Ali Akbar Khan
Encyclopedia
Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 1922 – 18 June 2009), often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad (master), was a Hindustani classical music
ian of the Maihar gharana
, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod
. Khan was instrumental in popularizing Indian classical music
in the West, both as a performer (often in conjunction with Sitar
maestro Ravi Shankar
), and as a teacher. He established a music school in Calcutta in 1956, and the Ali Akbar College of Music
in 1967, which is now located in San Rafael
, California and has a branch in Basel
, Switzerland. Khan also composed several classical raga
s and filmscores.
He was a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Trained as a musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan
, Khan first came to America in 1955 on the invitation of violin
ist Yehudi Menuhin
and later settled in California. Khan was nominated for five Grammy Award
s and was accorded India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan
, in 1989. He has also won a MacArthur Fellowship and the National Endowment for the Arts
's National Heritage Fellowship
.
, in present-day Bangladesh
(then East Bengal
), to revered musician and teacher, Allauddin Khan
and Madina Begum. Soon after his birth, khan's family returned to Maihar
(in present day Madhya Pradesh
, India) where his father was the primary court musician for the Maharaja
of the princely state
.
From an early age Khan received training from his father in various instruments as well as vocal composition, but finally gravitated towards the sarod. Allauddin was a perfectionist and a strict taskmaster, and Khan's lessons started before dawn and often lasted 18 hours a day. Khan also learned to play the tabla
and the pakhavaj
from his uncle, Aftabuddin Khan, who he visited at Shibpur. During this period he met several prominent musicians, such as the sarodist Timir Baran and flutist Pannalal Ghosh
, who came to study with his father; in later years he was joined in his lessons by his sister Annapurna Devi, who became an accomplished player of the surbahar
, and fellow student Ravi Shankar. Shankar and Annapurna Devi were married in 1941.
Of his training on the sarod, he wrote:
in 1936, at the age of 13. Three years later, in December 1939, he accompanied Ravi Shankar on the sarod during the latter's debut performance at the same conference; this was the first of many jugalbandis (duets) between the two musicians. In 1938 Khan gave his first recital on All India Radio
(AIR), Bombay (accompanied on the tabla by Alla Rakha), and starting in January 1940, he gave monthly performances on AIR, Lucknow
. Finally in 1944, both Shankar and Khan left Maihar to start their professional careers as musicians; Shankar went to Bombay, while Khan became the youngest Music Director for AIR, Lucknow and was responsible for solo performances and composing for the radio orchestra.
In 1943, on his father's recommendation, Khan was appointed a court musician for the Maharaja of Jodhpur, Hanwant Singh
. There, he taught and composed music besides giving recitals and was accorded the title of Ustad by the Maharaja. When the princely states were wound down with India's independence in 1947 and Hanwant Singh died in a plane crash in 1948, Khan moved to Bombay.
In Bombay, he won acclaim as a composer of several film scores, including Chetan Anand
's Aandhiyan, Satyajit Ray
's Devi, Merchant-Ivory
's The Householder
, and Tapan Sinha
's Kshudhita Pashan ("Hungry stones"), for which he won the "Best Musician of the Year" award. He also played Sarod for a song in 1955 film Seema which had the music composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Later in 1993, he would score some of the music for Bernardo Bertolucci
Little Buddha
.
Beginning in 1945, Khan also started recording a series of 78 rpm disks (which could record about 3 minutes of music) at the HMV
Studios in Bombay. For one such record he conceived a new composition Raga Chandranandan ("moonstruck"), based on four evening ragas, Malkauns, Chandrakauns, Nandakauns and Kaushi Kanada. This record was a huge success in India and the raga found a worldwide audience when a 22 minute rendition was re-recorded for the Master Musician of India LP in 1965 - one of Khan's seminal recordings.
He performed in India and traveled extensively in the West. In 1956, Khan founded the Ali Akbar College of Music
in Calcutta, with the mission to teach and spread Indian classical music. He founded another school of the same name in Berkeley, California
in 1967 and later moved it to San Rafael, California
. Khan performed in Boston with Shankar Ghosh
in 1969 for the Peabody Mason Concert series. In 1985 he founded another branch of the Ali Akbar College of Music
in Basel
, Switzerland
. Khan was the first Indian musician to record an LP album
of Indian classical music in the United States and to play sarod on American television.
Khan has participated in a number of classic jugalbandi pairings, most notably with Ravi Shankar
, Nikhil Banerjee
and violinist L. Subramaniam
. A few recordings of duets with Vilayat Khan
also exist. He also collaborated with Western musicians. In 1971 Khan performed at the Madison Square Garden
for the Concert for Bangladesh along with Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha and Kamala Chakravarty; other musicians at the concert included Bob Dylan
, Eric Clapton
, George Harrison
and Ringo Starr
. An album and a movie of the concert were later released.
Khan was based in the United States for the last four decades of his life. He toured extensively until he was prevented from doing so by ill-health in the period prior to his death from renal failure.
is also a reputable sarod player.
in 1989, among other awards. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1991. In 1997, Khan received the National Endowment for the Arts
' prestigious National Heritage Fellowship
, the United States' highest honour in the traditional arts. Khan has received two Grammy nominations.
Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...
ian of the Maihar gharana
Maihar gharana
The Maihar gharana is a gharana or school of Hindustani or North Indian classical music formed principally by the versatile genius and sarod maestro Ustad Allaudin Khan in Maihar in the Madhya Pradesh state of India....
, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod
Sarod
The sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...
. Khan was instrumental in popularizing Indian classical music
Indian classical music
The origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
in the West, both as a performer (often in conjunction with Sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
maestro Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
), and as a teacher. He established a music school in Calcutta in 1956, and the Ali Akbar College of Music
Ali Akbar College of Music
The Ali Akbar College of Music is the name of three schools founded by Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan to teach Indian classical music. The first was founded in 1956 in Calcutta, India. The second was founded in 1967 in Berkeley, California, but moved to its current location in San Rafael,...
in 1967, which is now located in San Rafael
San Rafael, California
San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
, California and has a branch in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland. Khan also composed several classical raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s and filmscores.
He was a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Trained as a musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan
Allauddin Khan
Allauddin Khan , was a Bengali sarodiya and multi-instrumentalist, composer and one of the most renowned music teachers of the 20th Century in Indian classical music.In 1935, he toured Europe, along with Uday Shankar's ballet troupe, and later also worked at his...
, Khan first came to America in 1955 on the invitation of violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
and later settled in California. Khan was nominated for five Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s and was accorded India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan
Padma Vibhushan
The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan...
, in 1989. He has also won a MacArthur Fellowship and the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
's National Heritage Fellowship
National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts...
.
Childhood and training
Ali Akbar Khan was born in the village of Shibpur, ComillaComilla
Comilla is a city in south-eastern Bangladesh, located along the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway. It is the administrative center of the Comilla District, part of the Chittagong Division. The Eastern Wing of Bangladesh Highway Police is located in Comilla....
, in present-day Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
(then East Bengal
East Bengal
East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....
), to revered musician and teacher, Allauddin Khan
Allauddin Khan
Allauddin Khan , was a Bengali sarodiya and multi-instrumentalist, composer and one of the most renowned music teachers of the 20th Century in Indian classical music.In 1935, he toured Europe, along with Uday Shankar's ballet troupe, and later also worked at his...
and Madina Begum. Soon after his birth, khan's family returned to Maihar
Maihar
Maihar is a city and a municipality in Satna district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Maihar is known for the temple of revered mother goddess Sharda situated on Trikuta hill of Maihar.- Origin :...
(in present day Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
, India) where his father was the primary court musician for the Maharaja
Maharaja
Mahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great king" or "high king". The female equivalent title Maharani denotes either the wife of a Maharaja or, in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajamata...
of the princely state
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
.
From an early age Khan received training from his father in various instruments as well as vocal composition, but finally gravitated towards the sarod. Allauddin was a perfectionist and a strict taskmaster, and Khan's lessons started before dawn and often lasted 18 hours a day. Khan also learned to play the tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
and the pakhavaj
Pakhavaj
The pakhavaj, pakhawaj, pakuaj, pakhvaj or pakavaj is an Indian barrel-shaped, two-headed drum, the North Indian equivalent to the Southern mridangam....
from his uncle, Aftabuddin Khan, who he visited at Shibpur. During this period he met several prominent musicians, such as the sarodist Timir Baran and flutist Pannalal Ghosh
Pannalal Ghosh
Pannalal Ghosh , also known as Amulya Jyoti Ghosh, was a Bengali Indian flute player and composer. He was a disciple of Allauddin Khan, and is credited with giving the flute its status in Hindustani classical music....
, who came to study with his father; in later years he was joined in his lessons by his sister Annapurna Devi, who became an accomplished player of the surbahar
Surbahar
Surbahar , sometimes known as bass sitar, is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. It is closely related to sitar, but it has a lower tone. Depending on the instrument's size, it is usually pitched two to five whole steps below the standard sitar, but...
, and fellow student Ravi Shankar. Shankar and Annapurna Devi were married in 1941.
Of his training on the sarod, he wrote:
Career
Ali Akbar Khan, after years of rigorous training gave his debut performance at a music conference in AllahabadAllahabad
Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...
in 1936, at the age of 13. Three years later, in December 1939, he accompanied Ravi Shankar on the sarod during the latter's debut performance at the same conference; this was the first of many jugalbandis (duets) between the two musicians. In 1938 Khan gave his first recital on All India Radio
All India Radio
All India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
(AIR), Bombay (accompanied on the tabla by Alla Rakha), and starting in January 1940, he gave monthly performances on AIR, Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
. Finally in 1944, both Shankar and Khan left Maihar to start their professional careers as musicians; Shankar went to Bombay, while Khan became the youngest Music Director for AIR, Lucknow and was responsible for solo performances and composing for the radio orchestra.
In 1943, on his father's recommendation, Khan was appointed a court musician for the Maharaja of Jodhpur, Hanwant Singh
Hanwant Singh
H.H. Raj Rajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Shri Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur Hanwart Singh was the ruler of the Indian princely state of Jodhpur from 1947 until 1952. He was a great player of Polo and is accredited as world polo champion, he was a fine magician as well...
