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{{Short description|Indian musical artist (1927-2017)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan
| image = Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan 01.jpg
| image_size = 220
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1927|02|18}}
| birth_place = [[Jaora]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[India]]
| death_date = {{death date and given age|df=yes|2017|1|4|89}}
| death_place = [[Mumbai]], India
| genre = [[Hindustani classical music]]
| occupation = Sitarist, Composer, Innovator, Author
| instrument = [[sitar]]
| years_active =
| label = Various
| website = www.jafferkhanibaaj.com
}}
'''Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan''' (18 February 1927 – 4 January 2017) was an Indian [[sitar]] player. Khan received the national awards [[Padma Shri]] (1970) and [[Padma Bhushan]] (2006) and was awarded the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] for 1987.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Padma Awards|publisher=[[Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India)|Ministry of Communications and Information Technology]]|url=http://india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php?start=0&award_year=&state=&field=3&p_name=Jaffer&award=All |access-date=17 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=SNA: List of Akademi Awardees – Instrumental – Sitar |publisher=[[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] |url=http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm#InstrumentalSitar |access-date=17 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530204253/http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm |archive-date=30 May 2015}}</ref>

==Early life==
Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan was born in 1927 in Jaora (35 km away from [[Ratlam]], Madhya Pradesh) as the son of Jaffer Khan, a versatile vocalist, sitarist and [[Veena|beenkar]]. He belonged to the Beenkar Gharana of Indore and was an All India Radio artiste since the early 1940s.<ref>{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20050131214703/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/07/19/stories/2003071900250900.htm]}}, The Hindu, 19 July 1953.</ref> A few years before the [[Beatles]] met [[Ravi Shankar]], in 1958, Khan collaborated with jazz pianist and composer [[Dave Brubeck]]. Brubeck who was in Bombay through the U.S. State Department sponsored Jazz Ambassadors Program was impressed by the improvisation in Indian music and said that the experience accompanying Halim Jaffer Khan led him to play in a different way. Brubeck says of that meeting, "We understood each other." Khan also performed with the noted English classical guitarist [[Julian Bream]] in 1963.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Ustad and the long-playing sitar | date=22 February 2013 | url=https://www.mid-day.com/lifestyle/health-and-fitness/article/the-ustad-and-the-long-playing-sitar-201507 }}</ref>

==Career==
Khan is known for his own style ''Jafferkhani Baaj''.<ref>Mark Slobin; Frank Kouwenhoven Co-editor, CHIME; Ruth Hellier; Carole Pegg; Gerry Farrell Ethnomusicology Forum, 1741-1920, Volume 10, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 123–132</ref> He describes it as, "a synthesis of precision in technique, systematic thought"<ref name="Khan, Abdul Halim Jaffer 2000">Khan, Abdul Halim Jaffer. Jafferkhani Baaj: Innovation in Sitar Music. Kohinoor Printers, 2000.</ref> with a vigorous playing style. Cultural anthropologist and reader at the University of Mumbai, Dr. Kamala Ganesh states: "His music making is full of eclectic yet deeply informed choices. He is a thinking musician but puts across his complex views with a simplicity and feeling which demarcate the articulate performer from the articulate theoretician.... In him, one gets an unmistakable sense... a syncretic tradition".<ref>Khan, Abdul Halim Jaffer. Jafferkhani Baaj: Innovation in Sitar Music. Kohinoor Printers, 2000</ref> The Indian santoor player [[Shivkumar Sharma]] remembers of Khan's performance of the raga Chhayanat: "It was probably in 1955–56, I was relaxing in my terrace in Jammu. In the stillness of the night I heard the notes of Raga Chhayanat on the sitar emanate from my neighbor's radio. I immediately noticed that the tone of the sitar was completely different and the style of playing radically unique. I rushed to switch on my radio.... I was totally engrossed and was very curious to know who this maestro was."<ref name="Khan, Abdul Halim Jaffer 2000"/>

Khan has been credited with bringing Carnatic ragas Kirwani, Kanakangi, Latangi, Karaharapriya, Manavati, Ganamurti, and others into the sitar repertoire, rendering them through a Hindustani sensibility and in the Jafferkhani style. He was the first Hindustani musician to collaborate with Carnatic music in a performance with renowned Veena player [[Emani Sankara Sastry]]{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}.

