History News Desk !!! Vilayat Khan (English: Vilayat Khan; Born- 28 August, 1928, Bengal; Death- 13 March, 2004, Mumbai, India famous of Sitar player Who had gained a lot of fame at the international level as well. Many previous generations of Ustad Vilayat Khan Sitar She was associated with playing instruments. Her Father Before Inayat Hussain Khan, Ustad Imdad Hussain Khan was also a well-known sitar player.
Vilayat Khan had developed his own unique style of playing the sitar, in which the listeners felt the singing. In recognition of his art, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed awarded him the “Aftab-e-Sitar” award. He was the only sitar player to receive this honour.
Biography
Internationally renowned sitar player Ustad Vilayat Khan was born on 28 August 1928 in a musician family at a place called Gauripur in the then East Bengal. His father Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan was not only a famous Surbahar and Sitar player of his time, but he also contributed a lot in developing the Sitar instrument. According to Ustad Vilayat Khan, the Sitar instrument is a modified form of the ancient Veena. His grandfather Ustad Imdad Khan was a Rudra Veena player of his time. He was the first one to think of adding tarab strings to the sitar, but it was Vilayat Khan’s father Inayat Khan who accomplished this. He made this dream come true through Kanhai Lal, a musical instrument maker. He also has the credit of placing a second tumba on the upper part of the sitar.
Education
Ustad Vilayat Khan received his initial musical education from his father Inayat Khan. His father died when he was just 12 years old. Later, his uncle Waheed Khan taught him sitar playing. He also received singing education from his maternal grandfather Bande Husain Khan and maternal uncle Zinde Husain Khan. This was a gharana of singers.
Marriage
Vilayat Khan married twice. He became the father of two daughters and two sons. Ustad Vilayat Khan’s two sons Sujat Hussain Khan and Hidayat Khan are also counted among the prominent sitar players.
Mother’s inspiration
Initially, Vilayat Khan was inclined towards singing, but his mother encouraged him to follow the family tradition. Due to his inclination towards singing, he later made a successful attempt to modify his instrument to suit the singing part. Not only this, he often used to sing during his stage performances. In 1993, in a program organized at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Khan Saheb also presented the singing of the entire bandish while playing ‘Raag Hamir’.
Development of a new style of playing
Vilayat Khan’s sitar playing clearly reflects his stringed skills as well as his singing style. He laid the foundation of a new playing style by linking sitar with singing. While playing, the sound of ‘aa’ instead of ‘da’ was clearly felt from the strike of his mizraab. This experiment of his links playing with singing. Vilayat Khan also experimented with the strings of sitar. First of all, he removed one string from the pair of sitar strings and added a fifth note string. Earlier, his sitar used to have five strings. Later, by adding one more string, the number became six. He kept experimenting continuously for the development of his instrument and playing style. On one occasion, he himself admitted that despite years of experience, he took every programme as a challenge and before going on stage, he used to pray that he gets success in this test as well.
Music in films
Ustad Vilayat Khan had also given music in some famous films. Satyajit Ray’s Bengali film ‘Jalsaghar’ made in 1958, Merchant Ivory’s film ‘The Guru’ made in 1969 and Madhusudan Kumar’s English film ‘Kaadambari’ made in 1976 were adorned with the music of Ustad Vilayat Khan. He was truly simple, spontaneous and a true practitioner of art.
Awards and Honours
For Vilayat Khan’s special contribution in the field of sitar playing and music, he was awarded ‘Padma Shri’ in 1964 and ‘Padma Vibhushan’ in 1968, but he rejected both the awards saying that the Government of India did not give due respect to his contribution to Hindustani classical music.
demise
As a sitar player, Vilayat Khan spread his magic for more than five decades. This great sitar player was afflicted with lung cancer. He was admitted to Mumbai’s ‘Jaslok Hospital’ for treatment. It was here that he breathed his last. He died on March 13, 2004.
