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Rais Khan

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

Ustad Rais Khan was born on 25 November 1939 in Indore, in British India, and grew up in Bombay. He came from a Rajput family in which the sitar had been played for generations, beginning with Ustad Imdad Khan, the first sitar player of the subcontinent to be recorded on disc. His father Mohammed Khan was a rudra veena player and sitarist, his mother a singer. He began at a very young age, on a sitar made from a coconut. The famous sitarist Vilayat Khan was his maternal uncle.

Music and breakthrough

Rais Khan belonged to the Mewati gharana, a musical school that goes back to the Mughal era. His mother's singing and his father's veena playing resounded in his own playing, so that his sitar combined styles such as khayal, dhrupad and thumri. In 1955 he was chosen to represent India at the International Youth Festival in Warsaw. In India he also played film music for singers such as Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle and worked with film composers such as Khayyam and Madan Mohan. His albums include Instrumental Sitar from 1969, New Sitar from 1983 and Romantic Sound of Sitar from 1990.

Influence

In 1986 he moved to Pakistan and took Pakistani nationality. There in 2017 he received the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, the third-highest civilian honour. He died on 6 May 2017. He spoke with respect of Ravi Shankar, who in his view had introduced the sitar to the world. At his peak he himself was considered one of the greatest sitar players of all time.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a sitar recording by Rais Khan and notice the opening, where the tempo is slow and the strings ring on for a long time. Do you hear how the playing later becomes faster and the tone seems to glide?

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists