Vilayat Khan

Vilayat Khan ( Bengali: বিলায়েত খাঁ, vilayet Kha; born August 8, 1928 in Gauripur, now Bangladesh, † March 13, 2004 in Mumbai) was an Indian sitar virtuoso. The details of his birth year vary 1924-1928.

At the age of 8 he took on his first record. In the music scene we became aware of him after he was extolled with only 17 years already as Ustad ( master ).

Vilayat Khan is in the family tradition of the Etawah Gharana, which is also named after his grandfather, Imdad Khan (1848-1920) Imdadkhani Gharana. After only six years of education, his father and guru Ustad Enayet Khan died ( 1894-1938 ). Vilayat Khan was then the mother of his grandfather, Hassan gang, and his uncle, Zinda Hassan Khan, who were both singers trained.

Vilayat Khan considered himself a traditionalist purists. He formed the Indian ( vocal ) music with his own instrumental style and at the same time was so orthodox as innovative. His work was a contribution to the living continuation of the tradition of Indian ragas.

Ustad Vilayat Khan since 1950, was abroad on concert tours. He played in Europe, the USA, Japan, East Africa and also at Buckingham Palace for Queen Elizabeth II In addition to his concert performances and recordings, he also wrote music for films. The best known of this are: Kama Sutra Mira Nair, The Guru of James Ivory and The Music Room Satyajit Ray.

The awarding of government prices ( Padma Shri, 1964 Padma Vibhushan in 1968 and 2000), he rejected on the grounds that the award presenters were unable to assess artistic format. However, of the Indian Classical Artiste 's Association, he took the title of Bharat Sitar Samrat ( roughly: " Sitar Emperor of India " ) to.

Together with Ravi Shankar he is the most famous in the West sitar player. His younger brother Imrat Khan ( b. 1935 ) plays sitar and Surbahar.