Amit raj at 10:35, 12 February 2026

2026-02-12T10:35:19Z

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{{Short description|Hindustani musician (1922–2009)}}
{{other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox musical artist 
| name = Ali Akbar Khan
| image = Ali Akbar.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1922|04|14}}
| birth_place = [[Shibpur]], [[Bengal Presidency]], British India
| origin = [[Maihar]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2009|6|18|1922|4|14}}
| death_place = [[San Anselmo, California]], U.S.
| instrument = [[Sarod]]
| genre = [[Hindustani classical music]]
| occupation = Composer, [[Sarod]]iya
}}

'''Ali Akbar Khan''' (14 April 1922{{snd}}18 June 2009) was an Indian [[Hindustani classical music]]ian of the [[Maihar gharana]], known for his virtuosity in playing the [[sarod]]. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, [[Allauddin Khan]], he also composed numerous classical ''[[raga]]s'' and [[film score]]s.<ref name="NYT Obit">{{cite news |last=Grimes |first=William |date=19 June 2009 |title=Ali Akbar Khan, Sarod Virtuoso of Depth and Intencity, Is Dead at 87 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/arts/music/22khan.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=13 September 2019}}</ref> He established a music school in [[Calcutta]] in 1956, and the [[Ali Akbar College of Music]] in 1967, which moved with him to the United States and is now based in [[San Rafael, California|San Rafael]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ali Akbar College of Music – Indian Music School San Rafael CA |url=https://aacm.org/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Ali Akbar College of Music |language=en-US}}</ref> California, with a branch in [[Basel]], Switzerland.

Khan was instrumental in popularizing [[Indian classical music]] in the West, both as a performer and as a teacher. He first came to America in 1955 on the invitation of violinist [[Yehudi Menuhin]] and later settled in California.<ref>{{cite news |title=50 Most Influential Indian Americans |url=http://www.rediff.com/us/aliakbarkhan_top50.html |work=Rediff.com |access-date=29 July 2017}}</ref> He was an adjunct professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rappaport |first=Scott |title=Ali Akbar Khan Endowment for Indian Classical Music |url=https://southasia.ucsc.edu/endowed-chairs/ali-akbar-khan.html |website=UC Santa Cruz |archive-date=12 December 2020 |access-date=29 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201212234857/https://southasia.ucsc.edu/endowed-chairs/ali-akbar-khan.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Khan was accorded India's second highest civilian honour, the [[Padma Vibhushan]], in 1989.<ref name=Padma>{{cite web |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India) |url=http://archive.india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php?award_year=&state=&field=3&p_name=Akbar&award=PV |access-date=13 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407023628/http://archive.india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php?award_year=&state=&field=3&p_name=Akbar&award=PV |archive-date=7 April 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nominated five times for the [[Grammy Award]], Khan was also a recipient of the [[MacArthur Fellowship]] and the [[National Endowment for the Arts]]' [[National Heritage Fellowship]].

==Childhood and training==
Ali Akbar Khan was born in the village of Shibpur, [[Brahmanbaria]], in present-day Bangladesh, to musician and teacher, [[Allauddin Khan]] and Madina Begum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?a=jgtv5hjgeaa |title=Sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan passes away at 87 |date=19 June 2009 |website=Sify News |agency=Asian News International (ANI) |access-date=19 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823010539/http://www.sify.com/news/fullstory.php?a=jgtv5hjgeaa |archive-date=23 August 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 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]].<ref name = Lav_child>{{Harvnb|Lavezzoli|2006|pages=51–52}}</ref>

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.<ref name = Lav_early/> Khan also learned to play the [[tabla]] and the [[pakhavaj]] from his uncle, [[Aftabuddin Khan]], who he visited at Shibpur.<ref>{{cite book |last=Massey |first=Reginald |date=1996 |title=The music of India |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=81-7017-332-9 |page=142}}</ref> During this period he met several prominent musicians, such as the sarodist [[Timir Baran]] and flautist [[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.<ref name = Lav_child/>

Of his training on the sarod, he wrote:
{{blockquote|If you practice for ten years, you may begin to please yourself, after 20 years you may become a performer and please the audience, after 30 years you may please even your guru, but you must practice for many more years before you finally become a true artist—then you may please even God.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thomason |first=Robert E. |date=20 June 2009 |title=Bengali Musician Ali Akbar Khan Dies at 87 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061903266.html |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>}}