. There, he taught and composed music besides giving recitals and was accorded the title of Ustad by the Maharaja. When the princely states were wound down with India's independence in 1947 and Hanwant Singh died in a plane crash in 1948, Khan moved to Bombay.
In Bombay, he won acclaim as a composer of several film scores, including Chetan Anand
Chetan Anand (producer & director)
Chetan Anand was an acclaimed Hindi film producer, screenwriter and director from India, whose debut film, Neecha Nagar, bagged the Palme d'Or award, at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946....
's Aandhiyan, Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
's Devi, Merchant-Ivory
Merchant Ivory Productions
Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory. Their films were for the most part produced by the former, directed by the latter, and scripted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, with the noted exception of a few films. The films were often...
's The Householder
The Householder (film)
The Householder is a film by Merchant Ivory Productions, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and James Ivory, and direction of James Ivory. It is based upon the 1960 novel of the same name by Jhabvala....
, and Tapan Sinha
Tapan Sinha
Tapan Sinha , was a Indian film director. He was arguably the most uncompromising filmmaker outside the orbit of Parallel Cinema.-Personal life and background:...
's Kshudhita Pashan ("Hungry stones"), for which he won the "Best Musician of the Year" award. He also played Sarod for a song in 1955 film Seema which had the music composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Later in 1993, he would score some of the music for Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
Little Buddha
Little Buddha
Little Buddha is a 1994 feature film by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Bridget Fonda and Keanu Reeves. Made by Bertolucci's regular partner, British producer Jeremy Thomas, it marked the team's return to the East after The Last Emperor....
.
Beginning in 1945, Khan also started recording a series of 78 rpm disks (which could record about 3 minutes of music) at the HMV
HMV Group
HMV is a British global entertainment retail chain and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company also operates in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index...
Studios in Bombay. For one such record he conceived a new composition Raga Chandranandan ("moonstruck"), based on four evening ragas, Malkauns, Chandrakauns, Nandakauns and Kaushi Kanada. This record was a huge success in India and the raga found a worldwide audience when a 22 minute rendition was re-recorded for the Master Musician of India LP in 1965 - one of Khan's seminal recordings.
He performed in India and traveled extensively in the West. In 1956, Khan founded the Ali Akbar College of Music
Ali Akbar College of Music
The Ali Akbar College of Music is the name of three schools founded by Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan to teach Indian classical music. The first was founded in 1956 in Calcutta, India. The second was founded in 1967 in Berkeley, California, but moved to its current location in San Rafael,...
in Calcutta, with the mission to teach and spread Indian classical music. He founded another school of the same name in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
in 1967 and later moved it to San Rafael, California
San Rafael, California
San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
. Khan performed in Boston with Shankar Ghosh
Shankar Ghosh
Pandit Shankar Ghosh is a noted Indian tabla player from the Farukhabad gharana of Hindustani classical music. He is also an occasional Hindustani classical singer where he follows the Patiala gharana....
in 1969 for the Peabody Mason Concert series. In 1985 he founded another branch of the Ali Akbar College of Music
Ali Akbar College of Music
The Ali Akbar College of Music is the name of three schools founded by Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan to teach Indian classical music. The first was founded in 1956 in Calcutta, India. The second was founded in 1967 in Berkeley, California, but moved to its current location in San Rafael,...
in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Khan was the first Indian musician to record an LP album
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
of Indian classical music in the United States and to play sarod on American television.
Khan has participated in a number of classic jugalbandi pairings, most notably with Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
, Nikhil Banerjee
Nikhil Banerjee
Nikhil Ranjan Banerjee was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar Gharana who played the stringed instrument sitar.-Early life and background:...
and violinist L. Subramaniam
L. Subramaniam
Dr. Lakshminarayana Subramaniam is an acclaimed Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music, and renowned for his virtuoso playing techniques and compositions in orchestral fusion.-Early years:Subramaniam was born to V...
. A few recordings of duets with Vilayat Khan
Vilayat Khan
Ustad Vilayat Khan was one of India's well known sitar maestros, born in Gauripur in Mymensingh, Bengal...
also exist. He also collaborated with Western musicians. In 1971 Khan performed at the Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
for the Concert for Bangladesh along with Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha and Kamala Chakravarty; other musicians at the concert included Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
and Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
. An album and a movie of the concert were later released.
Khan was based in the United States for the last four decades of his life. He toured extensively until he was prevented from doing so by ill-health in the period prior to his death from renal failure.
Personal life
Ali Akbar Khan married three times and is survived by seven sons and four daughters. His eldest son, Aashish KhanAashish Khan
Aashish Khan Debsharma is an eminent Indian classical musician, known for his virtuosity on the Sarod. He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006 in the 'Best World Music' category for his album "Golden Strings of the Sarode"...
is also a reputable sarod player.
Awards
Khan was awarded the Padma VibhushanPadma Vibhushan
The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan...
in 1989, among other awards. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1991. In 1997, Khan received the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
' prestigious National Heritage Fellowship
National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts...
, the United States' highest honour in the traditional arts. Khan has received two Grammy nominations.