Zakir Hussain had married Antonia Minnecola without his mother's approval; his father married them in a Muslim ceremony

The Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain passed away on Decembe 15, leaving a huge void as artists like him are made so rare. As fans mourn his demise, here's recalling some fond memories about his life. Zakir was married to Antonia Minnecola who he had met in the US while he was exploring his career there. Did you know that he married her without his mother's approval. The artist has revealed details about his wedding, years ago during a chat with Simi Garewal.

He had married Antonia even without telling his mother about it. He had said on Rendezvous With Simi Garewal, "In my family, this was the first mixed marriage. So more than my father, it was my mother who had a tough time with it. It was very difficult for her to accept the marriage. We didn’t tell her about our marriage until I was already married. But my father was there, he married us off in a Muslim ceremony. But the civil ceremony, which was the first one, no one knew. We just went and did it."
He had further revealed how his father convinced his mom. "I think (my father) took on the responsibility of explaining (about my marriage) to my mother. I think the way he explained it was, he came and said, ‘Well, it’s done, just live with it’ (laughs). Over the years, my mother met her, understood her, and liked the person, and she worked her way beyond those ways of traditions and religions and found that the person was the most important aspect of the relationship. She loves Toni and thinks the world of her," the musician added.
Antonia, who was also seen in the episode spoke about how they first met. “I wanted to round off my education because I was pretty much a scholar and a seeker. I thought I don’t know anything about Indian classical music. I went to visit Ali Akbar Khan sahab to tell him that I wanted to study dance and that’s when I met Zakir. He happened to be there that night. I thought he was very sweet, I thought I knew him very well right away," she said.
Zakir and Antonia have two daughters -Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi.