Amjad Ali Khan | |
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Khan performs in Kuthira Malika, Thiruvananthapuram in 2000 |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Masoom Ali Khan |
Born | 9 October 1945 Gwalior, Central Provinces and Berar, British Raj |
Genres | Hindustani classical music |
Instruments | sarod |
Associated acts | Hafiz Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Khan, Gurdev Singh |
Website | sarod.com |
Amjad Ali Khan (Hindi: अमजद अली ख़ान; IAST: Amjad Alī Khān) (born 9 October 1945) is an Indian classical musician who plays the sarod. Khan was born into a musical family and has performed internationally since the 1960s. He was awarded India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2001.
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Khan was born in Gwalior on 9 October 1945 as Masoom Ali Khan, the youngest of six children, to Gwalior court musician Hafiz Ali Khan and Rahat Jahan.[1][2] His family is part of the Bangash lineage and Khan is in the sixth generation of musicians; his family claims to have invented the sarod.[2][3][4] His personal name was changed by a sadhu to Amjad.[1] Khan received homeschooling and studied music under his father.[1] His family moved frequently and Khan performed on the sarod from a young age.[1]
Khan first performed in the United States in 1963 and continued into the 2000s, with his sons.[1][5] He has experimented with modifications to his instrument throughout his career.[3] Khan played with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and worked as a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico.[2]
Khan was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1989, and received the Padma Shri in 1975, the Padma Bhushan in 1991, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001.[6][7] He was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2004.[8] The U.S. state of Massachusetts proclaimed April 20 as Amjad Ali Khan Day in 1984.[9] Khan was made an honorary citizen of Houston, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, in 1997, and of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2007.[9] He received the Banga-Vibhushan in 2011.[10]
Khan cared for his diabetic father until he died in 1972.[1] His family arranged a marriage, which failed, and Khan was married a second time, to Bharatanatyam dancer Subhalakshmi, on September 25, 1976.[1] Subhalakshmi Barua Khan is a native of Assam and has stopped performing.[11] They have two sons, Amaan, and Ayaan, who were taught music by their father.[1] Khan is a Muslim and his wife is a Hindu.[2] Their family home in Gwalior was made into a musical center and they live in New Delhi.[12][13]