Imdadkhani family

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The Khan family is one of the most renowned musical families from India.

It traces its origins back through an unbroken line of celebrated musicians to the 16th Century where music has been passed down from father to son for almost 400 years. With its roots in Agra, the Gharana was later moved to Etawah on the outskirts of Agra before finally branching out to Calcutta with Ustad Enayat Khan and Hyderabad, Indore and Mumbai with Ustad Wahid Khan

The gharana's major achievements include the development of the Surbahar, major structural changes to both the sitar and surbahar and the creation and development of the instrumental style known as the gayaki ang (vocal style performed on sitar).

Living Ustads of the family include Imrat Khan, Rais Khan, Shahid Parvez Khan, Shujaat Khan, Nishat Khan, Irshad Khan, Wajahat Khan and Shafaatullah Khan.

The musical tradition includes many notable musicians who studied with the family and perform in their musical style. All of these musicians are known collectively as the Etawah Gharana, or the Imdadkhani Gharana after Ustad Imdad Khan, it is one of the oldest, most illustrious gharanas of Indian classical music.