An old studio photograph of Enayat Khan with surbahar – in his day the more prestigious instrument

Enayat Khan (1895–1938) was one of India's most influential sitar and surbahar players in the first decades of the 20th Century. He was the father of Vilayat Khan, one of the topmost sitariyas of the postwar period. The surbahar, also known as a bass Sitar, is a traditional stringed musical instrument from India. ... 1895 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Premla Shahane playing a sitar, 1927 The sitar is a Hindustani classical instrument. ... The surbahar, also known as a bass Sitar, is a traditional stringed musical instrument from India. ... Vilayat Khan (Bangla: বিলায়েত খাঁ) (August 8, 1928–March 13, 2004) was an Indian virtuoso sitar maestro. ...

Enayat Khan was born in Uttar Pradesh into a family of musicians. His father was sitar great Imdad Khan, who taught him the sitar and surbahar (bass sitar) in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani or Etawah gharana (school), after a village outside Agra where Imdad once lived. He married Basiran Bibi, daughter of khyal singer Bande Hussain, and settled with his family in Calcutta, where, though he only lived to 43, he did much pioneering work on the sitar. For example, he standardised its physical dimensions and added the upper resonator gourd, which is very popular with today's players (though his own descendants have not kept using it). In a place rapidly developing into an important North Indian centre of the arts, at a time where interest in national culture was strong fuelled by the struggle for independence, he brought sitar music out from its narrow connoisseur circles to new mass audiences. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was a musical collaborator and personal friend. Some of Enayat Khan's recordings have been released on CD, on the Great Garanas: Imdadkhani compilation in RPG/EMI's Chairman's Choice series. Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश, Urdu: اتر پردیش), also popularly known by its acronym UP, is the most populous and fifth largest state in the Union of India. ... In Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization which groups musicians who are linked by lineage and/or discipleship and who adhere to a particular musical style. ... Agra is an ancient city on the Yamuna River in India, within the state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Khyal is the modern genre of classical singing in North India; its name comes from an Arabic word meaning imagination. Like all Indian classical music, khyal is modal, with a single melodic line and no harmonic parts. ... This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর — Gurudev. ... The EMI Group is a major record label, based in Hammersmith in London, in the United Kingdom. ...

Enayat died young, with four children. His two sons, Vilayat and Imrat, were trained in the Imdadkhani style by other members of his extended family. Vilayat learned the sitar and Imrat the surbahar; both were to become very famous classical musicians. Vilayat Khan (Bangla: বিলায়েত খাঁ) (August 8, 1928–March 13, 2004) was an Indian virtuoso sitar maestro. ...