About The Speaker
Ustad Zakir Hussain
Ustad Zakir Hussain (1951-2024) was a world-renowned Indian tabla virtuoso, composer, and percussionist. A child prodigy of the Punjab gharana lineage, he was mentored by his father, the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha, and began performing publicly at age seven, starting his international touring career by twelve. Over a prolific career spanning six decades, he performed thousands of concerts globally across countries such as the USA, UK, France, and Japan, appearing at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Kennedy Center. His landmark career milestones include co-founding the fusion band Shakti with John McLaughlin, collaborating with icons like Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, and Mickey Hart, and being the first Indian musician invited by President Barack Obama to perform at the White House for an All-Star Global Concert in 2016. A highly decorated artist, he was honored with India’s Padma Shri (1988), Padma Bhushan (2002), and Padma Vibhushan (2023), and made history in 2024 by winning three Grammy Awards in a single night—bringing his total to five. In addition to his stage career, he served as a professor at Princeton and Stanford universities and remained a vital cultural ambassador for Indian classical music until his passing.