Imdad Khan

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Sohini Qawwali (1904)

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

His faimily[eedit | eedit soorce]

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.[1]

Early life an career[eedit | eedit soorce]

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[eedit | eedit soorce]

The Imdad Khan faimily is o Rajput lineage.[1] 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[eedit | eedit soorce]

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.

References[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. (Deepak Raja, booklet for Ulhas Kashalkar's Tribute to Vilayat Khan CD (India Archive Music IAMCD 1071, 2003), page 21.)

Footnote[eedit | eedit soorce]

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