Ustad Ustad, ustadh, ustaz or ustadz (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian language, Persian ''ustād'') is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages, incl ...

Imdad Khan (1848 – 1920) was a

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

and

surbahar ''Surbahar'' (; ) sometimes known as bass sitar, is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is closely related to the sitar, but has a lower pitch. Depending on the instrument's size, i ...

player. He was the first sitar player ever to be recorded.Profile of Imdad Khan on Veethi.com website
Published 12 February 2014, Retrieved 13 July 2020

Family background

Imdad Khan is considered one of the founders of

Etawah gharana The Etawah gharana is a North Indian school of sitar and surbahar music and named after a small town close to Agra where Imdad Khan (1848–1920) lived. It is also known as Imdadkhani gharana in the honour of its founder, Imdad Khan. Imdad K ...

(Imdadkhani 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'' ...

. His two sons

Enayat Khan Ustad Enayat Khan (; (1894–1938) also known as Nath Singh was one of India's most influential sitar and surbahar players in the first decades of the 20th century. He was the father of Vilayat Khan, one of the top sitariyas (sitar players) of ...

and

Wahid Khan Wahid Khan (born 1895 died ?) was an Indian surbahar and sitar player. He was the son of Imdad Khan and belonged to the Imdadkhani gharana or '' Etawah gharana'' of classical music. Early life Wahid Khan was born in 1895 at Etawah, Uttar ...

, his grandsons

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

Imrat Khan Imrat Khan (17 November 1935 – 22 November 2018) was an Indian sitar and surbahar player and composer. He was the younger brother of sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan.Farrell, Gerry (2001)"Khan, Imrat" ''Grove Music Online''. (subscriptio ...

, and great-grandsons

Shahid Parvez Ustad (music title), Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan (commonly known as Shahid Parvez; born 14 October 1954) is an Hindustani classical music, Indian classical sitar maestro from the Imdadkhani gharana. He represents the seventh generation of the Etawa ...

Shujaat Khan Shujaat Husain Khan (born 19 May 1960) is one of the most acclaimed North Indian musicians and ''sitar'' players of his generation. He belongs to the Imdadkhani ''gharana'', also called Etawah gharana school of music. He has recorded over ...

Nishat Khan Nishat Khan (born 25 October 1960) is an Indian sitar player from an illustrious musical family and the foremost sitar virtuoso of his generation. As a composer and music producer he has collaborated with some of the world's leading musicians s ...

Irshad Khan Irshad Khan (born ) is an Indian classical surbahar and sitar player based in Canada. He is the second son of Imrat Khan and nephew of Vilayat Khan. Irshad's international debut was at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, UK, when he was only 13; ...

Wajahat Khan Wajahat Khan (also known as Vajahat Khan; IAST: Wajāhat Khān, Hindi: वजाहत ख़ान, Bengali: ওয়াজাহাত খান, Urdu: خان وجاہت,) is an Indian sarod player and composer who has earned international ...

, Shafaatullah Khan, Azmat Ali Khan and Hidayat Khan have all upheld his musical tradition, musical luminaries themselves.

Zila Khan Zila Khan is an Indian Sufi music, Hindustani classical music singer and an actress. She sings classical and semi-classical musical forms and performs in the tradition of Imdadkhani gharana. She has acted in Bajirao Mastani a film by Sanjay ...

the Sufi, classical and semi classical singer is the first female artist from this gharana, she is Vilayat Khan's daughter whom her father formally made a student also. Imdad Khan taught the sitar and surbahar to his two sons, Enayat and

, whom he used to refer to as his two hands. Although both of them played the sitar and the surbahar,

specialized on the sitar and

on the surbahar.

Early life and career

Imdad Khan was born in

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

, as the fourth generation of what was to become the

Imdadkhani The Etawah gharana is a North Indian school of sitar and surbahar music and named after a small town close to Agra where Imdad Khan (1848–1920) lived. It is also known as Imdadkhani gharana in the honour of its founder, Imdad Khan. Imdad Kha ...

Gharana In Hindustani music (North Indian classical music), a ''gharānā'' is a system of social organisation in the Indian subcontinent, linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and more importantly by adherence to a particular musi ...

(school) or

Etawah Etawah (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Iṭāvā''), also known as Ishtikapuri, is a city situated on the banks of Yamuna River in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Etawa ...

gharana, named after a village outside Agra where the family soon moved. He was taught by his father, Sahabdad Khan, a trained vocalist and self-taught sitar player, but Imdad came to greatly develop and define the family style and techniques. Imdad Khan was also trained by the legendary beenkar Bande Ali Khan (disciple and son-in-law of Haddu Khan). In the 19th Century, the instrumental classical music of North India was dominated by the ''Senia'' style, passed down through the musical dynasty of Miyan Tansen's descendants, who played in the

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 ...

''ang''. Imdad instead evolved a style based on the newer, more popular

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 ...

singing. It is said that in his youth at

, Imdad practiced on the sitar in a state of chilla (isolation) for some twelve years. When he moved with his family to

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, the house in which they lived was named "Riyaz" (practice).

Rajput lineage

The Imdad Khan family is of Hindu Rajput lineage.(Deepak Raja, booklet for Ulhas Kashalkar's ''Tribute to Vilayat Khan'' CD (India Archive Music IAMCD 1071, 2003), page 21.) The family is of Hindu origin and later converted to Islam. In an informal continuation of his rajput lineage Ustad

(father of Ustad Vilayat Khan) kept a Hindu name of Nath Singh. Ustad Vilayat Khan himself composed many bandishes using the pen name ''Nath Piya''.

Tribute

Imdad attained great fame in his lifetime: he served as a court musician in

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 ...

and

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

, and he was the first sitar player ever to be recorded. Some of these recordings have been released on CD, on the ''Great Gharanas: Imdadkhani'' compilation in RPG/

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

's ''Chairman's Choice'' series.

References

Footnotes

"Hamare Sangit Ratna", a treatise on great Ustads of India {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Imdad 1848 births 1920 deaths Musicians from British India Etawah gharana Hindustani instrumentalists People from Etawah Sitar players 20th-century Indian musicians