Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (born 9 October 1945) is an Indian classical musician and the best-known living player of the sarod. He is the sixth generation of the Senia Bangash lineage of Gwalior, whose ancestors are credited with developing the sarod from the Afghan rabab. He has performed around the world since the 1960s, often with his sons Amaan and Ayaan, and received the Padma Vibhushan in 2001.
Quick Facts
| Birth name | Masoom Ali Khan |
| Born | 9 October 1945, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Age | 81 |
| Instrument | Sarod |
| Genre | Hindustani classical music |
| Father and teacher | Hafiz Ali Khan |
| Spouse | Subhalakshmi Barooah (m. 1976) |
| Children | 2 (Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash) |
| Honours | Padma Shri (1975), Padma Bhushan (1991), Padma Vibhushan (2001) |
Early Life
Khan was the youngest child of Hafiz Ali Khan, court musician of Gwalior, and learned the sarod from him from early childhood. He gave his first public recital at six. The family moved to Delhi in 1957, and he studied at Modern School.
Career
He plays the fretless sarod by stopping the strings with the edge of his fingernails, which gives a clear, ringing tone, and he adapted techniques from vocal music so that the instrument can play fast, intricate passages. He has composed many new ragas, among them Kiran Ranjani, Haripriya Kanada, Subhalakshmi, named for his wife, and ragas dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
He first toured abroad in 1963 and has played at Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House. His sarod concerto Samaagam was first performed with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 2008. In December 2014 he performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo honouring Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai.
He turned the family’s ancestral house in Gwalior into Sarod Ghar, a museum of musical instruments and heritage.
Personal Life
In 1976 he married Subhalakshmi Barooah, a Bharatanatyam dancer from Assam. Their sons, Amaan and Ayaan, are both sarod players. With them he wrote Master on Masters (2017), about twelve great musicians he had known. In 2014 his sarod was lost on a flight from London and found two days later.
Awards and Honours
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Amjad Ali Khan born?
Amjad Ali Khan was born on 9 October 1945 in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India and is 81 years old.
What honours has Amjad Ali Khan received?
Padma Shri (1975), Padma Bhushan (1991), Padma Vibhushan (2001).
Featured image: Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (left) meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, New Delhi, 21 December 2013. Photo by Prime Minister’s Office, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
