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AMJAD ALI KHAN
Sarod Player
Sarod 'samrat', Amjad Ali Khan is one of the most distinguished maestro in
the world of Indian classical music. Amjad Ali Khan, born on October 9th,
1945 at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, is the sixth-generation sarod player in his
illustrious family. His ancestors of famous musicians, from the Bangash lineage
rooted in the Senia Bangash School of music,has the distinction of having
developed and shaped the instrument 'Sarod' over several hundred years from
the ancient Rabab (an Iran Folk Instrument).
Amjad is the youngest son of Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan a
musician to the royal family of Gwalior who has received musical tuition
from descendants or followers of Miyan Tansen (c1520-1590), one of India’s
most celebrated singers and court musician to the great Mughal emperor
Akbar. Taught by his father, Amjad started playing the sarod at a very
young age. Ustad has achieved immense popularity in India as well as
abroad. He has the distinction of being the first north Indian artist
to have performed in honour of Thyagaraja at the saint musician's Thiruvaiyur
shrine.
He has traveled widely and performed in several
international music festivals in Pakistan, China, New Zealand, London,
Rome, USA, Moscow, Germany, Japan etc. A regular performer at the famous
halls such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall,
Kennedy Center, Santury Hall (First Indian performer), House of Commons,
Theater Dela Ville, ESPLANADE in Singapore, Mozart Hall in Frankfurt,
Chicago Symphony Center, St. James Palace and the Opera House in
Australia, the master has received Hon'ry Citizenship to the States
of Texas, Massachusetts, Tennessee and the city of Atlanta.
Amjad Ali Khan has won several titles and honours -
the 'Padmashree' in 1975, the Sangeet Natak Academy award in1989, the
Tansen Award in 1989, Sarod Samrat, UNESCO Award in 1970, Unicef's National
Ambassadorship, the Padma Bhushan in 1991, the International Music Forum
Award etc.and Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of York, England,
Delhi University, the
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Performance by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
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Vishva Bharti (Deshikottam) in Shantiniketan and 'Commander of the order of
Arts and letters' by the French Government. Two books written on him are the
'World of Amjad Ali Khan' (1995) and 'Abba- God's Greatest gift to us' by his
sons Amaan and Ayaan in 2002.
In 2001, he was awarded India’s second highest civilian award,
the Padma Vibhushan. And he was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in
2004. On April 8, 2007, he got international recognition too. He was honored
with the Key to the City award by Kathy Taylor Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma state,
for his long-standing contribution to the Indian Classical Music.
In 1977, he founded the Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial Society
which organises music festivals in different parts of India. He has contributed
in propagating and creating music for children. In Gwalior, the family house
where Amjad Ali Khan was born, has been converted into Sarod Ghar (the ‘Home
of the Sarod’) a teaching centre and museum of his family and the sarod, with
an impressive collection of instruments including his ancestor’s rababs.
 Ustad lives
with his wife Subbalakshmi and two sons, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash.
His sons Aman and Ayan are promising sarod players referred to as the 'coming
masters'. They are the seventh generation in the family to continue the Sarod
tradition.
The great master remains devoted
to Sarod and popularising his music throughout the world.
Contacts:
Official site: www.Sarod.com
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