Abdul Wahid Khan

Abdul Wahid Khan
Background information
Born India
Died 1949 in Lahore
Genres Indian classical music
Occupations singer

Abdul Wahid Khan (died 1949) was an Indian classical singer, from the Kirana gharana.

Contents

Early life and background

Khansahib founded the Kirana gharana musical family with Abdul Karim Khan. Abdul Karim had married Abdul Wahid Khan's sister, Gafooran Bibi. The relationship between Khan and Abdul Karim later soured when Abdul Karim neglected Gafooran Bibi and married his student, Tarabai Mane. Abdul Wahid Khan's hearing was deficient and he was sometimes referred to as Behre Wahid Khan (Deaf Wahid Khan). Wahid Khan's son Hafizullah Khan was born in 1946. Hafizullah's uncles trained him in music, and he became an accomplished sarangi player.

Singing career

Khansahib forbade recordings of his performances to avoid imitation by other singers. Only three of his performances survived, recordings of the ragas Patdip, Multani, and Darbari Kanada, accompanied by Ram Narayan on tambura and Chatur Lal on tabla. They were preserved by music producer Jivan Lal Mattoo, who secretly recorded a radio broadcast in 1947, a few days before his death, to document Khan's style.[1]

Legacy

Abdul Wahid Khansahib died in 1949 in Lahore.[1][2] A number of Wahid Khan's students became renowned musicians. They included Sureshbabu Mane, Hirabai Badodekar, Begum Akhtar, Saraswatibai Rane, Pran Nath, Ram Narayan, Shakoor Khan, Pandit Jaichand Bhatt (Khyal Singer) and Mohammed Rafi.

Khansahib influenced Amir Khan. Abdul Wahid Khan and Abdul Karim Khan had started evolving the vilambit khyal and their work inspired Amir Khan to develop his trademark ati vilambit singing.

References

  1. ^ a b Sorrell, Neil; Narayan, Ram (1980). Indian Music in Performance: a practical introduction. Manchester University Press. p. 16. ISBN 0-7190-0756-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=LxkNAQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 
  2. ^ Wade, Bonnie C. (1984). Khyal: Creativity within North India's Classical Music Tradition. Cambridge University Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-521-25659-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=MiE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA195.