Mushtaq Ali Khan

Mushtaq Ali Khan

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Category: Music

Mushtaq Ali Khan Profile

  • Name:
  • Mushtaq Ali Khan
  • Born:
  • June 20, 1911
  • Died:
  • July 21, 1989
  • Father:
  • Ashiq Ali Khan

Mushtaq Ali Khan Biography

Mushtaq Ali Khan was an Indian sitar, surbahar and pakhawaj player born as the son of renowned sitar player, Ashiq Ali Khan. Mushtaq was recognized as the foremost representative of the Senia gharana of sitar. Masit Sen, the founder of Masitkhani Baaj was his ancestor. Nirmal Guha Thakurta, Netai Bose, Shipra Chaudhury, Steven Landsberg and Dr. Debu Chaudhuri are among his most popular disciples. He died on 21 July 1989. Though he was a direct musical descendant of Masit Sen, he rarely played Masitkhani gats in public and none of his records are available now. In 1968 Indian government honoured him with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

 

Mushtaq Ali Khan was born on 20 June 1911 in Varanasi, then called as Banaras. He started formal training in sitar from his father, Ashiq Ali Khan at the age of 6. He emerged as a gifted sitar player of Senia Gharana. He had a brief stint as a court musician at Jaunpur. But later he decided to pursue an independent career in music and joined All India Radio in 1929 where he performed as a vocalist. He performed at the 1931 Sangeet Sammelan in Allahabad. Then during the era of 1940’s and 1950’s, his name was counted among the prominent sitar artists of the country. It was prior to the rise of the young Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan in the mid-1950s.

 

He was a purist and hence he was reluctant to include new experiments and ideas in his sitar style while the young artists did so. It resulted in the decline of the music career of this legendary artist. At the time of his death he was known as a "musicians' musician". Still now, his name is taken as one of the purists of Indian classical music.

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Updated: February 14, 2014

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