#planet drum

Tabla Virtuoso Zakir Hussain Dies at 73

- “His remarkable contributions to the world of music will always be remembered and celebrated,” Indian government says

Zakir Hussain, the Indian tabla virtuoso who defied genre and helped popularize world music, has died at 73.

Hussain died Dec. 15 at a hospital in San Francisco where he had been receiving treatment for a lung disorder, according to various media reports. The Indian Ministry of Information & Broadcasting confirmed the news.

“The world bids farewell to the tabla legend, Ustad Zakir Hussain,” the ministry said in a statement. “His remarkable contributions to the world of music will always be remembered and celebrated.”

A tireless champion of the music of his home country, Hussain was also a prominent figure in Western music, appearing on albums by George Harrison, Van Morrison, Earth, Wind & Fire and others. He recently collaborated on separate projects with Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer and former Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, who called Hussain “one of the kindest, most generous people I have ever known.”

“What sad and shocking news,” Shrieve said.

Hussain also had a long-running partnership with former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, spanning from 1972’s Rolling Thunder to their collaborations in Planet Drum and the Global Drum Project.

“Ustad Zakir Hussain’s rhythms will echo in our hearts forever, but today, the silence is unbearable,” singer Salim Merchant said.

Drumroll, Please … Airto is 80

Drumroll, please: Airto turns 80 today.

There are a lot of musical worlds out there and the drummer and percussionist has used his eight decades to inhabit - or at least visit - many of them.

Born Airto Moreira in Brazil on Aug. 5, 1941, the mononym musician has fingerprints all over the jazz landscape, from Miles Davis’ early-’70s output to Return to Forever and Weather Report. He contributed to the Rhythm Devils’ Apocalypse Now soundtrack sessions and was a key member of Mickey Hart’s Plant Drum world-music collaborative.

Also a prolific recording artist on his own and with his wife Flora Purim, the pair occasionally guested during the “Drumz” portions of Grateful Dead concerts.

Such was his influence that in 1973 Downbeat magazine added a percussionist award to its annual readers and critics polls. Airto has won one or the other more than 20 times since then.

And the beat goes on …