Biography of Zakir Husain, 1897-1969, president of India.

Tabla virtuoso, composer and percussionist Zakir Hussain is an international music phenomenon. The eldest son of the legendary Ustad Allarakha, Zakir gave his first public concert at the age of seven and was immediately hailed a child prodigy. In later years, his masterful dexterity and creative genius led to his becoming one of the most sought-after accompanists to the very best of Hindustani classical musicians and dancers. Zakir Hussain is equally recognized as one of the foremost contemporary jazz and world music percussionists; he has performed at innumerable concerts both as a solo artist and with renowned jazz musicians on the grand stages of the world, from the Royal Albert Hall to Madison Square Garden. With John McLaughlin, L. Shankar and T.H. Vinayakram, Zakir Hussain created music history with the band Shakti. He has acted in James Ivory's Heat and Dust and Sai Paranjpye's Saaz, and scored music for directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci (Little Buddha), Aparna Sen (Mr. & Mrs. Iyer) and Ismail Merchant (In Custody, The Mystic Masseur); he has also played the tabla for countless 1960s Hindi film soundtracks. In an in-depth conversation with Zakir Hussain, Nasreen Munni Kabir takes the readers through the story of his life: how he was deemed an 'unlucky' child; the early years of growing up in Mahim; his training from age four with his extraordinary father; and his experiences and memories working with a host of legendary musicians, including Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Ustad Vilayat Khan. A born storyteller, Zakir speaks with humour and humility of his understanding of music, his relationship with his students, his dedication and love for the tabla, and the way he negotiates life as an acclaimed celebrity living in both America and India. Zakir Hussain: A Life in Music is a brilliant introduction to the life and times of a huge music star, a revered role model and a visionary world musician.

"The book is well known as Dayanita Singh's primary medium, one she explores to create new relationships between photography, publishing, the exhibition and the museum. But where did her passion for the book as the ideal vessel for her photos, for the stories she tells, begin? The answer lies in Zakir Hussain, a handmade maquette Singh crafted in 1986 as her first project as a graphic design student. The protagonist of Singh's photo essay is the Indian classical tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, whom she captured on the stage and at home with his family. Surrounding the photos are handwritten texts gleaned from interviews Singh made with her sitters, including insights from Hussain: 'I will always be a musician. A musician will always be a musician, not just me. He may stop performing but the musician is still there.' This Steidl facsimile edition is scanned from Singh's original maquette and reproduces all its 'imperfections' and idiosyncrasies including her pencilled notes about the book's construction--indications of the influential bookmaker to come. Shanay Jhaveri's accompanying essay discusses how Singh came to 'make' the original, referring to her student notes and exploring how she intuitively assembled the book, from editing the images to design, setting the ground for the book objects and photo architectures of her later practice."-- https://steidl.de/Books/Zakir-Hussain-Maquette-0011202261.html

The book gives details of various phases of the Indian President, Dr. Zakir Hussain's life, his education, foreign tours, family background and political career.

Just a day and a half old, the very first words Zakir hears from his famous father, Allarakha, are bols -- rhythms played out on tablas! These rhythms sing and dance in his head, on Amma's cheeks, on pots and pans... The author follows these beats, stringing together little vignettes from his life. From a childhood around music to the highs of a performer who took the tabla to the world, this joyous story introduces children to a musical genius, whose busy f ingers and flying curls make him the inimitable Zakir Hussain. The illustrations add their own magic with f ine artistry and a subtle but striking use of colours. * A book about the internationally renowned musician, Zakir Hussain, by an award-winning author * A journey into his childhood and life in music * Exuberant and elegantly crafted pictures by an award-winning illustrator * A multicultural story about music and musicians

The book has been structured into three parts, namely, Analytical Meditation, The Death of Diseases: Psychological Vaccination, Communication with the Heart: The Utterances that Provide Energy, and The Architecture of the Mind: The Psychology of Spirituality. The entire approach is founded on the concept of the combination of Analysis (or self-enquiry), Meditation, Self-Hypnosis, and Prayer and is expected to simultaneously work on the different dimensions of the mind -emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and behavioral. It is expected, as hundreds of the author's readers have reported to have experienced, that the method will work instantly on the mind, without the reader's having to do any special mental exercise as is typical of most meditation practices.