Remembering Ustad Zakir Hussain

I just learned that the great Tabla Magician is no more. The legendary tabla player, Zakir Hussain passed away today at the age of seventy three in San Francisco. His career spanned over five decades and was admired worldwide. People of South Asian background, knows him as the great Tabla Maestro.

I heard the name of Zakir Hussain at a very young age. Out of all the Indian classical musicians, I learned about him through various news articles back in late 90s. I remember Ustad Zakir Hussain visited Bangladesh in numerous occasion and quite often the news of his arrival would be on the newspaper.

My affection for Indian classical music, specially instrumental music grew when I was in my late 20s. It all started with Tabla simply because it is widely popular in South Asian region and it is one of the most common instrument often played along with various genre of music. I eventually explored other musical instruments like Sarod, Sitar, Sarangi, Santoor but Tabla remained a key instrument that I still love so much. It is almost impossible to find any tabla fan any where in the world who doesn't know Zakir Hussain.

Over the years, I collected number of solo (some are duet) music albums of late Zakir Hussain. Since CDs are no longer the dominant media for music lovers, I started buying WAV or Flac musics from online which allowed me to collect well over 20 albums so far. My attempt to collect every single album of Zakir will continue.

Late Zakir Hussain, the musician, teacher, mentor and the very person is no longer with us. It is the tragic and sad reality for all of his fans around the world. However, his works are still with us and it will be there for many generations to come. We were lucky to have him amongst us and at the same time we are saddened by his sudden demise. I am quite confident that the future generations who are to some will appreciate and admire his great talent just as much as we did.

Indeed, it is the hardest time for his family. My heart goes out to his family who lost their loved one today. May Zakir Hussain rest in internal peace wherever he is now. Keep smiling Ustadji.