Zakir Hussain, one of the foremost percussionists of the contemporary world, was Regent’s Lecturer at the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Spring 2015. As a performer of Indian classical jazz and a composer, he is a brilliant example of border crossing music, and is widely considered a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement.
While at Berkeley he participated in two public events: a discussion with Professor Bonnie Wade about the changing dynamics of the tabla in Hindustani classical music, and a Jazz Fusion master class with music students, with Myra Melford as faculty lead.
Hussain’s collaborators include John McLaughlin and L. Shankar (they formed Shakti together), as well as Diga Rhythm Band, Making Music, Planet Drum with Mickey Hart, and recordings and performances with artists as diverse as Joshua Redman, George Harrison, Joe Henderson, Van Morrison, Jack Bruce, Tito Puente, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Cobham, the Hong Kong Symphony and the New Orleans Symphony. He has been hailed by media as a virtuoso, a superstar and an encyclopedia of tabla.