Skip to content
EntityQ468356· pop 32· linked from 854 articles

Ali Akbar Khan

Sign in to save

Also known as Ali, Akbar Kahn, A. A. Kahn, Ostad Ali Akbar Khan

Hindustani musician (1922–2009)

Film & TV

Known for

  • Ustad Alauddin Khan — Self1963

via TMDB

Key facts

Born
( 1922-04-14 ) 14 April 1922, Shibpur, Bengal Presidency , British India
Origin
Maihar
Died
18 June 2009 (2009-06-18) (aged 87), San Anselmo, California , US
Genres
Hindustani classical music
Occupations
Composer, Sarodiya
Instrument
Sarod

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Family name
Khan
Gender
male
Citizenship
Bangladesh
Place of birth
Brahmanbaria
Place of death
San Francisco
Languages spoken
Bangla
Native language
Bangla
Religion
Islam
Student of
Allauddin Khan
Instrument
voice
Record label
Philips Records
Image
Dia7275 Ali Akbar Khan r.jpg
Work location
Netherlands
Show 7 more facts
date of birth
1922-02-14
date of death
2009-06-19
Commons category
Ali Akbar Khan
cause of death
kidney failure
manner of death
natural causes
name in native language
আলী আকবর খান
has works in the collection
National Museum of World Cultures
Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~8 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 1922 – 18 June 2009) was an Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he also composed numerous classical ragas and film scores. He established a music school in Calcutta in 1956, and the Ali Akbar College of Music in 1967, which moved with him to the United States and is now based in San Rafael, California, with a branch in Basel, Switzerland.

Khan was instrumental in popularizing Indian classical music in the West, both as a performer and as a teacher. He first came to America in 1955 on the invitation of violinist Yehudi Menuhin and later settled in California. He was an adjunct professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ali Akbar Khan” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.