Fact Check: Tabla Player in Video is Ustad Tari Khan, Not Zakir Hussain

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. Hussain was a four-time Grammy award winner and has received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award. Through his performances, he transformed the tabla into a globally loved solo instrument that was the star of the show. The tabla - a pair of drums used in Indian classical music - was historically viewed as an accompaniment to the main performance.

The social media is awash with condolences. Several users shared unseen photos of Zakir Hussain while a few others shared their memories with him.

In this backdrop, a 28-second video was shared by a user which clocked 191k views, 2066 likes & 433 shares. The users shared the video with the claim that, NFAK AND ZAKIR HUSSAIN. JUST HAVE A LOOK ON THIS INSANITY. He was the last of legends. The video was also shared with a hashtag #ZakirHussain.

You can find the screenshot of the claim below.

Fact Check:

The claim is false. The tabla player in the viral video is Ustad Tari Khan, not Zakir Hussain.

When searching for a performance by Zakir Hussain and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan together, a video uploaded on September 24, 2017, by a YouTube channel named Artistic India was found.

In this video, both artists are shown performing on stage. However, upon closer inspection, it is evident that this video does not match the one that has recently gone viral.

To investigate further, we performed a reverse image search on keyframes from the video and discovered a longer version uploaded on a YouTube channel.

A YouTuber named Yogesh Jagdeo had shared this video on July 23, 2011, with the title Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Ustad Tari Khan Live. The video has garnered 33,665 views and 168 likes. 

Upon comparing the YouTube video with the viral one, we found that both are identical.

When searching for Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Tari Khan's performance, we found the same video uploaded on a YouTube channel.

The Quint has previously debunked it & mentioned, the video doesn't show Ustad Zakir Hussain performing in a concert with the late Pakistani singer Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Hence, we found the claim is false. The viral video does not depict Ustad Zakir Hussain performing at a concert with the late Pakistani singer Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.