Imdadkhani gharana
The Imdadkhani gharana is a North Indian school of sitar and surbahar music, stemming from the very ancient Gwalior gharana. It was created by Imdad Khan (1848–1920), and is also known as the Etawah gharana, after a small town close to Agra where Imdad lived. Many direct descendants of Imdad Khan continue the tradition today.
Khan family
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 Enayat Khan and Hyderabad, Indore and Mumbai with 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 performers of the family include Imrat Khan, Shahid Parvez, Shujaat Khan, Nishat Khan, Irshad Khan, Wajahat Khan, and Hidayat 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 Imdad Khan, it is one of the oldest, most illustrious gharanas of Indian classical music.
Exponents of the gharana
- Imdad Khan
- Enayat Khan
- Wahid Khan
- Vilayat Khan
- Imrat Khan
- Shahid Parvez Khan
- Budhaditya Mukherjee
- Shujaat Khan
- Nishat Khan
- Irshad Khan
- Wajahat Khan (Sarod)
- Shafaatullah Khan
- Zila Khan
- Bimalendu Mukherjee
Other representatives
- Abhik Mukherjee
- Anupama Bhagwat
- Arvind Parikh
- Kamala Shankar
- Kashinath Mukherjee
- Rajeev Janardan
- Sameep Kulkarni
- Shakir Khan