19 June : Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, (87), belonging to Sania Maihar Gharana, noted player of the 25- stringed instrument Sarod, passed away on Friday at his residence in San Anselmo, San Francisco, USA.Ali Akbar Khan was born in 1922, in the village of Shibpur, Comilla in Bangladesh. His parents were Baba Allauddin Khan, the illustrious multi-talented maestro and Madina Begum.
Khan had his training in both vocal and Sarod from his father at a very early age. He was also adept in playing several other instruments like Sur Bahar, Sitar, Tabla, Drums etc. He became a court musician of Jodhpur Kingdom at the nage of 22.
He had performed all over India and extensively in the West. He founded Ali Akbar Khan College of Music in 1956 at Kolkata and another College of the same name at Berkeley, California in 1958. A branch of this college was opened in Basel, Switzerland in 1985. The School at US was moved to its present location at San Rafael, California in 1968.
His style of Sarod playing was to bring out more melody with fewer strokes. He was known for his long expansion of Raga in Alap and Jod and mesmerising Gat and Jhala. He had also performed many Jugalbandis with the likes of Pt. Ravi Shankar, Pt. Nikhil Bannerjee, Pt. Vilayat Khan, Vid. L. Subramanyam and many western musicians. He was the first Indian to cut a Long Play record of Indian music in the West.
He was married three times and was the father of 11 children. His son Aashish Khan is a noted Sarod player. He has left a huge pupilage, including Pt. Rajiv Taranath and admirers.He has been awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1989, National Heritage Fellowship (1997) highest award for traditional Arts in the US, MacArthur Genius Grant (1991), several Grammy awards.
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By : News Team
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