At the age of 72, Zakir Hussain succumbed to a debilitating respiratory condition, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which had been affecting his health in recent years.

Zakir Hussain, one of the world's greatest tabla players, has died at the age of 73. The Indian classical music icon died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said in a statement.

Zakir Hussain, the exuberant maestro of tabla who once called the instrument his "mate, brother and friend" and embodied the universality of music in his 60-year career, died in a San Francisco hospit