Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain leads the Masters of Percussion on Sunday at the Kennedy Center.

There are artistic giants whose shadow looms so large that their equally talented contemporaries are unable to get much deserved recognition. Think of Burning Spear to Bob Marley, or any actress to Meryl Streep. For many, Indian music begins and ends with Ravi Shankar. The late, great sitarist was a luminary, no doubt, but while he spent decades hanging out with George Harrison, playing Woodstock and touring the world’s finest concert halls, musicians who earned equal respect among those in the know were relegated to playing high school auditoriums. Zakir Hussain, recognized as the world’s finest tabla player, was in danger of doing the same to his fellow percussionists. That is one of the reasons he formed Masters of Percussion.

“It’s not Zakir Hussain’s concert by a long shot,” Hussain said of the ensemble’s upcoming performance, taking place on Sunday at the Kennedy Center‘s Concert Hall. “I’m going to be the last person to want to hog the stage.”

Masters of Percussion is comprised of world class drummers from every major musical tradition in India, a country where a drum break isn’t an excuse to leave the hall for a restroom, but where the percussionist is considered every bit the equal to the vocalist or other instrumentalists. A lengthy solo is a central feature of every traditional concert in South India, while the North Indian tradition has a structured format in which percussion is presented as the lead instrument in an ensemble.

“With Masters of Percussion, I wanted to bring forward onto the non-Indian stages the rarely heard Indian traditions and rhythms,” Hussain said.

Hussain’s talents have led to collaborations with the world’s most respected musicians. In addition to playing with India’s finest, he was a founding member of Shakti with John McLaughlin, the legendary guitarist, and has worked with Bela Fleck, Charles Lloyd, Mickey Hart of The Grateful Dead and many, many more. Joining him on stage will be Selvaganesh on ghatam and kanjira, Deepak Bhatt on dhol and Vijay Chavan on dholki. The performance will also include a melodic element with sarangi player Dilshad Khan and sitarist Niladri Kumar.

As a twist, Steve Smith will be playing the drumset. He first came to prominence in the early ’80s, playing with the platinum selling rock group, Journey. Since then, he has spent 25 years leading his own fusion group, Vital Information, and is an in-demand session musician and jazz drummer. Smith has also spent over a decade in deep study of Indian music and rhythms.

“The idea was to acknowledge that we’ve walked through the tunnel and come out the other end,” Hussain said of Smith’s involvement. “It’s not just the Indian masters crossing over to the west. The western musicians have learned and experienced enough of the traditions of my world to be able to comfortably exist in that environment.”

Sunday’s performance is structured as a seamless aural journey around the subcontinent. There are solos for each drummer to shine, and those solos will be woven into periods of interaction and ensemble work.

“It’s more like a birds eye vie of Indian melody and culture,” Hussain said. “We’re not going to change the world, we don’t have any earth shaking message to offer. All we can say is for that moment when you are in the concert hall, for a moment you’ll be transported to a different level of awareness and that joy and happiness will hopefully allow you to face the world with renewed vigor.”

The Washington Performing Arts Society presents Zakir Hussain & the Masters of Percussion on Sunday, April 13, 2014 at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. 4 p.m. Tickets $20-$65.