Zakir Hussain is a classical tabla virtuoso and the most famous tabla player in India today. His contribution in the field of percussion and in the music world at large is highly appreciated. Zakir Hussain was a child prodigy and started touring by the age of twelve. He came to the United States in 1970 and started his international career. Zakir Hussain has had the opportunity to perform with many talented musicians not just in India but also all over the world. He became a famous international phenomenon. Zakir Hussain married an Italian-American Kathak Dancer, Antonia Minnecola and is blessed with two daughters. He teaches Tabla to advanced students in both San Francisco and Mumbai.
Zakir Hussain began his international career from United States in 1970. The exceptional career includes more than 150 concert dates a year. Hussain is a founding member of Bill Laswell's 'World Music Supergroup' Tabla Beat Science. In 1992, he founded Moment Records, which features original collaborations in the field of contemporary world music, as well as live concert performances by great masters of the Indian classical music. Moment Records' 2006 released Golden Strings of the Sarode, with Aashish Khan and Zakir Hussain, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album category for that year. Zakhir Hussain also released his first solo album "Making Music" in the year 1987, which was proclaimed to be one of the most inspired East-West fusion albums ever.
Hussain also starred in the Merchant Ivory Film Heat and Dust in 1983, for which he also composed the score. He composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor for the film Vanaprastham, which won awards at 2000 Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkey), 2000 Bombay International Film Festival (India), and 2000 National Film Awards (India). He has composed soundtracks for several movies, most notably In Custody and The Mystic Masseur by Ismail Merchant, and has played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha, and other films.
He starred in several films specifically showcasing his musical performance both solo and with different bands, including the 1998 documentary "Zakir and His Friends", and the documentary "The Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain and the Art of the Indian Drum" (2003 Sumantra Ghosal). He also performs in the DVDs The Rhythm Devils Concert Experience (2008), and The Way of Beauty (2006) with the band Remember Shakti.