Ken Zuckerman (1952-2025)

It’s very sad to hear of the death of the superb sarod player Ken Zuckerman from a brain tumour aged 72. He was one of the most acclaimed sarod players of his generation, especially remarkable as he was an American-born Jewish guy who only encountered Indian music at age 20 when he attended a concert in 1971 by Ali Akbar Khan – the world’s leading sarod player – while he was studying in Iowa. It’s probably safe to say that Zuckerman was the most respected non-Indian playing Indian classical music.

After his encounter with Ali Akbar Khan, he enrolled at his music school in San Rafael, California. Having played acoustic and electric guitar as a teenager, he started playing sitar but switched to sarod after a year. He became one of Ali Akbar Khan’s favourite pupils, studying with him for 37 years. In 1985, Ali Akbar set up a European branch of his music school in Basel, Switzerland and asked Zuckerman to run it, which he did until the end of his life.

It was (the late) Zakir Hussain, a good friend of Zuckerman’s, who wisely advised him to play regularly in India as that would increase his credibility there – and consequently worldwide. Zuckerman did annual tours in India, where he was widely respected. “At least music connoisseurs in India maintain that real music lovers listen with their ears open and their eyes closed”, he told Songlines. He joked that he’d return as an Indian in his next life.

He made several fine recordings. Salon de Musique (2002) with Swapan Chaudhuri is a beautiful classical recital given at the school in Basel, while Indian Ragas & Medieval Song (2012) is a collaboration with singer Dominique Vellard on which Zuckerman plays lute as well as sarod – it was a TOTW in Songlines #83.