Faiyaz Khan (tabla Player)

Faiyaz Khan (tabla Player) Biography

Faiyaz Khan was a legendary tabla player from Sikar, Rajasthan. He lived during the period, 1934 – 12 November 2014. His name is alternatively spelled as Fiyaz Khan. He was an artist of international repute, who performed and taught at many foreign countries too. He began his career as a staff artist of All India Radio, Jaipur in 1955, and retired from AIR in 1993, thus spending nearly 4 decades. Faiyaz Khan had the rare opportunity of accompanying three generations of well-known musicians. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan, Hafiz Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar, Gangubai Hangal, Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Rajshekhar Mansur etc are some of the legendary artists with whom he has performed live, for many decades.

Faiyaz Khan was born in 1934 in Sikar, Rajasthan. He inherited music from his forefathers. Many generations of his family has been associated with music. His father was a court musician. He was a sarangi and tabla player at the court of the Maharaja of Karauli. His elder brother, Munir Khan, was a well-known sarangi player. Following the footsteps of his father and elder brother, he too learnt Sarangi during his initial days and also vocal music, before he found interest in the music instrument tabla.

Initially he learnt tabla from Ustad Hidayat Khan, followed by Ustad Inam Ali Khan of the Delhi gharana of Tabla. He also took lessons in mridangam for a short period, a music instrument associated with Carnatic music. In 1955 he started working as an artist for AIR, Jaipur and was associated with AIR till his retirement in mid-1990s. Along with it, he also accompanied Hindustani vocalists for music concerts.

Published: January 05, 2020

Updated: January 05, 2020