==Career==
[[File:Ali Akbar Khan 2014 stampsheet of India cr.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Khan on a 2014 stamp sheet of India]]
Khan, after years of rigorous training, gave his debut performance at a music conference in [[Allahabad]] 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 ''[[jugalbandi]]s'' (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.<ref name = Lav_early>{{Harvnb|Lavezzoli|2006|pages=53–55}}</ref>

In 1943, on his father's recommendation, Khan was appointed a court musician for the [[Maharaja of Jodhpur]], [[Umaid Singh]].<ref name=TWP090619>{{cite news |last=Thomason |first=Robert E. |date=19 June 2009 |title=Sarod Virtuoso Ali Akbar Khan Dies at 87 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061902628.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=13 September 2019}}</ref> 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 Maharaja [[Hanwant Singh]] died in a plane crash in 1952, Khan moved to Bombay.<ref name = Lav_early/>

In Bombay, he won acclaim as a composer of several film scores, including [[Chetan Anand (producer & director)|Chetan Anand]]'s ''[[Aandhiyan (1952 film)|Aandhiyan]]'' (1952). [[Lata Mangeshkar]] sang the title song, "Har Kahin Pe Shaadmani" and as a token of her respect to sarod maestro, did not charge any fee.<ref name=hindu>{{cite news |date=26 June 2011 |title=Soul-stirring strains |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-cinemaplus/soulstirring-strains/article2135355.ece |newspaper=The Hindu |location=Chennai, India |access-date=13 September 2019}}</ref> This was followed by [[Satyajit Ray]]'s ''[[Devi (1960 film)|Devi]]'' (1960), [[Merchant Ivory Productions|Merchant-Ivory]]'s ''[[The Householder (film)|The Householder]]'', and [[Tapan Sinha]]'s ''[[Kshudhita Pashan]]'' ("Hungry Stones", 1960), for which he won the "Best Musician of the Year" award. He also played sarod for a song in 1955 film ''[[Seema (1955 film)|Seema]]'' which had the music composed by [[Shankar-Jaikishan]]. Later in 1993, he would score some of the music for [[Bernardo Bertolucci]]'s ''[[Little Buddha]]''.<ref name="AMMP bio">{{cite web |url=http://www.ammp.com/bio.html |title=Ali Akbar Khan biography |publisher=AMMP |access-date=13 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620122847/http://www.ammp.com/bio.html |archive-date=20 June 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Beginning in 1945, Khan also started recording a series of [[78 rpm]] disks (which could record about three minutes of music) at the [[Saregama|His Master's Voice]] 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'' [[Long Play|LP]] in 1965 − one of Khan's seminal recordings.<ref name = Bombay>{{Harvnb|Lavezzoli|2006|pages=55–56}}</ref>

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]].<ref name=TWP090619/>{{Better source needed|date=June 2023|reason=Source says Marin county but does not specify San Rafael. States he lived in San Anselmo}} Khan performed in Boston with [[Shankar Ghosh (musician)|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.<ref name=TH090619>{{cite news |date=19 June 2009 |title=Ali Akbar Khan: Many firsts to his credit |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200906191540.htm |newspaper=The Hindu |location=Chennai, India |agency=Press Trust of India (PTI) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090622035545/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200906191540.htm |archive-date=22 June 2009 |access-date=13 September 2019}}</ref>

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; he taught [[Grateful Dead]] drummers [[Mickey Hart]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Curiel |first=Jonathan |date=20 June 2009 |title=Famed Indian-born musician Ali Akbar Khan dies |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Famed-Indian-born-musician-Ali-Akbar-Khan-dies-3228547.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=24 February 2021}}</ref> and, by extension, [[Bill Kreutzmann]]. In August 1971, Khan performed at [[Madison Square Garden]] for the [[Concert for Bangladesh]], along with Ravi Shankar, [[Alla Rakha]] and [[Kamala Chakravarty]]; other musicians at the concert included [[George Harrison]], [[Bob Dylan]], [[Eric Clapton]] and [[Ringo Starr]]. A live album and a movie of the event were later released.<ref name = "NYT Obit"/><ref name=TWP090619/>

