Wazir Khan Biography 
Wazir Khan from Rampur was a famous musician who played Rudra Veena. He was born into a family with 5 centuries old tradition in Rudra Veena, and many of his family members have remained court musicians of Mughal emperors like Akbar and Aurengazeb and many other royal families since 16th century. Indeed his ancestor King Samokhan Singh, a member of a royal family lost his battle to Akbar and was killed in the battle. His descendants who later converted to Islam took surname as Khan from Akbar, and have been playing rudra veena since then.
Wazir Khan hailed from a musical family of Rampur. His father Ameer Khan Khandara was among the leading veena players of the eighteenth century, and also a dhrupad singer. His paternal grandfather Omrao Khan invented Surbahar and taught it to many disciples. Lal Khan Gunsamundra, Khushal Khan Gunsamundra, Naimat Khan (Sadarang), Omrao Khan, Ameer Khan Khandara, Imtiyaz ali khan etc – the list of veena players and vocalists from his family is immensely huge, right from the 16th century and still following the legacy in the 21th century. His family was also known to develop their own cuisine.
He was the descendant of Naubat Khan and Saraswati Devi, Tansen's daughter, and Naubat Khan used to perform Veena at Akbar’s court aside Mia Tansen. Musical heritage of the family is recorded from the time period of I. Samokhan Singh, Maharaja of Kishangarh onwards. A court musician of Rampur, he was also a musicologist, and loved photography too. Nawab Hamid Ali Khan of Rampur, Allauddin Khan, Hafiz Ali Khan and Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande are some of his major disciples.
He also taught his grandson Dabir Khan. Wazir Khan, a court musician had a celebrity status during his lifetime, and it was not possible to meet him directly. Also every musician needed the blessing of Wazir to join king’s court.
Published: May 23, 2019
Updated: May 23, 2019
