Imdad Khan
Encyclopedia
Ustad
Ustad is an Arabized Persian word is a honorific title for a Muslim man in South Asia. The title precedes the name and is usually used for well regarded teachers and artists, most often musicians. It is applied and used via informal social agreement. It is abbreviated as ut. or ud.-References:*...
Imdad Khan (1848–1920) was a sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
and surbahar
Surbahar
Surbahar , sometimes known as bass sitar, is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. It is closely related to sitar, but it has a lower tone. Depending on the instrument's size, it is usually pitched two to five whole steps below the standard sitar, but...
player. His two sons Enayat Khan
Enayat Khan
Enayat Khan was one of India's most influential sitar and surbahar players in the first decades of the 20th Century. He was the father of Vilayat Khan, one of the topmost sitariyas of the postwar period....
and Wahid Khan
Wahid Khan
- Childhood and training :When Wahid Khan was still quite young, Imdad Khan moved into Kolkata from Etawah with his family. There they used to stay at the house of noted connoisseur Sri. Taraprasad Ghosh, where Imdad Khan rigorously trained his two talented sons Enayat Khan and Wahid Khan. Wahid...
, his grandsons Vilayat Khan
Vilayat Khan
Ustad Vilayat Khan was one of India's well known sitar maestros, born in Gauripur in Mymensingh, Bengal...
and Imrat Khan
Imrat Khan
Imrat Khan is a leading sitar and surbahar player. He is the younger brother of sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan.-Training and early career:...
, and great-grandsons Shahid Parvez
Shahid Parvez
Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan is a sitar player of Hindustani classical music. He carries on a legacy of sitar playing that goes back several generations in his family. He belongs to the famous Etawah Gharana and belongs to the seventh generation of this musical lineage...
, Shujaat Khan, Nishat Khan
Nishat Khan
Nishat Khan is an Indian sitar player and son of surbahar player Imrat Khan.Khan was born in the mid-1960s in Kolkata. He performed with musicians of the genres jazz, Gregorian chant, flamenco and Western classical music. In August 2002, Khan performed for the Diet of Japan in Tokyo and played in...
, Irshad Khan
Irshad Khan
Irshad Khan is a surbahar and sitar player based in Canada. He is the second son of Ustad Imrat KhanAs one of the foremost representatives of the Imdadkhani Etawa Gharana, Irshad Khan is internationally recognized as one a leading sitar players and as the leading surbahar exponent of his generation...
, Wajahat Khan
Wajahat Khan
Wajahat Khan is an Indian sarod player who has earned international acclaim since 1977. He is the third son of Imrat Khan, nephew of Vilayat Khan and a member of the multi-generational musical Khan family which founded the Imdadkhani Gharana...
, Shafaatullah Khan
Shafaatullah Khan
Shafaatullah Khan is a tabla, sitar and surbahar player. He is the fourth son of Imrat Khan.-External links:*...
and Hidayat Khan
Hidayat Khan
Hidayat Hussain Khan a sitar virtuoso, classical singer is the son of the legend Ustad Vilayat Khan...
have all upheld his musical tradition, musical luminaries themselves.
Khan was born in Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
, as the fourth generation of what was to become the Imdadkhani Gharana
Gharana
In Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style. A gharana also indicates a comprehensive musicological ideology. This ideology sometimes changes substantially from one...
(school) or Etawah
Etawah
Etawah is a city on the Yamuna River in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Etawah District. The city was an important center for the Revolt of 1857 . Also is the place of sangam or confluence between Yamuna and Chambal...
gharana, named after the village outside Agra where the family soon moved. He was taught by his father, Sahabdad Khan, a trained vocalist and self-taught sitar player, but Imdad came to greatly develop and define the family style and techniques. Imdad Khan was also trained by the legendary beenkar Bande Ali Khan (disciple and son-in-law of Haddu Khan). In the 19th Century, the instrumental classical music of North India was dominated by the Senia style, passed down through the musical dynasty of Miyan Tansen's descendants, who played in the dhrupad
Dhrupad
Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
ang. Imdad instead evolved a style based on the newer, more popular khyal
Khyal
Khyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning "imagination". It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. It appeared more recently than dhrupad, is a more free and flexible form, and it provides greater scope for...
singing. It is said that in his youth at Etawah
Etawah
Etawah is a city on the Yamuna River in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Etawah District. The city was an important center for the Revolt of 1857 . Also is the place of sangam or confluence between Yamuna and Chambal...
, Imdad practiced on the sitar in a state of chilla (isolation) for some twelve years. When he moved with his family to Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, the house in which they lived was named "Riyaz" (practice).
Imdad attained great fame in his lifetime: he played for Queen Victoria in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
; he served as a court musician in Mysore and Indore
Indore
Indore is one of the major city in India, the largest city and commercial center of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Indore is located 190 km west of the state capital Bhopal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Indore city has a population of 1,960,631...
, and he was the first sitar player ever to be recorded. Some of these recordings have been released on CD, on the Great Gharanas: Imdadkhani compilation in RPG/EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
's Chairman's Choice series.
He taught the sitar and surbahar to his two sons, Enayat
Enayat Khan
Enayat Khan was one of India's most influential sitar and surbahar players in the first decades of the 20th Century. He was the father of Vilayat Khan, one of the topmost sitariyas of the postwar period....
and Wahid Khan
Wahid Khan
- Childhood and training :When Wahid Khan was still quite young, Imdad Khan moved into Kolkata from Etawah with his family. There they used to stay at the house of noted connoisseur Sri. Taraprasad Ghosh, where Imdad Khan rigorously trained his two talented sons Enayat Khan and Wahid Khan. Wahid...
, whom he used to refer to as his two hands. Although both of them played the sitar and the surbahar, Enayat Khan
Enayat Khan
Enayat Khan was one of India's most influential sitar and surbahar players in the first decades of the 20th Century. He was the father of Vilayat Khan, one of the topmost sitariyas of the postwar period....
specialized on the sitar and Wahid Khan
Wahid Khan
- Childhood and training :When Wahid Khan was still quite young, Imdad Khan moved into Kolkata from Etawah with his family. There they used to stay at the house of noted connoisseur Sri. Taraprasad Ghosh, where Imdad Khan rigorously trained his two talented sons Enayat Khan and Wahid Khan. Wahid...
on the surbahar.