New Delhi| Jagran Entertainment Desk: Ace Tabla vadak and Padma Bhushan, Ustaad Zakir Hussain is turning 70 today. He was born on March 9, 1951 in the family of musicians to Tabla virtuoso Ustaad Alla Rakha. Hussain was just three when he started his training of Tabla and went on to become one of the top percussionists in the country. Not many people know that his father was a good friend of Pandit Ravi Shankar. Therefore, here we are to make you aware of many more lesser-known facts about Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain which you can't afford to miss on his 70th birthday today. Scroll down and take a look:
1. Zakir Hussain was good in academics and he did his schooling at St. Michael’s High School, Mahim, and he graduated from St. Xavier’s, Mumbai. Not only this, but the tabla maestro also did a doctorate in music from the University of Washington.
2. He was the first Indian musician to be invited to the White House by the former US president Barack Obama to attend the All-Star Global Concert.
3. Zakir Hussain made a cinematic debut in the year 1989, and he was starred in the film Heat and Dust. He not only just acted in the film but also composed the music for it.
4. Zakir Hussain tied the knot in the year 1978 to a Kathak dancer, Antonia Minnecola. She was Italian American, and they were blessed with two daughters – Anisa and Isabella Qureishi.
5. He won several awards including the Padma Shri in 1988, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990, and the Padma Bhushan in 2002.
6. Zakir Hussain was a part of the iconic music album Planet Drum and the album was the winner of the Grammy’s first-ever Best World Music Album.
7. He was also recommended for a music teacher's position at the University of Washington in Seattle, the USA by Pandit Ravi Shankar.