Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain in San Francisco ICU with heart problems

Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain has been admitted to the ICU of a San Francisco hospital with heart-related problems, his family and friends said on Sunday. The 73-year-old US-based musician, who has taken the tabla to the global stage, had been having blood pressure issues, said Hussain's manager Nirmala Bachani.

My brother is deeply ill at this time. We are asking all his fans around India and around the world to pray for him, to pray for his health. But as India's greatest ever exports, do not finish him off just yet," she said.

"I just want to request all the media not to follow wrong information about Zakir's passing. He is very much breathing at the moment. He is very very critical, but he's still with us. He has not yet gone. So, I will request (the media) not to spread this rumour by writin ..