Khan was also involved with Indian cinema. Music Director [[Khwaja Khurshid Anwar]] introduced him to the Hindi film industry in 1946 at the age of 17 when he played sitar in the songs of film ''[[Parwana (1947 film)|Parwana]]''. He also composed and played for films like ''[[Mughal-e-Azam]]'',<ref>Kabir, N.M. & Akhtar, S. (2007). The Immortal Dialogue of K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054098/awards|title = Mughal-E-Azam - IMDb|website = [[IMDb]]}}</ref> ''[[Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje]]'' (1971), ''[[Goonj Uthi Shehnai]]'' (1959), ''[[Kohinoor (1960 film)|Kohinoor]]'' (1960) and collaborated with noted music directors such as [[Vasant Desai]], [[C. Ramachandra]], [[Madan Mohan (music director)|Madan Mohan]] and [[Naushad]] who has said, "he not only enriched film music, but his participation lent prestige to my songs."<ref>Dhaneshwar, Amarendra. [http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=Entertainment%20-%20Music&sectid=135contentid=20100219201002190231323789da5e29a ''Strings Attached''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702222607/http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=Entertainment%20-%20Music&sectid=135contentid%3D20100219201002190231323789da5e29a |date= 2 July 2010 }}, "The Times of India", 19 February 2010.</ref><ref name=TheHindu>{{cite news| url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/His-baaj-had-no-boundaries/article17028084.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302172941/https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/His-baaj-had-no-boundaries/article17028084.ece|title=His baaj had no boundaries (Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan)|author=Kamala Ganesh|newspaper=The Hindu newspaper|archive-date=2 March 2021|date=12 January 2017|access-date=24 March 2024}}</ref> Music critic for the Times of India, Amarendra Dhaneshwar described Khan's playing as, "Sitar virtuosity at its peak."<ref>Dhaneshwar, Amarendra Reporter. "Sitar Virtuosity at Its Peak: Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan is one of the greatest sitar maestros of the country." Times of India, Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited, February 17, 2004.</ref>

In 1976, Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan established Halim Academy of Sitar, India's first sitar academy in Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra, with Chief Minister Yashwantrao Chavan as its inaugural Chief Guest<ref>Staff Reporter. "Country's First Sitar Academy: Opening in City." Times of India, Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited, October 21, 1976.</ref>
[[File:Halim Academy of Sitar.jpg|thumb|Sitarist Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan at the Halim Academy of Sitar with Chief guest, Sarodist Amjad Ali Khan, and Chair of Dr. Sushilarani-Baburao Patel Trust, Neela Shinde]]

==Death==
Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan died on 4 January 2017, at his home in [[Mumbai]], India, from [[cardiac arrest]], aged 89.<ref name=TheHindu/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/music/news/sitar-maestro-ustad-abdul-halim-dead/articleshow/56348230.cms|title=Sitar maestro Ustad Abdul Halim dead|work=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=5 January 2017|date=4 January 2016|author=Bella Jaisinghani}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Khan trained several prominent sitar players, including [[Ravi Chary]],<ref>{{Cite web | title=A journey home through music: Surasik and UW Yuva Raga co-host ‘Yatra’ concert {{!}} Recreation {{!}} dailyuw.com | url=https://www.dailyuw.com/arts_and_culture/recreation/a-journey-home-through-music-surasik-and-uw-yuva-raga-co-host-yatra-concert/article_9d2cc318-6f6f-4928-bcfd-2f73bd5f1f82.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250607125729/https://www.dailyuw.com/arts_and_culture/recreation/a-journey-home-through-music-surasik-and-uw-yuva-raga-co-host-yatra-concert/article_9d2cc318-6f6f-4928-bcfd-2f73bd5f1f82.html | access-date=2025-11-22 | archive-date=2025-06-07}}</ref> and his son, [[Zunain Khan]].<ref>{{cite web | title=A sitar maestro who narrated stories | website=[[The Week (Indian magazine)|The Week]] | url=https://www.theweek.in/webworld/features/society/abdul-halim-jaffer-khan.html }}</ref>

