KiaGreenwald at 20:45, 6 August 2025

2025-08-06T20:45:31Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian Hindustani classical vocalist (1871–1949)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan
| image =
| caption =
| image_size =
| birth_name =
| alias =
| birth_place = [[Kairana|Kirana]], [[British India]]
| birth_date = {{birth year|1871}}
| death_place = [[Saharanpur]], India
| death_date = {{death year and age|1949|1871}}
| origin =
| genre = [[Indian Classical Music]]
| occupation = Singer, Indian Classical vocalist, <br/>One of the founders of [[Kirana Gharana]] of Classical Music
| years_active =
}}

'''Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan''' (1871–1949) was an [[Indian classical music|Indian subcontinental singer]] from the [[Kirana gharana]]. He died in 1949 in [[Saharanpur]], near Delhi, India.

==Early life and background==
Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan was born in [[Kairana|Kirana]], Uttar Pradesh in 1871.<ref name=ITC>{{cite web|url=https://www.itcsra.org/TreasurePast.aspx?TreasuresId=14|title=Treasures from the Past – Abdul Wahid Khan|website= Profile of Abdul Wahid Khan on ITC Sangeet Research Academy website|access-date=5 August 2025|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212202033/https://www.itcsra.org/TreasurePast.aspx?TreasuresId=14}}</ref> The town of Kirana was home to many families of musicians from the Mughal court, who migrated from Delhi after the [[Mughal Empire]] fell in 1857. Kirana gharana's three disciplines are [[rudraveena]], [[sarangi]] and vocals - Kirana Style of Singing is with sweetness of tone, delightful and ornate.<ref name=IndianExpress/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Classical_Music_of_India_A_Practical_Gui/OnhQEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Abdul+Wahid++Khan+Kirana+gharana&pg=PA46&printsec=frontcover|page=46|title=Classical Music of India: A Practical Guide|author=L. Subhramaniam|year=2025|publisher=Westland Publications via Google Books|isbn=9789360457549}}</ref><ref name=Sheikh/>

Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan initially learned vocal and sarangi from his father, Ustad Abdul Majid Khan. Around age 12, he moved to Kolhapur to learn from Ustad Langde Haider Baksh Khan, a disciple of [[Bande Ali Khan]], a famous master of [[veena]] and vocal music.<ref name=ITC/>

Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan founded the [[Kirana gharana]] musical family with his cousin [[Ustad Abdul Karim Khan]] in the late 19th century.<ref name=IndianExpress>{{cite news|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/the-others-who-left-kairana-many-decades-ago-2878375/|title=The others who left Kairana, many decades ago (Abdul Wahid Khan)|newspaper=The Indian Express newspaper|date=27 June 2016|author=Sanghamitra Mazumdar|url-status=dead|access-date=5 August 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731212313/http://indianexpress.com:80/article/india/india-news-india/the-others-who-left-kairana-many-decades-ago-2878375|archive-date=31 July 2016}}</ref> Ustad Abdul Karim Khan had married Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan's sister, Ghafooran Bibi. The relationship between Abdul Wahid Khan and Abdul Karim Khan later soured when Abdul Karim neglected Ghafooran Bibi and married his student, Tarabai Mane. Abdul Wahid Khan's hearing was deficient and he was sometimes referred to as ''Behre Wahid Khan'' (Deaf Wahid Khan). Wahid Khan's son Ustad Hafizullah Khan was born in 1946. Hafizullah's uncles trained him in music, and he became a [[Sarangi]] player.<ref name=ITC/>

==Singing career==
{{Listen
|filename =
|title = Raga Darbari Kanada
|description = the night raga [[Darbari Kanada]]
|filename2 =
|title2 = Raga Multani
|description2 = the afternoon raga [[Multani (raga)|Multani]]
|filename3 =
|title3 = Raga Patdip
|description3 = the afternoon raga Patdip
}}
Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan forbade recordings of his performances to avoid imitation by other singers. Only three of his performances survived, recordings of the ragas Patdip, [[Multani (raga)|Multani]], and [[Darbari Kanada]], accompanied by [[Chatur Lal]] on [[tabla]]. They were preserved by music producer Jivan Lal Mattoo, who secretly recorded a radio broadcast in 1947, 2 years before his death, to document Khan's style.<ref name=Sorrell>{{cite book |title=Indian Music in Performance: a practical introduction |last=Sorrell |first=Neil |author2=Narayan, Ram |year=1980 | publisher=Manchester University Press | isbn=0-7190-0756-9 |page=16 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LxkNAQAAIAAJ }}</ref>
<blockquote>
"Although a youthful prodigy of the Kolhapur court, remaining unchallenged after his public debut there at age 18, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan had no inclination to spend time singing in the courts. Instead he lived a devout, reclusive life, singing in the presence of holy men and at the tombs of Sufi saints and only occasionally sang in public."<ref name=ITC/>
</blockquote>

==Death and legacy==
Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan died as an Indian national in 1949 in [[Saharanpur]], near Delhi.<ref name=Sorrell/><ref name=Wade>{{cite book |title=Khyal: Creativity within North India's Classical Music Tradition |last=Wade |first=Bonnie C. |year=1984 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-25659-3 |page=181, 188, 196, 210, 254, 281, 294 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MiE9AAAAIAAJ&q=Abdul+Wahid+Khan&pg=PA195}}</ref><ref name=Sheikh/> Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan's students included Pandit Jaichand Bhatt (Khyal Singer), [[Sureshbabu Mane]], [[Hirabai Barodekar]], [[Begum Akhtar]], [[Malika Pukhraj]], film music director [[Feroz Nizami]], Saraswatibai Rane, [[Pran Nath (musician)|Pran Nath]], Sukhdev Prasad, [[Ram Narayan]].<ref name=Sheikh>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Who_s_Who/Ol9C3lhd01QC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Abdul+Wahid+Khan+on+Who%27s+Who:+Music+in+Pakistan+by+Sheikh+M.+A.&pg=PA33&printsec=frontcover|page=33|title=Abdul Wahid Khan profile|year=2012|publisher=Google Books|author=Sheikh, M. A.|isbn=9781469191591}}</ref>

Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan and Ustad Abdul Karim Khan's evolution of the ''vilambit khyal'' inspired Amir Khan to develop his trademark ''ati vilambit'' singing.

Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan evolved the classical Hindustani music by extending recitals of a raga from approximately 20 minutes to up to an hour. Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan was one of the greatest icons of the Kirana
gharana.<ref name=ITC/><ref name=IndianExpress/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Abdul Wahid}}
[[Category:1871 births]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:Hindustani singers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian male classical singers]]
[[Category:Muhajir people]]
[[Category:Kirana gharana]]
[[Category:Vocal gharanas]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male classical singers]]
[[Category:People from Muzaffarnagar]]
[[Category:Singers from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century Khyal singers]]
[[Category:Singers from British India]]

Abdul Wahid Khan - Revision history

KiaGreenwald at 20:45, 6 August 2025