Zakir Hussain

The perennially youthful tabla virtuoso and composer Zakir Hussain is one of today's premier South Asian solo artists. That might seem strange, considering the fact that the tabla drums haven't traditionally been an instrument placed front and center onstage, but Hussain's technological wizardry, compositional innovations and magnetic charisma have done much to transform the tabla's profile.

Hussain is the son and protégé of one of the greatest Indian musicians of the 20th century, the tabla master Ustad Alla Rakha (or Allarakha). Born in Bombay in 1951, Hussain moved to the United States in 1970, and is now based in California. Over the course of his career, Hussain has maintained a career that has remarkable breadth. While blossoming into a solo artist who is much in demand internationally, he has also been the preferred accompanist for many of India's most renowned classical musicians and dancers, including Ravi Shankar, sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, santoor player Shivkumar Sharma and legendary kathak dancer Birju Maharaj.

At the same time as he has honored the subcontinent's centuries-old classical traditions, he has also been one of the most prominent world music fusion artists, starting with the now-legendary Shakti group, which he cofounded with guitarist John McLaughlin and violinist L. Shankar, his own Rhythm Experience albums and the groundbreaking Planet Drum project with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and TH "Vikku" Vinayakram, Babatunde Olatunji, Giovanni Hidalgo, Sikiru Adepoju, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. In 1988, he became the youngest percussionist to be awarded the Padma Sri by the Indian government; other major prizes include the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1991 and a National Heritage Fellowship from the U.S.'s National Endowment for the Arts in 1999.

Along with his Shakti recordings for Columbia, Remember Shakti albums for Verve, the Planet Drum recordings for Rykodisc and dozens upon dozens of great recordings the tabla player has made as an accompanist, outstanding Hussein albums include an exemplary jugalbandi between father and son made for Hussein's own audiophile label, Moment Records: 1994's simply titled Ustad Alla Rakha & Zakir Hussein, featuring an album-length exploration of the 16-beat rhythmic cycle teental. —Anastasia Tsioulcas