Imdad Khan

Sohini Qawwali (1904)

Ustad Imdad Khan (1848–1920) wis a sitar an surbahar player.

His faimily

His twa sons Enayat Khan an Wahid Khan, his grandsons Vilayat Khan an Imrat Khan, an great-grandsons Shahid Parvez, Shujaat Khan, Nishat Khan, Irshad Khan, Wajahat Khan, Shafaatullah Khan, Azmat Ali Khan an Hidayat Khan hae aw upheld his muisical tradeetion, muisical luminars thairsels. His great-granddochter Zila Khan the Sufi, clessical an semi clessical sangster is the first female airtist frae this gharana. She is Vilayat Khan's dochter whom he formally made a student an aw.

He taucht the sitar an surbahar tae his twa sons, Enayat an Wahid Khan, whom he uised tae refer tae as his twa haunds. Awth baith o thaim played the sitar an the surbahar, Enayat Khan specialisit on the sitar an Wahid Khan on the surbahar.

Early life an career

Khan wis born in Agra, as the fowert generation o wha wis tae become the Imdadkhani Gharana (schuil) or Etawah gharana, namit efter a smaw ceety ootside Agra whaur the faimily suin muivit. He was taucht bi his faither, Sahabdad Khan, a trained vocalist an sel-taucht sitar player, but Imdad came tae greatly develop an define the faimily style an techniques. Imdad Khan wis trained bi the legendar beenkar Bande Ali Khan (disciple an son-in-law o Haddu Khan) an aw. In the 19t century, the instrumental classical muisic o North Indie wis dominatit bi the Senia style, passed doun throu the muisical dynasty o Miyan Tansen's stryndants, who played in the dhrupad ang. Imdad insteid evolvit a style based on the newer, mair popular khyal singin. It is said that in his youth at Etawah, Imdad practicit on the sitar in a state o chilla (isolation) for some twal years. When he muivit wi his faimily tae Kolkata, the hoose in which they lived wis namit "Riyaz" (practice).

Rajput lineage

The Imdad Khan faimily is o Rajput lineage. The faimily is o Hindu oreegin an later convertit tae Islam. In an informal continuation o his rajput lineage Ustad Enayat Khan (faither o Ustad Vilayat Khan) kept a Hindu name o Nath Singh. Ustad Vilayat Khan hissel componit mony bandishes uisin the pen name Nath Piya.

Tribute

Imdad attained great fame in his lifetime: he played for Queen Victoria in Delhi; he servit as a court muisicker in Mysore an Indore, an he wis the first sitar player iver tae be recordit. Some o these recordins hae been released on CD, on the Great Gharanas: Imdadkhani compilation in RPG/EMI's Chairman's Choice series.

Footnote

^ "Hamare Sangit Ratna" a treatise on great Ustads of India