==Personal life==
Khan was married three times and had at least 11 children, including sarod players [[Aashish Khan]], [[Alam Khan (musician)|Alam Khan]], and Manik Khan.<ref>{{cite news |last=Massey |first=Reginald |title=Obituary Ali Akbar Khan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/22/obituary-ali-akbar-khan-sarod-music |work=The Guardian |date=22 June 2009 |access-date=4 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://aacm.org/manik-khan-bio/ | title=Manik Khan Bio }}</ref>

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. He had been a dialysis patient since 2004. He died from kidney failure at his home in San Anselmo, California on 18 June 2009, at age 87.<ref name="latimes"/>

==Awards==
Khan was awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]] in 1967<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015}}</ref> and the [[Padma Vibhushan]] in 1989,<ref>{{cite news |date=20 June 2009 |title=Sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan passes away |url=http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/20/stories/2009062057862000.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090623033903/http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/20/stories/2009062057862000.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 June 2009 |location=Chennai, India |agency=Press Trust of India (PTI) |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=13 September 2019}}</ref> among other awards. He received a [[MacArthur Fellowship]] in 1991,<ref name=TWP090619/> the first Indian musician to receive the so-called "genius grant".<ref name="latimes"/> In 1997, Khan received the [[National Endowment for the Arts]]' prestigious [[National Heritage Fellowship]], the United States' highest honour in the traditional arts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/1997 |title=NEA National Heritage Fellowships 1997 |author= |website=www.arts.gov |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts |access-date=17 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813024043/https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/1997 |archive-date=13 August 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Khan received five Grammy nominations over the course of his life.<ref name="latimes">{{cite news |last=Thurber |first=Jon |date=20 June 2009 |title=Ali Akbar Khan dies at 87; sarod player helped bring Indian music to U.S. |url=http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-ali-akbar-khan20-2009jun20-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=16 November 2017}}</ref> In September 2014, a postage stamp featuring Khan was released by [[India Post]] commemorating his contributions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Govind |first=Ranjani |date=3 September 2014 |title=Four of eight commemorative stamps feature musical legends from State |language=en-IN |work=[[The Hindu]] |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/four-of-eight-commemorative-stamps-feature-musical-legends-from-state/article6376803.ece |access-date=22 December 2022 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

==Selected discography==
Solo albums:
* ''Sound of the Sarod: Recorded in Concert'' (World Pacific) (recorded in LA, c1962)
* ''The Classical Music of India'' (Prestige, 1964)
* ''Bear's Sonic Journals: That Which Colors the Mind'' (Owsley Stanley Foundation, 2020)<ref>{{cite web |first=Madhu |last=Patel |date=29 October 2020 |url=https://www.indiapost.com/owsley-stanley-foundation-to-release-rare-performance-by-ali-akbar-khan-from-1970/ |title=Owsley Stanley Foundation to Release Rare Performance by Ali Akbar Khan from 1970 |website=India Post |access-date=27 November 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |first=Anisa |last=Kureshi |date=8 December 2020 |url=https://indiacurrents.com/smoke-in-a-bottle-that-which-colors-the-mind/ |title=Smoke in a Bottle: That Which Colors the Mind |magazine=India Currents |access-date=11 December 2020}}</ref>

With [[Ravi Shankar]]:
* ''The Master Musicians of India'' (Prestige, 1964)

With [[John Handy]]:
* ''[[Karuna Supreme]]'' (MPS, 1976)
* ''[[Rainbow (John Handy album)|Rainbow]]'' (MPS, 1981)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Cited sources==
* {{cite book |last=Lavezzoli |first=Peter |date=2006 |title=The dawn of Indian music in the West: Bhairavi |publisher=Continuum |location=London |isbn=0-8264-1815-5}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p93632|label=Ali Akbar Khan}}
* {{IMDb name|0451164}}
* [http://www.aacm.org/ Ali Akbar College of Music]

{{Padma Vibhushan Awards}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1960–69}}
{{SangeetNatakAkademiFellowship}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Ali Akbar}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Bengali musicians]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure in India]]
[[Category:Hindustani instrumentalists]]
[[Category:Indian film score composers]]
[[Category:MacArthur Fellows]]
[[Category:Maihar gharana]]
[[Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners]]
[[Category:People from Nabinagar Upazila]]
[[Category:Pupils of Allauddin Khan]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in arts]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship]]
[[Category:Sarod players]]
[[Category:Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male classical singers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]

Ali Akbar Khan - Revision history

Amit raj at 10:35, 12 February 2026