Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain has been admitted to the ICU of a San Francisco hospital with heart-related problems, his friend and flautist Rakesh Chaurasia said on Sunday after reports on the demise of the legendary musician started doing rounds.
Amid reports claiming that Zakir Hussain had died, his publicist confirmed to news agency PTI that the percussionist is being treated at the San Francisco hospital and "has not passed".
The 73-year-old US-based musician, who has taken the tabla to the global stage, had been having blood pressure issues, added Hussain's manager Nirmala Bachani. "He has been admitted to a hospital in San Francisco for a heart-related problem for the last two weeks," Bachani said.
Hussain's sister Khursheed told PTI that her brother is "very very critical" but is "very much breathing at the moment".
"My brother is deeply ill at this time. We are asking for all his fans around India and around the world to pray for him, to pray for his health. But as India's greatest ever exports, do not finish him off just yet," she said.
"I just want to request all the media not to follow wrong information about Zakir's passing. He is very much breathing at the moment. He is very very critical, but he's still with us. He has not yet gone. So, I will request (the media) not to spread this rumour by writing or saying that he has passed away. I feel so bad watching all this information on Facebook which is very wrong," she added.
Earlier, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting posted a tribute on the death of Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussain in a post on social media platform X, saying, "The world has lost true musical genius," which the Ministry later deleted.
*With PTI Inputs
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