Ali Akbar Khan

Lore & Background

Ali Akbar Khan was born into a musical family; his father, Allauddin Khan, was a strict teacher who trained him from early childhood, often with lessons lasting 18 hours a day. He learned sarod, tabla, and pakhavaj from his father, and later studied alongside his sister Annapurna Devi and fellow student Ravi Shankar. He gave his debut performance at age 13 in Allahabad in 1936 and accompanied Ravi Shankar at the latter's debut in 1939.

Khan worked as a court musician for the Maharaja of Jodhpur, then moved to Bombay, where he composed film scores for directors such as Satyajit Ray and Merchant-Ivory. He recorded 78 rpm disks in the 1940s and later the influential LP 'Master Musician of India' in 1965.

Reader's Guide

Ali Akbar Khan's significance lies in his role as a bridge between Indian classical music and Western audiences. He was the first Indian musician to record an LP of Indian classical music in the United States and to play sarod on American television. His founding of the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta (1956), California (1967), and Switzerland (1985) established institutional frameworks for teaching Indian classical music abroad. He received India's Padma Vibhushan in 1989, a MacArthur Fellowship in 1991, and the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship in 1997. His five Grammy nominations and collaborations with artists like Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin further cemented his legacy as a global ambassador of Hindustani music.

Did You Know?

• He was nominated five times for the Grammy Award.
• He performed at the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden.
• He taught Grateful Dead drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.

The Forging of a Virtuoso

Ali Akbar Khan arrived in the world on 14 April 1922 in the small village of Shibpur, in what is now Bangladesh, the son of the legendary musician and pedagogue Allauddin Khan and Madina Begum. The family soon relocated to Maihar in Madhya Pradesh, where his father served as principal court musician to the local Maharaja. From a tender age, young Ali Akbar was immersed in an extraordinary musical environment. His father, a demanding perfectionist, imposed lessons that began before sunrise and could stretch to eighteen hours a day. While he studied multiple instruments and vocal composition, the sarod ultimately claimed his devotion. His uncle Aftabuddin Khan in Shibpur taught him tabla and pakhavaj, broadening his rhythmic foundation. The household at Maihar became a magnet for gifted musicians—sarodist Timir Baran, flautist Pannalal Ghosh, and eventually his sister Annapurna Devi and fellow student Ravi Shankar all passed through those rooms. Khan later reflected that mastering an instrument demanded decades of patient labor: ten years to satisfy oneself, twenty to move an audience, thirty to earn a guru's approval, and far longer still to become a true artist who could please even God.

A Career Spanning Radio, Courts, and Cinema

Khan's professional journey began astonishingly early. At just thirteen, he performed at a music conference in Allahabad in 1936, and by 1939 he was already accompanying Ravi Shankar in their first of many celebrated jugalbandi duets. His 1938 recital on All India Radio in Bombay, backed by tabla maestro Alla Rakha, launched a long association with the broadcaster; from January 1940 he performed monthly on AIR Lucknow, and by 1944 he held the title of youngest music director there, overseeing solo performances and composing for the radio orchestra. In 1943, his father secured him a court appointment with Maharaja Umaid Singh of Jodhpur, where he was accorded the title of Ustad and continued to teach, compose, and perform until the princely system dissolved after independence. Moving to Bombay, Khan turned his considerable talent to film scoring. His work on Chetan Anand's Aandhiyan (1952) earned him the respect of Lata Mangeshkar, who sang the title track without charging a fee. He went on to score Satyajit Ray's Devi (1960), Tapan Sinha's Kshudhita Pashan (1960), for which he received a Best Musician of the Year award, and, decades later, contributed to Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha (1993).

Building Institutions Across Continents

Khan's commitment to pedagogy shaped his life as profoundly as his performing. In 1956 he founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta, dedicated to teaching and disseminating Indian classical music. When he settled permanently in California, he re-established the college in Berkeley in 1967, and it soon relocated to San Rafael. In 1985 he opened a branch in Basel, Switzerland, extending the institution's reach into Europe. His academic footprint in the United States also included a position as adjunct professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Khan's teaching influence stretched well beyond formal curricula: he instructed Grateful Dead drummers Mickey Hart and, through him, Bill Kreutzmann, weaving Indian rhythmic and melodic concepts into the American rock idiom. He was the first Indian musician to record a long-playing album of classical music in the United States and the first to play the sarod on American television. His students and collaborators spanned generations and genres, ensuring that the Maihar gharana's sarod tradition found fertile ground far from its Indian origins.

Honors and a Global Stage

Khan's artistry earned him recognition on both national and international scales. In 1989, the Indian government conferred upon him the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second-highest civilian honor. His contributions to music were further acknowledged through five Grammy Award nominations, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship. His bridge between Indian classical music and Western audiences was forged in 1955, when violinist Yehudi Menuhin invited him to America for the first time. That initial visit set the course for a lifetime of cross-cultural exchange. In August 1971, Khan took the stage at Madison Square Garden for the landmark Concert for Bangladesh, performing alongside Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha, and Kamala Chakravarty in a historic gathering that also featured George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and Ringo Starr. A live album and film of the event were subsequently released, preserving that night for posterity. Khan's jugalbandi recordings with Ravi Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee, violinist L. Subramaniam, and even fellow sarodist Vilayat Khan remain touchstones of collaborative Indian classical music.