Vilayat Khan on the cover of his raga Shree CD for India Archive Music (cover photo: Lyle Wachowsky)

Vilayat Khan (Bangla: বিলায়েত খাঁ Bilaeet Khã) (August 8, 1928 ^[1]–March 13, 2004) was one of India's well known sitar maestros, born in Gauripur in Mymensingh, Bengal (now in Bangladesh). He recorded his first 78-RPM disc at the age of 8, and gave his last concert in 2004 at the age of 75. Image File history File linksMetadata Vilayat_Khan_Shree_CD_Cover. ... Raga (rāg /राग (Hindi), raga (anglicised from rāgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rāgam /ராகம் (Tamil)) are the melodic modes used in Indian classical music. ... This article is about the Bengali language. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... Mymensingh (Bengali: ) is one of the districts of Dhaka division, Bangladesh, and is bordered on the north by Meghalaya state of India and Garo Hills, on the south by Gazipur district, on the east by districts of Netrokona and Kishoreganj, and on the west by districts of Sherpur, Jamalpur and... Bengal, known as Bôngo (Bengali: বঙ্গ), Bangla (বাংলা), Bôngodesh (বঙ্গদেশ), or Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) in the Bengali language, is a region in the northeast of South Asia. ...

Background, music, career

Vilayat Khan was born into a family of musicians tracing its pedigree generations back to the court musicians of the Mughal rulers. His father was Enayat Khan (1895–1938), recognised as a leading sitar and surbahar (bass sitar) player of his time, as had been the grandfather, Imdad Khan (1848–1920), before him. Vilayat was taught in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani Gharana (school), or Etawah Gharana, after a village outside Agra where Imdad lived. The Mughal Empire (alternative spelling Mogul, which is the origin of the word Mogul) of India was founded by Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat. ... 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. ... Surbahar The surbahar (also known as bass sitar) is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. ... 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. ... The Imadkhani Gharana stems from the very ancient Gwalior Gharana. ... The Imadkhani Gharana stems from the very ancient Gwalior Gharana. ... Agra   (Hindi: , Urdu: ‎), (IPA: ) is a medevial city on the banks of the Yamuna River in India. ...

However, Enayat Khan died when Vilayat was only nine, so much of his education came from the rest of his family: his uncle, sitar and surbahar maestro Wahid Khan, his maternal grandfather, singer Bande Hassan Khan, and his mother, Bashiran Begum, who had studied the practice procedure of Imdad, Enayat and Wahid. Vilayat's uncle Zinde Hassan looked after his riyaz (practice). As a boy, Vilayat wanted to be a singer; but his mother, herself from a family of vocalists, felt he had a strong responsibility to bear the family torch as a sitar maestro.^[2]

The Imdadkhani gharana never added the bass string to their sitar, which is a smaller, lighter instrument, easier to handle, than for example Ravi Shankar's. In the 1950s, both Vilayat and Ravi worked closely with instrument makers to further develop their respective instruments, but it was in different directions. As a result, their sounds and playing styles were also wildly different. Whereas Ravi Shankar's sitar was large and veena-like, intended for play across multiple registers using multiple melody strings, Vilayat's was small, with a clean and metallic sound, completely without buzz; it did not reach to the lowest register; and it perfectly facilitated his enormous playing speed. Also, Vilayat liked to perform without a tanpura drone, filling out the silence with strokes to his chikari strings. There was much more going on in his playing than the melody itself. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Pandura. ...

While it is true that he had a rich and famous family style to draw on (a fact he liked to emphasize, since Ravi Shankar, his only rival, had not), as noted he kept developing it technically, and while he played many of the grand ragas to traditional perfection (Yaman, Shree, Bhairavi), he re-interpreted several (Jaijaivanti, Bilaskhani Todi), imported some from South Indian traditions (Basant Mukhari), created some of his own PLEASE BE ACCURATE IN ADDING INFORMATION; MADHUVANTI WAS NOT CREATED BY VILAYAT KHAN!! Allaudin KHan has played it and so has Ali akbar khan and Pandit Ravi SHankar!! (Madhuvanti, Enayatkhani Kanada), with one of which, Sanjh Saravali, he even tried to stretch the limits of what raga could be.(and what could that be)???? please be accurate about the information you add!! Wikipedia is not a hagiography but a encyclopedia. Raga (राग) (rāg /राग (Hindi), raga (Anglicised from rāgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rāgam /ராகம் (Tamil)) are the very detailed melodic modes used in Indian classical music. ... Carnatic music, also known as is one of the two styles of Indian classical music, the other being Hindustani music. ...

