With Zakir Hussain, tabla Started on its solo journey

baba came to Ustad Alla Rakha's house the day his wife delivered their first son. As per the family's tradition, the boy should have carried the surname Qureshi, but the baba said the boy must be named after Hazrat Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet, as the boy might become a fakir (wandering ascetic) in future.

- S Gopalakrishnan

The boy who would have been Zakir Qureshi, thus became Zakir Hussain, who, over half a century, brought an evergreen musical spring to the tabla. In the process, he also gave a distinct identity and individuality to the tabla artist, who until then had mostly been relegated to the role of an accompanist.

Upon hearing of Hussain passing away, I was reminded of a tribute by American drummer-musician Dave Grohl to John Bonham, one of western percussion's all-time greats: "John Bonham played the drums like someone who didn't know what was going to happen next - like he was teetering on the edge of a cliff. No one has come close to that since, and I don't think anybody ever will. I think he will forever be the greatest drummer of all time."

In a 1964 interview, Ustad Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, possibly the first acclaimed tabla soloist, contested an assumption that placed tabla further to pakhavaj in Indian percussion evolution: The origin of tabla has always attracted contesting views. Be that as it may, the instrument remained the principal percussion ingredient in North Indian folk and classical music since the 18th century, and Hussain will be remembered as its most cherished global face.