Revisiting Zakir Hussain’s Iconic Collaborations

Dec. 15, 2026, will mark one year since the passing of tabla legend Zakir Hussain, who took Indian classical music to global stages across more than half a century, performing with stalwarts across genres.

Maestro Forever: A Tribute to Zakir Hussain takes place on Dec. 14 and 15, 2025, at Mumbai’s National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) to celebrate the legendary artist. The venue itself carries a deep significance because Hussain’s first appearance at the NCPA was alongside his father Ustad Allarakha, sitar legend Ravi Shankar, and mridangam exponent Palghat Raghu at the Centre’s foundation day in 1969.

Ahead of the performances, we look at the unmatched versatility of the Ustad and memorable collaborations with just some of the artists performing this weekend.  

With John McLaughlin

We all know the power of jazz fusion guitar legend John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain in the seminal band Shakti, but the lifelong friends performed together even outside of the group. In 2010, Hussain joined McLaughlin’s band, The 4th Dimension, at the Abstract Logix New Universe Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina, and a spark was ignited on stage. It was a surprise performance. “The band played a stellar set of music, and right before the encore, Zakir Bhai got up on stage on a borrowed set of tablas and a makeshift seat out of speaker cases. What happened between Z Bhai and John ji is nothing short of musical magic. No rehearsals, nothing. Pure telepathy,” Abstract Logix founder Souvik Datta recalls in the description for the video.

With Louiz Banks

In 2019, Hussain and keys/piano veteran Louiz Banks teamed up with guitarist Sanjay Divecha, drummer Gino Banks and bassist Sheldon D’Silva to perform at the launch of the Indian Music Experience museum in Bengaluru. Across the nearly 100-minute performance, you can see Hussain thoroughly enjoying himself, arguably because he was in his favorite place — on stage with longtime friends and artists who understood each other deeply. If the improvisational prowess of Indo jazz-fusion was first visible through Shakti, then Hussain was carrying it forward with every performance.

With Ajoy Chakrabarty

Collaborators for decades on end, classical vocalist legend Ajoy Chakrabarty and Hussain’s chemistry was well captured in a series of recordings that can be heard in the former’s album Thumri and Dadra in 1990 and later in The Genius of Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Vol. 3, released in 1999. “Sanvariya Chit Chor Re” is a sublime rendition that never relents on the vocal and percussive front, thanks to two legends completely in sync.

With Ranjit Barot and Taufiq Qureshi

At the launch of his brother and fellow Indian percussion great Taufiq Qureshi’s 2000 album Rhydhun, Hussain performed with drumming ace and producer Ranjit Barot, vocal powerhouse Shankar Mahadevan and more. While Hussain was also part of the studio recording of Rhydhun, he locked in with Barot and Qureshi for a percussive jam for the ages at the launch concert, becoming part of a stellar interplay of drums, tabla and percussion.

With Amjad Ali Khan

Growing to global fame and legendary status with their respective instruments, Hussain and sarod legend Amjad Ali Khan were often in each other’s orbit. In 1999, they joined performances for a jugalbandi in New Delhi, at a time when they perhaps both showcased agility and versatility that couldn’t be replicated. Part of the allure of a jugalbandi is when nothing can ever be recreated the same way, and both Ustads performed exactly like that – an airy, meditative performance that was also virtuoso.

With Shankar Mahadevan

In addition to being part of Remember Shakti and later, just Shakti who went on to win Grammys for their 2023 album This Moment, vocalist-composer Shankar Mahadevan and Hussain shared a few stages among them, and one of their most powerful performances in recent memories was the rendition of Marathi abhanga “Majhe Maher Pandhari” in an undated performance that was uploaded to YouTube in 2021. Hussain offers a knowing smile to Mahadevan as he begins the song, in what is a heartfelt moment of brotherhood that translates exceptionally as the 14-minute performance plays out.

Get tickets to Meastro Forever: A Tribute to Zakir Hussain at NCPA here.