When he died from lung cancer in 2004, Vilayat Khan had been recording for over 65 years, broadcasting on All-India Radio since almost as far back and been seen as a master (ustad) for 60. He had been touring outside India off and on for more than 50 years, and was probably the first Indian musician to play in England after independence (1951). In the 1990s, his recording career reached a climax of sorts with a series of ambitious CDs for India Archive Music in New York, some traditional, some controversial, some eccentric. Towards the end of his life, he also performed and recorded sporadically on the surbahar. // All India Radio (AIR for short), officially known as Akashwani (Devanagari: आकाशवाणी, ākāshvānÄ«) is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India), an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ...

Personal life

Vilayat Khan spent much of his life living in Calcutta. He was married twice, his first marriage ending in divorce; he had two daughters, Zila and Yaman (named after ragas), and two sons, Shujaat (b. 1960) and Hidayat (b. 1975), who both play the sitar. He was survived also by his younger brother, Imrat Khan, the post-war star of the surbahar field. The brothers played celebrated duets in their youth, but had a severe falling-out and for years were not on speaking terms. Vilayat took few disciples other than his sons; among the best-known are Kasinath Mukherjee, Arvind Parikh and Kalyani Roy. This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... Shujaat Husain Khan is a distinguished Indian musician and sitar player. ... Hidayat Khan (1975–) is an Indian sitar player, the youngest son of classical great Vilayat Khan (1928–2004). ... Imrat Khan (Born 1936) is Indias leading surbahar (bass sitar) player, younger brother of sitar great Vilayat Khan. ...

Away from the sitar he enjoyed horse-riding, pool playing, swimming and ballroom dancing. His successes made him rich, and though he grew more pious late in life, he used to drive sports cars and dress in haute couture, and also collected such various items as firearms, smoking pipes, antique European crockery, cut glass and chandeliers. An evening gown, made of sheel pink satin with a black lace trim Haute couture (French for high sewing or high dressmaking; IPA: ) refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted fashions. ... Some dishware Dishware is a general term for objects—dishes—from which people eat or serve food, such as plates and bowls. ...

Controversy

Fans and media alike liked to play up Vilayat Khan's rivalry with and animosity towards Ravi Shankar. However, in calmer moments Vilayat would admit there was not much to it. His animosity for the politics and institutions of India's cultural life was another matter. In 1964 and 1968, respectively, he was awarded the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards – India's fourth and third highest civilian honours for service to the nation – but refused to accept them, declaring the committee musically incompetent to judge him. Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... The Padma Bhushan is an Indian civilian decoration established on January 2, 1954 by the President of India. ...

In January 2000, when he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, he again refused, going so far as to call it "an insult". This time, his criticism had a slightly different twist: he would not accept any award that other sitar players, his juniors and in his opinion less deserving, had been given before him. "If there is any award for sitar in India, I must get it first", he said, adding that "there has always been a story of wrong time, wrong person and wrong award in this country".^[3] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Among other honours he turned down was the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. For a while, he also boycotted All-India Radio. The only titles he accepted were the special decorations of "Bharat Sitar Samrat" by the Artistes Association of India and "Aftab-e-Sitar" (Sun of the Sitar) from President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. The Sangeet Natak Akademi (Devanāgarī: संगीत नाटक अकादेमी or, The National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the first national level academy of art set up by the Government of India. ... Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (May 13, 1905 - February 11, 1977) was President of India of 1974 to 1977. ...

Footnotes

↑ Vilayat Khan's year of birth is a matter of some debate, some saying 1924, 1926 or 1927 – personally, he maintained he was born in 1928.

↑ He kept his childhood interest in vocal music all his life, often singing in concerts, and composed khyal bandishes using the pen name Nath Piya. 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. ...

↑ Sitar Maestro Vilayat Khan Refuses Padma Bhushan, The Hindu, February 7 2000. For the article regarding followers of Hinduism, please see Hindu The Hindu is a leading English-language newspaper in India, with its largest base of circulation in south India. ...

Further reading

• The Autobiography of Ustad Vilayat Khan: Komal Gandhar, written by Sankarlal

 Bhattacharjee, published by Sahityam. Kolkata.