The tabla, a pair of drums used in North Indian classical music, was historically considered an accompaniment to the main performance.
As soon as news of Hussein’s death became known, tributes began to pour in.
Nayan Ghosh, who plays sitar and tabla, called the news “devastating” and said his relationship with Hussain goes back 60 years to their childhood.
“He was a pioneer and game-changing icon who put tabla and Indian music on the global map by transcending genre boundaries and inspiring generations of artists,” he told the BBC.
Grammy Award-winning composer Ricky Kej called him “one of the greatest musicians and personalities India has ever produced.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him “a true genius who revolutionized the world of Indian classical music.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Hussain’s death was “a great loss to the music world” and the US Embassy in India said he was a “true maestro” and “will forever be in our hearts”.
Born in Mumbai in 1951, Hussain began training under his father, tabla virtuoso Ustad Alarakha Khan.
Hussain described growing up in “an atmosphere where there was music playing 24 hours a day.” At the age of seven, he attended a concert with his father.
“From the age of seven, I sat on stage with Abba as he played with so many great performers. It was a vivid experience for me and allowed me to absorb everything I had heard over the years,” he told Nasreen Munni. His biographer Kabir (2018).
As a teenager, he had the opportunity to perform with legendary Indian sitarist and composer Pandit Ravi Shankar. By age 19 he was playing. , externalOver 150 concerts per year, external, , externalBoth in India and internationally.
As his footprint grew, he contributed to the soundtracks of several films, performed solo, and collaborated with artists on the global stage.
His 1992 album Planet Drum with drummer Mickey Hart won the Grammy Award in the first category for “Best World Music Album.”
He went on to be nominated for seven Grammy Awards, winning four of them.
He said of his global popularity in an interview with the BBC in 2016, “This is the charm of music, not my charm. I am a music worshiper who puts music in front of people.”
Biographer Nasreen Munni Kabir noted that in his later years he became “one of the most popular accompanists of the best Hindustani classical musicians and dancers.”
The New York Times, reviewing his performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2009, described him as “a formidable technician but also an ingenious inventor.”
“So he doesn’t seem overbearing, even when the blur of his fingers rivals the flapping of a hummingbird’s wings.”
“I came on the cusp of a big change in the music world and I was one of those musicians who was caught up in the wave,” Hussain recalled.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have a very unhurried relationship with music, and at the same time let that wave settle me.”