==Works and awards==
===Select awards===
* Tagore Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi in 2012<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/citation_popup.php?id=140&at=4 |title=Sangeet Natak Akademi citation |website=sangeetnatak.gov.in |access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref>
* Hanumant Sanman Murari Bapu, 2010
* Godavari Gaurav Kusumagraj Pratishthan, Nashik, 2010
* [[Padma Bhushan]] Government of India 2006<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Padma-Awards-2006/229951 |title=Padma Awards 2006 |date=25 January 2006 |work=outlookindia.com/ |access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref>
* Pillar of Hindustani Society TACCI, Mumbai, 2006
* Lifetime Achievement Award, Legends of India, 2005<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://legendsofindia.org/site/lifetime.html |title=Legends of India Lifetime Achievement Awards |website=Legends of India |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319191740/http://legendsofindia.org/site/lifetime.html |archive-date=19 March 2015 |url-status=dead |access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref>
* Giants International Award, 2004
* Kala Ratna Mumbai, 2003
* Swarsagar Award (PCMP), Pimpri-Chinchwad, 2003
* Acharya Pt. Ramnarain Foundation Award, Mumbai, 2002
* Sharda Ratna Mumbai, 2002
* Tansen Samman, Gwalior, 2000
* Sangeet Research Academy ITC-SRA Award, Mumbai, 2000
* Srestha Kala Acharya, 1998
* Nada Nidhi Avadhoota Datta Peetham, Mysore, 1998
* Haafiz Ali Khan Award Haafiz Ali Khan Memorial Trust, 1992<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sarod.com/hafiz_ali_khan_a.html |title=Haafiz Ali Khan Awards |website=www.sarod.com |access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref>
* Swar Sadhana Ratna Award, Mumbai, 1992
* Shikhar Samman Government of Madhya Pradesh, 1991
* Gaurav Puraskar, Government of Maharashtra, 1990
* [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]], Delhi, 1987
* Ustad Allauddin Sangeet Ratna Bhopal, 1986
* Civil Medal awarded by the Mayor of Bombay, 1985
* Tantri Vilas, Sur Singar Samsad, Mumbai, 1984
* "Silver Tanpura," AICC Delhi, 1975
* [[Padma Shri]], Government of India, 1970
* Hzt Amir Khusrau Gold Medal, Hyderabad, 1959
* Gold Medal, Bombay State Music Conference, 1956
* "Silver Sitar," Hyderabad, 1955
* Gold Medal All Bengal Music Conference, 1953

===Video===
Narrated by violinist Yehudi Menuhin, Deben Bhattacharya's film ''Raga'' features a young virtuosic Halim Jaffer Khan playing raga Sindh Bhairavi.

===Select discography===
* 75th Celebration Swar Sadhna (Raag Zila Kafi)
* 70th Birthday Release (Raag Tilak Kamod, Raag Jaijaiwanti, Raag Sindhi Bhairavi)
* Columbia (EP) (Raag Mand, Raag Ahir Bhairav)
* Enchanting Sitar (Raag Aarabi, Raag Multani)
* Guzra Zamana (Live in Concert- 1968) (Raag Abhogi)
* His Master's Voice (EP) (Chakra dhun, Thumri in Deepchandi taal)
* Immortal Series: Vol 1 (Raag Pahadi, Raag Kedar); Vol 2 (Raag Kirwani, Raag Jaunpuri)
* Instrumental Classical: Sitar (Raag Jaijaiwanti, Raag Sindhi Bhairavi)
* Lilting Strings (Raag Bhairavi, Raag [[Gaud Sarang]], Raag Kamod, Raag Rageshri, Raag Shyam Kalyan, Raag Yaman Kalyan)
* Live in Jaipur 1968
* A Night at the Valley (Raag Kirwani, Raag Marwa, Raag Pahadi, Chakradhun, Thumri)
* Sangeet Suman (Raag Patdeep, Raag Shyam Kedar)
* Sitar Quintet (Raag Chandani Kedar, Raag Mazamiri, Raag Khusravani, Raag Sharavati, Raag Kalpana, Raag Miya ki Malhaar)
* Sitar Through the Ages [Soofiyana rang, Raag Bhimpalasi, Raag Zila Kafi, Raag Farghana]
* Sitar Ecstasy [Raag Hemavati, Raag Jaitshri, Sufiana Sama (dhun)]
* Theme on Strings (Raag Saraswat Ranjani, Sitar Anjuman, Hulban)
* Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Raag Champakali, Raag Chhaya Nat, Raag Mishra Pilu)
* Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Raag Jaunpuri, Raag Rajeshwari, Raag Anand Bhairav, Thumri)
* Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Raag Araj, Raag Madhyami)
* Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Raag Marwa, Raag Pahadi)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*''Jafferkhani Baaj: Innovation in Sitar Music.'' Khan, Abdul Halim Jaffer. Jafferkhani Baaj: Innovation in Sitar Music. Kohinoor Printers, 2000.

==External links==
*{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p376029|label=Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110614221829/http://www.itcsra.org/sra_story/sra_story_guru/sra_story_guru_links/sra_story_guru_gharana/sitar.html The Beenkar Gharana], ''[[ITC Sangeet Research Academy]]'', Kolkata, 2001.
* [http://www.jafferkhanibaaj.com JafferKhaniBaaj] - Official Website
* [http://www.indrayanikaathi.com/2014/04/sitarists-sitarist.html The Sitarist's Sitarist]
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:Hindustani instrumentalists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:Indian sitar players]]
[[Category:Musicians from Madhya Pradesh]]

Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan - Revision history

JovitaMcClinton at 11:24, 22 November 2025