Zakir Hussain, one of the world's greatest tabla players, has died at the age of 73.

The Indian classical music icon died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said in a statement.

Hussain was a four-time Grammy award winner and has received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award.

The son of tabla maestro Ustad Alla Rakha Khan, Hussain was a child prodigy who performed his first concert at the age of seven.

Tributes have started pouring in from across the world.