British tabla artist Shahbaz Hussain has been awarded the prestigious "Son of Lahore" award by the Pakistan Government at this year's All Pakistan Music Conference in recognition of his services to music. Lahore is generally acknowledged as the artistic capital of Pakistan and this annual conference, which was established in 1959, aims to help revive and promote the rich classical music traditions of the Asian subcontinent. According to the organisers, "Though he was born in the UK, Shahbaz's services to the art of the tabla make us proud that we share his roots."

Shahbaz, who was born & bred in Rochdale, began learning tabla at age 5 under the guidance of his father - the late Ustad Mumtaz Hussain.  Shahbaz then went on to learn from some of tabla's great masters - Ustad Faiyaz Khan from the Delhi Gharana (school), the late Ustad Shaukat Hussain Khan from the Punjab Gharana and finally the late Ustad Allah Rakha Khan.

Now aged 29, Shahbaz is a rising star in the world of South Asian classical music. He regularly travels across the world to accompany the grand masters of Indian music, including sitarist Ustad Shahid Parvez, flautist Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia and ghazal legend Ghulam Ali to name just a few. Shahbaz has performed in many prestigious venues around the world, including the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., Lincoln Centre in New York and London's Royal Albert & Queen Elizabeth Halls.

Shahbaz's latest project is working with his band Indus – a new fusion music group that includes Mohamed Assani on sitar, John Ball on santoor & Henrik Linnemann on flute. Says Shahbaz, "I am excited to be taking my tabla playing into this creative sphere."  Indus has been hailed as one of the most promising new music groups to come out of the North of England.