Saturday, August 17, 2013
USTAD ALLAUDDIN KHAN ( also known as Baba
Allauddin Khan) (ca. 1862 – 6 September 1972) was a Bengali sarodiya and
multi-instrumentalist, composer and one of the most renowned music teachers of
the 20th century in Indian classical music.
In 1935,
he toured Europe, along with Uday Shankar's ballet troupe, and later also
worked at his institute, 'Uday Shankar India Culture Centre' at Almora for
a while. During his lifetime, he composed several ragas and laid
the foundation of a modernMaihar gharana. Amongst his recordings which are
rare, the most important ones are those he recorded with the All India
Radioin 1959-60.
He was the father of sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna
Devi, and the uncle of Raja Hossain Khan, as well as theguru of Ravi
Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee, Vasant Rai, Pannalal Ghosh, Bahadur
Khan, Sharan Rani, Jyotin Bhattacharya and other influential
musicians. He himself was a disciple of many great musicians, including Gopal
Chandra Banerjee, Lobo, Munne Khan, and most importantly after a lot of
struggle managed to become a shagird of the legendary Veena player,
Wazir Khan ofRampur.
He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest
civilian honour in 1971, and prior to that in 1954, the Sangeet Natak
Akademi awarded him with its highest honour, the Sangeet Natak
Akademi Fellowship for lifetime contribution to Indian music.
Khan got interested in sarod after a concert at Jagat Kishore
Acharya's, zamindar of Muktagachha, where he listened to Ahmed Ali
Khan, a student of Asghar Ali Khan (Amjad Ali Khan's granduncle). Alauddin
became his student, and studied the sarod under him for five years. His next
step was to go to Rampur for lessons from Wazir Khan Beenkar,
court musician of the Nawab there, and one of the last direct
descendants of the legendary Tansen. Through him, Alauddin was given
access to the Senia gharana (Tansen school of music). He
later became the court musician of Brijnath Singh Maharaja of Maihar Estate
in Central Province.
During his time as a court musician, Khan completely reshaped the
Maihar gharana of Indian classical music. The Maihar gharana was established in
the 19th Century, but Khan's contribution was so fundamental that he is often
thought to be its creator. This was a period of rapid change for Hindustani
instrumental music, thanks not least to Khan, who infused the beenbaj and dhrupad
ang, previously known from the been, surbahar (bass sitar)
and sur-sringar (bass sarod), into the playing of many classical instruments.
For though he gave concerts on the sarod, Allauddin played many
instruments, something that shaped his pedagogy. He put together an orchestra
with Indian instruments, the String Band now known as Maihar Band, and
while his son, Ali Akbar Khan, was taught the sarod, his daughter Annapurna
Devi (Roshanara Khan) learned the surbahar, students such as Ravi
Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee played the Sitar, Jyotin
Bhattacharya played the sarod, Rabin Ghosh played on violin
and Baijnath Singh and Pannalal Ghosh the bansuri bamboo
flute. Baijnath Singh was first and Vasant Rai was
Allauddin Khans last student. Of course Ravi and Ali Akbar Khan were
to be very famous and spread this gharana over the world – something that
Allauddin himself had started when, in 1935–1936, he went on an international
tour with Uday Shankar's dance troupe.
Allauddin stayed at Maihar from 1918 to his death. In 1955, he
established a Maihar College of Music. He was given the Sangeet Natak
Academy Award in 1952, and thePadma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan –
India's third and second highest civilian decorations – in 1958 and 1971,
respectively.
.jpg)
.jpg)
