MUMBAI: Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain turns 65 today. Loved by the masses and connoisseurs alike, Hussain has performed throughout the world and continues to charm audiences every time he plays his magical fingers on the tabla.

Here are some lesser known nuggets about this performer par excellence.

1. Zakir Hussain is the youngest percussionist to be awarded civilian honors – the Padma Shri in 1988- by the Indian government.

2. He is the son of legendary tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha, who regularly accompaned sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. Hussain’s father taught him how to play the Pakhawaj at the tender age of three.

3. Hussain is an alumnus of the well-known education institute St. Xavier’s College in south Mumbai.

4. Hussain married Italian American Antonia Minnecola, a Kathak dancer, in 1978, and the couple have two daughters – Anisa and Isabella Qureishi. Antonia is also his manager.

5. He was part of a rhythm band named Planet Drum and received the 1992 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album, which was the first Grammy in this category.

6. The band reunited in 2007 after 15 years and won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2009.

7. Hussain first appeared in the film Heat and Dust (1983) for which he composed the music. The film was produced by Ismail Merchant.

8. Pandit Ravi Shankar recommended Hussain for a music teacher's position at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA.

9. Hussain was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2002. He also won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1990.

10. In 1999, America conferred the United States National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship on Hussain.