Allauddin Khan

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Allauddin Khan was an Indian sarod player, composer and one of the most important music teachers of the twentieth century in Indian classical music. He was probably born around 1881 in the village of Shibpur in East Bengal. His father was an amateur sitar player. Even as a child he responded strongly to music, and he skipped school to attend religious and musical gatherings. At the age of eight he ran away from home to join a group of travelling musicians.

Music and breakthrough

He eventually became court musician in Maihar, after an audition arranged by the maharaja there. There he trained pupils who lived with him. His method was extremely strict: at first, pupils were not allowed to hear any other music or to play in public. Even his own son, Ali Akbar Khan, had to concentrate exclusively on music. In 1918, after the influenza epidemic, he founded the Maihar Band, made up of orphaned children who thus received shelter and work.

Influence

At a time when North Indian classical music was mainly vocal and instruments only accompanied, he helped to establish instrumental music as an independent solo form. He broke with the secretive and exclusive habits of his day and trained world-famous virtuosos, from his own family and beyond, who made Indian classical music known abroad as well. He received a Fellowship of the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1954, the Padma Bhushan in 1958 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1971. He died in 1972.

Listening

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