Amjad Ali Khan (English: Amjad Ali Khan, born October 9, 1945, Gwalior) is a renowned Indian sarod player, who traces his lineage to the Senia Gharana and is considered one of the leading classical musicians of India.
Amjad Ali Khan was born on 9 October 1945 in Gwalior. Amjad Ali Khan, born in the sixth generation of ‘Senia Bangash’ Gharana of music in Gwalior, inherited music. His father Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan was a renowned musician in the Gwalior royal court. The musicians of this gharana modified the Iranian folk instrument ‘Rabab’ to suit Indian music and named it ‘Sarod’. At the age of just twelve, he made his first public performance of solo sarod playing. a little boy’s sarod
Amjad Ali Khan, son of musician Hafiz Ali Khan of the royal family of Gwalior, belongs to the sixth generation of the famous Bangash lineage, which has its roots in the Senia Bangash style of music. The tradition of this genre can be traced back to the time of Emperor Akbar’s immortal court musician Mian Tansen. Amjad was a special disciple of his father, who acquired technical proficiency in the traditional style of Senia Gharana sarod playing. Amjad Ali Khan made his debut as a soloist at the age of 12.
Not getting enough of these extensive performances in India and abroad, Amjad Ali, besides making innovative changes in classical music, composed vocal and instrumental music for children. Amjad’s creative talent found expression in many charming ragas composed by him. He composed Raga Priyadarshini and Raga Kamalashree in the memory of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi respectively. Other ragas composed by him include Shivanjali, Haripriya Kanada, Kiran Ranjani, Suhag Bhairav, Lalit Dhvani, Shyam Shri and Jawahar Manjari.
Married to Shubhalakshmi, a Bharatnatyam dancer of the Kalakshetra tradition, Khan has two sons – Aman and Ayaan Ali Bangash. Both of them are his disciples and also perform sarod playing.
In 1963, at the age of just 18, he visited America for the first time. In this yatra, along with the performance of Pandit Birju Maharaj’s dance group, there was also sarod playing by Amjad Ali Khan. The most notable aspect of this journey was that Pandit Birju Maharaj had accompanied Khan Saheb on his sarod playing on the tabla and Khan Saheb had accompanied the sarod on Kathak compositions. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan had performed at many important music centers in the country and abroad. Has enthralled the audience with his performance. Some of the prominent ones are Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Kennedy Centre, House of Commons, Frankfurt’s Mozart Hall, Chicago Symphony Centre, Australia’s St. James Palace and Opera House etc. At present, many disciples of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan from India and abroad including his two sons Aman and Ayaan are flying the flag of sarod playing.
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan had gained international fame in sarod playing in his youth. In 1971, he participated in the Second Asian International Music Conference and received the ‘Rostom Award’. This conference was organized in Paris on behalf of UNESCO, in which he participated as the representative of ‘Akashvani’. Amjad Ali received this award at the age of only 26.
