismail Merchant, and has played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha, and other films.^[3]

Zakir is a founding member of Bill Laswell's 'World Music Supergroup' Tabla Beat Science.^{[citation needed]}

He was a visiting professor at Princeton University for one semester in 2006, as well as a visiting professor at Stanford University for a quarter in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Zakir composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor for Vaanaprastham, which took place at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999. He is the recipient of the 1999 National Heritage Fellowship, the United States' most prestigious honor for a master in the traditional arts.^{[citation needed]}

He starred in the documentary "The Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain and the Art of the Indian Drum" (2003 Sumantra Ghosal) and the 1998 documentary "Zakir and His Friends".^{[citation needed]}

Zakir participates in the Silk Road collaborative musical project. [1] He teaches Tabla to advanced students in both San Francisco and Mumbai. Zakir participates in the Global Drum Project with percussionists from around the world. The GLOBAL DRUM PROJECT Tour brought Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, and Giovanni Hidalgo together again in a reunion sparked by the 15th anniversary of the ground-breaking album Planet Drum. The album Global Drum Project has won the Grammy Award for the Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 51st Grammy Awards Ceremony held on 8 February 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Their first album Planet Drum, released in 1991 on the Rykodisc label went on to earn the first-ever Grammy Award in the World Music category. The Global Drum Project Tour is the group's first in almost a decade. It also marks the resumption of an artistic relationship between Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussain that goes back to the late 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Zakir Hussain married Antonia Minnecola a Kathak dancer and teacher.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

• Global Drum Project (2007) – Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, Giovanni Hidalgo
• Sangam (2006) - Jazz collaboration with bandleader Charles Lloyd.
• Maestro's Choice Series One - Alla Rakha & Zakir Hussain (2005)
• Punjabi Dhamar (2004)
• Raag Chandrakauns (2004)
• The Best of Mickey Hart: Over the Edge and Back (2002) – Mickey Hart
• Selects (2002)
• Spirit into Sound (2000) – Mickey Hart
• The Believer (1999) - Remember Shakti
• And the Rhythm Experience (1998)
• Supralingua (1998) – Mickey Hart
• Essence of Rhythm (1998)
• Magical Moments of Rhythm (1997)
• Kirwani (1997)
• Mickey Hart's Mystery Box (1996) – Mickey Hart
• Raga Aberi (1995) - Shankar
• Jog And Rageshri (1994)
• Music of the Deserts (1993)
• Flights of Improvisation (1992)
• The One and Only (1992)
• Planet Drum (1991) – Mickey Hart
• At the Edge (1990) – Mickey Hart
• Tabla Duet (1988)
• Making Music (1987)
• Natural Elements (1977) - Shakti with John McLaughlin
• A Handful of Beauty (1976) - Shakti with John McLaughlin
• Diga (1976) – Diga Rhythm Band
• Shakti (1975) - Shakti with John McLaughlin
• Rolling Thunder (1972) – Mickey Hart
• Shanti (1971)

Filmography

• The Rhythm Devils Concert Experience (2008 – DVD) – The Rhythm Devils
• The Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain and the Art of the Indian Drum (2003) Sumantra Ghosal)
• Zakir and His Friends (1998)
• Heat and Dust (1983) Merchant Ivory Film

Music

• Vanaprastham (1999)

Awards and accolades

• Awarded the titles of Padma Bhushan, in 2002, and Padma Shri, in 1988, becoming the youngest percussionist to be awarded these, given to civilians of merit, by the Indian government.
• On 8 February, 2009 for 51st Grammy Awards, Zakir Hussain won the Grammy in the Contemporary World Music Album category for his collaborative album "Global Drum Project" along with Mickey Hart, Sikiru Adepoju & Giovanni Hidalgo.^[4]
• Awarded the Indo-American Award in 1990 in recognition for his outstanding cultural contribution to relations between the United States and India.
• Presented with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1991 by the President of India, making him one of the youngest musicians to receive this recognition from India's governing cultural institute.
• Recipient of the prestigious Kalidas Samman in 2006, an award for artists of exceptional achievement, from the government of Madhya Pradesh.
• Recipient of the 1999 National Heritage Fellowship, the United States’ most prestigious honor for a master in the traditional arts, presented by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the United States Senate on September 28, 1999.
• In 2005, he 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, teaching a survey course in Indian classical music and dance.
• In 2007, readers’ polls from both Modern Drummer and Drum! magazines named Zakir Hussain Best World Music and Best World Beat Drummer respectively.
• In 1992, Planet Drum, an album co-created and produced by Zakir and Mickey Hart, was awarded the first-ever Grammy for Best World Music Album, the Downbeat Critics’ Poll for Best World Beat Album and the NARM Indie Best Seller Award for a World Music Recording.
• In 1992, Zakir founded Moment! Records, which features original collaborations in the field of contemporary world music, as well as live concert performances by great masters of the classical music of India. The label presents Zakir's own world percussion ensemble, The Rhythm Experience, both North and South Indian classical recordings, Best of Shakti and the Masters of Percussion series. Moment Records’ 2006 release Golden Strings of the Sarode, with Aashish Khan and Zakir Hussain, was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Traditional World Music Album category for that year. Hussain worked with Mickey Hart of the rock band 'Grateful Dead', Nigerian percussionist Sikiru Adepoju and Puerto Rican jazz percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo for the album.