Zakir Hussain, one of the world’s greatest tabala players has died aged 73, of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, at a hospital in San Francisco.

Hussain, the Indian classical music icon, was a four-time Grammy award winner  ( seven Grammy nominations, and has received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award. Using the table – a pair of drums used in Indian classical music an accompaniment to the main performance, he transformed the tabla into a globally loved solo instrument.

Tributes have began pouring in, as the news of Hussain’s death broke.

Nayan Gosh, a sitar and table player said. “ Hussain was a pathbreaker, a game-changer, an icon who put tabla and Indian music on the world map by transcending the boundaries of genre and inspiring generations of artistes.”.

John McLaughlin, English guitarist who used to perform with Hussain in the band Shakti described him as “the King in whose hands, rhythm became magic”. Ricky Kej, Grammy-winning composer called him “one of the greatest musicians and personalities India has ever produced”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “a true genius who revolutionised the world of Indian classical music”.

 Hussain, born in Mumbai in 1951, began training under his father Ustad Allarakha Khan, a table maestro himself. By age of seven, he was performing in concerts alongside his father.

As a teenager, he got an opportunity to perform with legendary Indian sitarist and composer Pandit Ravi Shankar and by 19, he was playing more than 150 concerts a year, globally. He performed with legendary artists like Beatles’s George Harrison, Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Van Morrison.

His 1992 album Planet Drum with drummer Mickey Hart won a Grammy in the inaugural category of the “Best World Music Album”. 

He used his star status to inspire young Indian musicians on to the global stage.

Hussain had previously said “ I am one of those musicians who came at the cusp of a great change in the music world and I was carried on that wave and had the good fortune of establishing a very unhurried relationship with music, and  that wave took me places”.