BOSTON–Berklee College of Music presented an honorary doctorate to world-renowned tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain at a concert celebrating his life and music last Friday at Harvard Business School’s Klarman Hall in Allston, MA.
The concert, which was produced by the Berklee India Exchange, featured Hussain as well as an international cast of students and faculty who performed reinterpretations of his compositions and original tributes.
Hussain visited the college last week as part of a five-day residency in which the legendary musician presented a master class and recorded a music video with the Berklee Indian Ensemble.
Prior to receiving the doctorate, Hussain had said in a statement that this was his first doctorate.
“This is my first doctorate and I think you have to get to a certain age where you qualify for something like this, your ‘retiring age’,” said Hussain in a statement. “It isn’t possible for me to even consider that I’m deserving of this honor, the reason being because we are born being students and we will die being the same. There isn’t any point in trying to be a master, there’s never an end, you can never reach your goal. You’re always trying to take another step forward and for me to reach a point where I deserve accolades of the highest honor is not something I’m highly convinced of.”
The Grammy Award-winning artist was honored for his immense contribution to global musical culture.
