Zakir Hussain Allarakha Qureshi (9 March 1951 – 15 December 2024) was an Indian tabla player, composer, percussionist, music producer, and film actor.

[5][6] He was described as the most recognizable exponent of the tabla by The Guardian, and The New York Times marveled that the "blur of his fingers rivals the beat of a hummingbird's wings.

[11] Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, who had known Hussain since the 1960s,[12] invited him to create the special album Planet Drum, featuring drummers from different parts of the world.

[23] Hussain co-starred as Inder Lal in the 1983 Merchant Ivory film Heat and Dust, for which he was an associate music director.

[25] In 2016, Hussain was amongst many musicians invited by President Obama to the International Jazz Day 2016 All-Star Global Concert at the White House.

[28] Hussain was named an Old Dominion Fellow by the Humanities Council at Princeton University, where he resided for the 2005–2006 semester as full professor in the music department.

[31] Nasreen Munni Kabir compiled 15 interview sessions (each lasting about 2 hours) from 2016 to 2017 into the book Zakir Hussain: A Life in Music, which was published in 2018.

[28][34] Hussain died from complications arising due to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in San Francisco, California, on 15 December 2024, at the age of 73.

"[36] The line "Zakir Hussain Tabela Ivaltana" in the Tamil song "Telephone Manipol" in the 1996 film Indian, directed by S. Shankar is a tribute to him.