Tabla

Zakir Hussain at the tabla in 2012, both hands in motion. He was the instrument's most recognizable player for decades and died in December 2024 at 73. The tabla is a pair of hand drums and the main percussion of Indian classical music: a slim wooden drum on the right and a broader metal one on the left, each head marked with a black center patch. Played with fingertips and palms rather than sticks, the pair can chatter, ring and growl.