Ustad Zakir Hussain was born on March 9, 1951.He is a famous Indian tabla player. He is widely considered as the world's best tabla player. He has also won awards and recognitions for his contribution to the world of music.He was born in Bombay to the well known tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha in India. He attended St. Michael's High School in Mahim, and graduated from St Xaviers, Mumbai.
A child prodigy, Zakir was touring by the age of twelve. Zakir went to the United States in 1970, embarking on an international career which includes no fewer than 150 concert dates a year.
He has composed and recorded many albums and soundtracks, and has received widespread recognition as a composer for his many ensembles and collaborations. He has composed soundtracks for the films In Custody and The Mystic Masseur directed by Ismail Merchant, Bernardo Bertoluccis Little Buddha (for which Zakir composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor), Vanaprastham (The Last Dance), chosen to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May, 1999, Saaz, and Everybody Says I'm Fine.
Zakir received the distinct honor of co-composing the opening music for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 1996. He was commissioned to compose music for Alonzo Kings Lines Ballet, and to compose an original work for the San Francisco Jazz Festival, both in 1998. He has received numerous grants and awards, including participation in the Meet the Composer programs funded by the Pew Memorial Trust and an Izzie (Isadora Duncan Award) for his composition for Lines Ballet. In 2000, Zakir worked again with choreographer Alonzo King, this time composing music for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In 2002, his commissioned work for choreographer Mark Morris Kolam premiered as part of Yo Yo Mas Silk Road Project with Yo Yo and Zakir performing together live for the performance. In September, 2006, Triple Concerto for Banjo, Bass and Tabla, a piece co-composed by Zakir, Edgar Meyer and Bela Fleck, was performed by the trio with the Nashville Symphony at the gala opening of the Schermerhorn Symphony Hall in Nashville. Zakir reunited with choreographer Alonzo King in 2007 for Lines Ballets 25th anniversary celebration, creating acclaimed music for Kings new work, Rasa. Also in 2007, the government of India chose Zakir to compose an anthem to celebrate Indias 60th year of independence. The song, Jai Hind, has been recorded by an array of Indias finest classical vocalists and pop singers.
Zakir is the recipient of the 1999 National Heritage Fellowship, the United States' highest honor for a master of traditional arts. He has been a professor at Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Washington, and at UC Berkeley in the prestigious post of Regents Lecturer. Zakir's yearly tabla workshop in Marin County, California, draws hundreds of serious students and performers. In 2019, he was selected as a Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellow and awarded honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music, Boston, and from Indira Kala Sangeet University, Khairagarh.Zakir is the founder and president of Moment! Records, an independent record label presenting rare live concert recordings of Indian classical music and world music.
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