John McLaughlin - zakir hussain. - Shakti

Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha. He attended St. Michael's High School in Mahim, and graduated from St Xaviers, Mumbai.

Hussain participates in the Silk Road collaborative musical project. He teaches Tabla to advanced students in both San Francisco and Mumbai. Zakir participates in the Global Drum Project with percussionists from around the world.

In 1992, Hussain 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 classical music of India. The label presents his own world percussion ensemble, The Rhythm Experience, both North and South Indian classical recordings, Best of Shakti and the Masters of Percussion series. Moment Records’ 2006 release 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.

John McLaughlin collaborations

Hussain worked with John McLaughlin on several Indo-Jazz projects, beginning with their collaboration in the band Shakti (band) on the albums Shakti (album) (1975 Columbia), A Handful of Beauty (1976 Columbia),and Natural Elements (1977 CBS). McLaughlin later appeared on Zakir's album Making Music. Twenty years later, they rejoined in the band Remember Shakti, recording the albums Remember Shakti (1999 Universal Records), The Believer (2000 Universal Records), Saturday Night in Bombay (2001 Universal Records), Live at 38th Montreux Jazz Festival (18 July 2004), and Live at Miles Davis Hall (8 July 2004). They also appeared in the DVD The Way of Beauty. Both bands performed live both in the U.S. and abroad as recently as 2008.