New Delhi: Four-time Grammy winner and Indian tabla maestro Zakir Hussain was excluded from the ‘In Memoriam’ segment that was streamed live as part of the 67th Grammy Awards ceremony, leaving many Indian fans furious.
Hussain, however, found a mention on the ‘In Memoriam’ list on the official website of the Recording Academy, alongside ghazal maestro Pankaj Udhas, folk singer Sharda Sinha, and sarod player Aashish Khan.
The awards ceremony, organised by the Recording Academy, was held on Sunday at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Every year, the Grammys pay tribute to industry legends who passed away in the year gone by in its ‘In Memoriam’ montage.
Hussain, who became the first musician from India to register three wins at last year’s Grammys, died from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in a San Francisco hospital December 15. He was 73.
During the live event, the Grammys honoured musicians such as Liam Payne, Kris Kristofferson, Cissy Houston, Tito Jackson, Joe Chambers, Jack Jones, Mary Martin, Marianne Faithfull, Seiji Ozawa, and Ella Jenkins.
Singer Chris Martin, fresh from the India leg of his band Coldplay’s world tour ‘Music of the Spheres’, performed the ‘In Memoriam tribute’ with guitarist Grace Bowers on his song “All My Love”.
A section of social media users were not happy and wrote posts tagging the Recording Academy on microblogging site X about the omission.
“How come no mention of Zakir Hussain in Grammy obituary #Grammys2025 he was a winner last year (sic)” wrote one on X.
“Big miss. I didn’t see @RecordingAcad mention Zakir Hussain in the Memoriam section. #GRAMMYs,” said another.
“Shame not to see 4-time winner and multiple times nominee Zakir Hussain in the Grammy tribute to artists lost recently. Real shame. SVP #GRAMMYs #Grammys2025 #ZakirHussain @RecordingAcad,” read another post.
The ‘In Memoriam’ list, posted on the official website, also featured other Indian musicians, such as Bengali composer Ashima Bhattacharya; folk artist Darshanam Mogilaiah; Carnatic singer and composer K G Jayan; chenda artist Kelath Aravindakshan Marar; music director and theatre artist Malabar Manoharan; Musafir Ram Bhardwaj, who played paun mata (a type of drum akin to a damru); Tamil music composer Praveen Kumar; folk singer Sakini Ramachandraih; Tamil playback singer Uma Ramanan; and Kannada music composer Vijay Anand.
Comedian Trevor Noah hosted the 2025 Grammys, marking his fifth consecutive stint as the emcee.
The 2025 Grammys streamed live on Disney+ Hotstar in India.
PTI
