After winning a Grammy in the contemporary World Music Album category for his collaborative album Global Drum Project, Zakir Hussain says that he sincerely desires that A R Rahman wins an Oscar.
On being asked to respond to Rahman's global recognition for Slumdog Millionaire, Zakir Hussain said that, "He is a genius. I think his talent has been duly recognised now and I am very happy with that. The best thing about him is that he has consistently proved himself. He is not a one time wonder. He has delivered consistently. He has really made us feel very proud. I hope he does equally fantastic at the Oscars. " Talking about his own achievements he says that he is very excited on his achievement because it was a competition with the great musicians of the contemporary world music. "I look at this win as the reaffirmation of my hard work. This second time Grammy recognition is the witness of the fact that in today s modern world I have not fallen behind times. I am up-to-date in creative contemporary world of music. I am extremely happy and satisfied with this achievement," said Zakir. Zakir Hussain worked with Mickey Hart of the rock band Grateful Dead, Nigerian percussionist Sikiru Adepoju and Puerto Rican jazz percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo for the album. Global Drum Project is the second collaboration between Hart and Hussain. Their compilation Planet Drum which was released in 1991 went on to win the first-ever Grammy Award in the World Music category. Asked if he would have felt more satisfactory, had it been a win for a purely Indian project, he said, "It's true that Global Drum Project is a collaborative work with western musicians. I will be happier if a pure Indian project wins a Grammy sometime in future. Till now the only purely India project which claimed Grammy glory was Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt's work." http://music.ndtv.com/Music_Story.aspx?id=ENTEN20090083000&type=musicindia
