Imdad Miah with the surbahar,

Ustad Imdad Khan (1848–1920) was a one of the greatest sitar and surbahar players the world has ever seen. Image File history File links Imdad_Khan_with_surbahar. ... Surbahar The surbahar (also known as bass sitar) is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. ... 1848 (MDCCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Premla Shahane playing a sitar, 1927 The sitar (Urdu: ستار, Hindi: सितार) is probably the best-known South Asian instrument in the West. ... Surbahar The surbahar (also known as bass sitar) is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. ...

Ustad Imdad Khan was born in Agra, as the second generation of what was to become the Etawah Gharana (school) or Imdadkhani , named after the village outside Agra where the family soon moved. He was taught by his father, Sahabdad Khan, a trained vocalist and self-taught sitar player, but Imdad Khan came to greatly develop and define the family style and techniques. Imdad Khan was also trined by the legendary Veenkar Ustad Bande Ali Khan(disciple and son-in-law of Ustad Haddu Khan. In the 19th Century, the instrumental classical music of North India was dominated by the Senia style, passed down through the musical dynasty of Miyan Tansen's descendants, who played in the dhrupad ang. Imdad instead evolved a style based on the newer, more popular khyal singing. It is said that in his youth at Etawah, Imdad practiced on the sitar in a state of chilla (isolation) for some twelve years. Agra   (Hindi: , Urdu: ‎), (IPA: ) is a medevial city on the banks of the Yamuna River in India. ... The Imadkhani Gharana stems from the very ancient Gwalior Gharana. ... The Imadkhani Gharana stems from the very ancient Gwalior Gharana. ... Tansens tomb in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India Miyan Tansen (1506–1589) is believed to have been the greatest North Indian musician of all time. ... — This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 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. ... Etawah is a city on the Yamuna River in the Uttar_Pradesh state of India. ... In Hindustani classical music, chilla or chilla katna is a stage of training or ritual where the student is fully isolated from the outside world and lives for music only. ...

Imdad attained great fame in his lifetime: he played for Queen Victoria in Delhi; he served as a court musician in Mysore (even though he was a northerner and South India has its own classical music, different from that of the north); and he was the first sitar player ever to be recorded. Some of these recordings have been released on CD, on the Great Gharanas: Imdadkhani compilation in RPG/EMI's Chairman's Choice series. Victoria Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819–22 January 1901) was a Queen of the United Kingdom, reigning from 20 June 1837 until her death. ... For the capital of India, see New Delhi. ... Mysore   or MaisÅ«ru (Kannada: ಮೈಸೂರು) is the second largest city in the Indian state of Karnataka. ... South India is a linguistic-cultural region of India that comprises the four Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry, whose inhabitants are collectively referred to as South Indians. ... Carnatic music, also known as is one of the two styles of Indian classical music, the other being Hindustani music. ... The EMI Group is a music company comprising the major record label, EMI Music, based in Brook Green in London, England, and EMI Music Publishing, based on Charing Cross Road, London. ...

He taught the sitar and surbahar to his two sons, Enayat and Waheed Khan. He used to say that his two sons were his two hands, and although both of them played the Sitar and the Surbahar equally well, Enayat Khan's specialization was the Sitar and Waheed khan's specialization was the Surbahar. Ustad Imdad Khan actually shifted base from Etawah to Kolkata with his two sons and the house in which they lived was named "Riyaz". An old studio photograph of Enayat Khan with surbahar – in his day the more prestigious instrument Enayat Khan (1895–1938) was one of Indias most influential sitar and surbahar players in the first decades of the 20th Century. ...