Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Wahid Khan

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Nationality
  
India

Parents
  
Imdad Khan

Siblings
  
Enayat Khan

Died
  
Kolkata

Movies
  
Jalsaghar

Occupation
  
Sitar & Surbahar player

Awards
  
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Hindustani Music - Instrumental (Sitar)

Similar
  
Enayat Khan, Vilayat Khan, Subrata Mitra, Dulal Dutta, Satyajit Ray

Surbahar ustad wahid khan bihag the music room


Wahid Khan was an Indian surbahar and sitar player. He was the son of Imdad Khan and belonged to the Imdadkhani gharana or Etawah Gharana of classical music.

Contents

Early life

Wahid Khan was born in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh. He was still quite young when his father Imdad Khan moved to Kolkata from Etawah with his family. In Kolkata the family lived in the house of the noted connoisseur Taraprasad Ghosh, where Imdad Khan rigorously trained his sons, Wahid Khan and Enayat Khan, in sitar and surbahar. Wahid Khan specialised in the surbahar while Enayat Khan specialised in sitar.

Wahid Khan, at a very young age, was first initiated into Dhrupad, Khayal and Thumri and then trained extensively on the Sitar and Surbahar, by Imdad Khan for many years. Under the guidance and supervision of his father, Wahid Khan put in many years of very rigorous riyaz and mastered both the Sitar and Surbahar.

Performing career

Imdad Khan, later, moved out of Kolkata to settle in Indore as the Court-musician of the Maharaja Holkar of Indore. His sons Enayat Khan and Wahid Khan accompanied him to Indore. There Imdad Khan died, following which Enayat Khan left Indore and returned to Kolkata, while Wahid Khan was appointed the Court-musician of the Indore Darbar, where he lived for 18 years on a very high salary. Wahid Khan also served the Patiala Darbar for 3 years as its Court-musician. He was also the Court-musician of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Wahid Khan was a regular performer at All India Radio. He also performed all over India and received numerous awards and medals from the famous institutions of Tikamgarh, Rewa, Baroda, Mysore, Dhaulpur, etc.

Wahid Khan also appeared in filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s international award winning film Jalsaghar (The Music Room, 1958) where he performs on the surbahar in one of the scenes.

Personal life

Wahid Khan is the paternal uncle of noted sitar player Vilayat Khan and the surbahar player Imrat Khan. His grandson is Shahid Parvez. His brother Enayat Khan was also a sitar and a surbahar player.

Awards

  • Felicitated by the Governor of Bombay
  • First instrumentalist to receive the coveted President's Award (now Sangeet Natak Akademi Award)
  • Discography

    Released 78rpm recordings:

  • Khamaj (Vilambit Gat-toda) on the Sitar
  • Pilu (Drut Gat) on the Sitar
  • Bhimpalasi (Alap, Jod-Jhala) on the Surbahar
  • References

    Wahid Khan Wikipedia