Ustad Faiyaz Khan (8 February 1886 5 November 1950) was an Indian classical vocalist, an exponent of the Agra gharana of

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...

. Also Known as Aftab-E-Mausiqi meaning the Sun or sunshine of music. According to SwarGanga Music Foundation website, "By the time he died at

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

, he had earned the reputation of being one of the greatest and most influential vocalists of the century."

Early life

Born at

Sikandara Sikandara is a town in Kanpur Dehat district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is headquarters of tehsil Sikandara. Location It is located on NH-2 about 80 km away from kanpur toward west and towards south from Jhinjhak at a distanc ...

in the

North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an Presidencies and provinces of British India, administrative region in British Raj, British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Cede ...

on 8 February 1886, he was the son of Safdar Hussain, who died four months before his birth. He was brought up by his maternal grandfather, Ghulam Abbas (1825-1934), who taught him music up to the age of 25. He was also a student of Ustad Mehboob Khan "Daraspiya", his father-in-law, Natyan Khan and his uncle Fida Hussain Khan. According to an article on a music website titled, 'Great Masters of Hindustani Music', "Faiyaz Khan's musical lineage goes back to

Tansen Rāmtanu ( – 26 April 1589), popularly referred to as Mian Tānsen (), or Sangeet Samrāt (), was a Hindustani classical musician. Born into a Hindu Gaur Brahmin family in Gwalior, he learnt and perfected his art in the northwest regio ...

(1493 1589) himself. His family is traced back to Alakhdas, Malukdas and then to Haji Sujan Khan (son of Alakhdas who became a Muslim)."

Singing career

He was remembered as ''Mehfil Ka Badshah'' by those who lived during his time and went to his live concerts. Considered a neo-classicist by some scholars of Indian classical music, Faiyaz Khan served for a long time as the court musician of Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the Maharaja of

, where he was awarded the "Gyan Ratna" (Gem of Knowledge). The

Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

awarded him the title "Aftaab-e-Mausiqi" (the Sun of Music) in 1908. Faiyaz Khan's specialities were

dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music (for example in the Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampradaya), and is als ...

and

khyal Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian language, Persian/Arabic language, Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with rom ...

, but he was also capable of singing

thumri Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dram ...

and

ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

. According to the musicologist Ashok Ranade, "There was no chink in his armour". Faiyaz Khan also composed several ''bandishes'' using the pen-name 'Prem Piya'. His most popular thumri was ''Baaju band khul khul jaye''. "He was a frequent performer in the musical conferences and circles of

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

and

and in concerts organized by provincial princes." These princes often vied with one another to have the Ustad perform in their respective courts. The rulers of Baroda held him in high esteem and he was offered the seat to the right of the Maharaja of Baroda during the official functions of the royal court in 1912. He also performed at Jorasanko Thakurbari, the residential abode of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

(1861-1941), who was an admirer of the Ustad. It is known that he had held a musical session at Jorasanko a few years before the passing away of Tagore. Other well-known admirers include tabla maestros such as

Ahmed Jan Thirakwa Ustad Ahmed Jan Khan "Thirakwa" (1892 – 13 January 1976) was an Indian tabla player, commonly considered the pre-eminent soloist among tabla players of the 20th century, and among the most influential percussionists in the history of Indian ...

, Amir Khan,

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was an Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, ...

Vilayat Khan Ustad Vilayat Khan (28 August 1928 – 13 March 2004) was an Indian classical sitar player, considered by many to be the greatest sitarist of his age. Along with Imdad Khan, Enayat Khan, and Imrat Khan, he is credited with the creation a ...

and

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

. Faiyaz Khan was a dignified performer, who often wore a silk sherwani with rows of medals awarded to him in public. Then later, he would perform flanked by sarangi and tabla players during his live concerts. Affected by a bout of typhoid in 1945 followed by tuberculosis restricted Faiyaz Khan to lower his pitch to B and B Flat, though in his prime, he always sang in C Sharp and C. The available recordings of the Ustad are almost entirely from his later years."

Death and legacy

Ustad Faiyaz Khan died of tuberculosis on 5 November 1950 at

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

in India. Faiyaz Khan's tomb, situated in

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

, Gujarat was attacked during the

2002 Gujarat riots The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence or the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Godhra train burning, burning of a train in Godhra on 27 Fe ...

. Extensive damage was inflicted on the structure. Some of Faiyaz Khan's best-known students were Dipali Nag, K. L. Saigal Dilip Chand Bedi, Sohan Singh, Asad Ali Khan (later migrated to Pakistan), Dhruvatara Joshi, Shrikrishna Ratanjankar and Jnanendra Prasad Goswamy, apart from in-house disciples such as Khadim Hussain Khan, Vilayat Hussain Khan, Latafat Hussain Khan, Ata Hussain Khan and Sharafat Hussain Khan. Faiyaz Khan himself was an admirer of

Abdul Karim Khan Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (Devanagari: उस्ताद अब्दुल करीम ख़ान, Persian: ) (11 November 1872 – 27 October 1937)Kirana gharana. S. N. Ratanjankar was perhaps the last of his pupils who excelled both as a teacher and as a performer. He blended the styles of his many gurus giving the Agra gayaki a new direction. He set many new trends in classical music.

Discography

* 78 rpm side A Lalat Aalaap, side B 'drut' – ''tadapata hoon jaise jale bin meene'' (Hindusthan Records) *

Thumri Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dram ...

Bhairavi Bhairavi () is a Hindu goddess, described as one of the Mahāvidyas, the ten avatars of the mother goddess. She is the consort of Bhairava ( a form of Shiva). Etymology The name ''Bhairavi'' means "terrifying" or "awe-inspiring". Iconogra ...

''Baazuband khul khul jaaey'', his most popular thumri

References

External links

* "Kudrat Rangibirangi" by Kumarprasad Mukhopdhyay, 1st edition.
Complete gramophone recordings, public domain in India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Faiyaz 1886 births 1950 deaths 20th-century Indian male classical singers 20th-century Khyal singers Agra gharana Hindustani singers Musicians from British India Entertainers from Agra