Ustad Zakir Hussain

Ustad Zakir Hussain is a legendary tabla player of Indian classical music. He was born on 9th March 1951.From the childhood, he had an immense attraction for the tabla and  for the concerts has been continually  travelling since the age of ten.   His father Alla Rakha is also a celebrity tabla player His guru and his father Ustad Alla Rakha and zakir Hussain have made the tabla very popular both in India and abroad too.

His contribution in the field of percussion and in the music world at large is highly appreciated. He composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor for the Malayalam film Vanaprastham, a 1999 Cannes Film Festival entry which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI Fest) in 1999, and won awards at 2000 Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkey), 2000 Mumbai International Film Festival (India), and 2000 National Film Awards (India). 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.

Ustad Zakir Hussain was born on March 9, 1951. His father Ustad Allarakha was himself an established tabla player. Zakir Hussain did his schooling from St. Michael's High School in Mahim and completed his graduation from St Xaviers, Mumbai. Zakir Hussain was a child prodigy and started touring by the age of twelve. He came to the United States in 1970 and started his international career.