HINDUSTANI CLASSICAL MUSIC

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is acknowledged throughout India as one of its foremost classical musicians and the maestro of his chosen instrument, the Sarod. Born in 1945 in Gwalior, where his father was a musician to the royal family, he made an early debut giving his first solo recital at the age of 12 in 1958. He represents the sixth generation of his family to inherit a classical tradition that goes back through his father, the late Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan to the era of the court musicians of the Mughal Empire and the original 'Senia-Beenkar' Gharana musical 'school' devoted to the tradition of the legendary Mian Tansen, Ustadji learnt the Sarod from his father.

By visiting Pakistan in 1981, he was the first Indian musician to break the cultural silence between the two countries. He has widely travelled and has played in China, the UK, the USA, Moscow, Germany and Japan. He is devoted to the cause of popularising Indian classical music through his performances over the AIR and T.V.

In 1977, he founded the Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial Society which organises concerts and also has an annual Hafiz Ali Khan award bestowed on outstanding classical musicians in India and aboard.

He is the recipient of many awards and honours - the Padmashree in 1975, the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in1989, the Tansen Award in 1989, the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the International Music Forum Award, Unesco in 1970, to name a few.