Ali Akhbar Khan (1922-2009)

Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 1922 – 18 June 2009) was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. He was born in the village of Shibpur, Brahmanbaria, in present-day Bangladesh, to musician and teacher, Allauddin Khan and Madina Begum. Soon after his birth, Khan's family returned to Maihar , Madhya Pradesh where his father was the primary court musician for the Maharaja of the princely state. Ali Akbar established a music school in Calcutta in 1956 and the Ali Akbar College of Music in 1967, which moved with him to the USA and is now based in San Rafael, California, with a branch in Basel, Switzerland.

From an early age Khan received training from his father in various instruments as well as vocal composition, but finally gravitated towards the sarod. Allauddin was a perfectionist and a strict taskmaster, and Khan's lessons started before dawn and often lasted 18 hours a day. Khan also learned to play the tabla and the pakhavaj from his uncle, Aftabuddin Khan, who he visited at Shibpur.^[8] During this period he met several prominent musicians, such as the sarodist Timir Baran and flautist Pannalal Ghosh, who came to study with his father; in later years he was joined in his lessons by his sister Annapurna Devi, who was an accomplished player of the surbahar, and fellow student Ravi Shankar.

Of his training on the sarod, he wrote:

If you practice for ten years, you may begin to please yourself, after 20 years you may become a performer and please the audience, after 30 years you may please even your guru, but you must practice for many more years before you finally become a true artist—then you may please even God.^[9]

Khan was married three times and had at least 11 children, including sarod players Aashish Khan and Alam Khan.

Khan was based in the United States for the last four decades of his life. He toured extensively until he was prevented from doing so by ill health. He had been a dialysis patient since 2004. He died from kidney failure at his home in San Anselmo, California on 18 June 2009, at age 87.^[17]

Khan was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1967^[18] and the Padma Vibhushan in 1989,^[19] among other awards. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1991,^[10] the first Indian musician to receive the so-called "genius grant".^[17] In 1997, Khan received the National Endowment for the Arts' prestigious National Heritage Fellowship, the United States' highest honour in the traditional arts.^[20] Khan received five Grammy nominations over the course of his life.^[17] In September 2014, a postage stamp featuring Khan was released by India Post commemorating his contributions.