Dr. Santosh Khanna

Dept. Of Music (Inst)

Allauddin Khan, also known as Baba

Allauddin Khan (8 October 1862 – 6

September 1972)was a Bengali Indian

sarod player and multi-instrumentalist.

Composer and one of the most

notable music teachers of the 20th

century in Indian classical music.

Khan was born in Shibpur village in Brahmanbaria

(in present-day Bangladesh). His father, Sabdar

Hossain Khan, was a musician. Khan took his first

music lessons from his elder brother, Fakir

Aftabuddin Khan.

At age ten, Khan ran away from home to join a

jatra party where he was exposed to a variety of

folk genres: jari, sari, baul, bhatiyali, kirtan, and

panchali.

Khan went to Kolkata, where he met a physician

named Kedarnath, who helped him to become a

disciple of Gopal Krishna Bhattacharya (also known as

Nulo Gopal), a notable musician of Kolkata in 1877.

Khan practiced sargam for twelve years under his

guidance.

After the death of Nulo Gopal, Khan turned to

instrumental music. He learned to play many indigenous

and foreign musical instruments like sitar, flute, piccolo,

mandolin, banjo, etc., from Amritalal Dutt, a cousin of

Swami Vivekananda and the music director of the Star

Theatre. He learnt to play sanai, naquara, tiquara and

jagajhampa from Hazari Ustad and pakhawaj, mridang

and tabla from Nandababu.

Ali Ahmed referred Allauddin to veena player Wazir

Khan.

Ustad Allauddin Khan was 110 when he passed into

history in 1972. He was something more than a

musical genius a visionary whose like is born but

once in centuries.

Few luminaries have shone so resplendently on the

musical firmament for over half a century as the

venerable maestro. Fewer still are those who could

achieve, with such tremendous success, the

unique synthesis of tradition and experiment in the

realm of Hindustani instrumental music.

Of historic significance was the new trail he blazed

in the field the veena-based fusion of gayaki,

layakari and tantrakari, and its adoption to the

playing of instruments like the sitar, the sarod and

several others. And he himself showed how this

approach made it possible for our ragas and

raginis to emerge in their true form, dignity,

grandeur, color and sparkle.

A devout Hindu and Muslim, Allauddin Khan (born Padma-Vibhusan Acharya Allauddin Khan) was one of the most

important North Indian classical musicians of the 20th century.

While his musical career spanned more than 100 years, Khan

was equally influential as a mentor and teacher of Ravi

Shankar; his son Ali Akbar Khan; and his daughter and Shankar's wife, Annapurna Devi.

A native of East Bengal (Bangladesh), Khan enjoyed a

financially secure childhood. Although his parents had little

money, they owned land and many animals. Descended

from Mian Tansen, a 16th century musician in the court of

Emperor Akbar, the family had close ties to music.

Khan's father played sitar while an older brother, Aftabuddin Khan, played flute, harmonium, tabla, pakhawaj, and dotora. As a child, Allauddin Khanwould sneak into the family's music room and experiment with his brothers' instruments. Despite his obvious talents, Khan was discouraged from playing music by his father. Running away from home at the age of eight, Khan met up with a group of itinerant musicians that was heading toward Dacca.

Telling them that he was an orphan, he was accepted into the group. He soon learned to play Indian drums including tabla, dhol, and pakhawaj, and wind instruments including clarinet, cornet, and trumpet.

Leaving the group after six years, Khan traveled to Calcutta and apprenticed himself to a Bengali singer, Nulo Gopal. For the next seven years, he was instructed in the traditional style that emphasized solfeggio, scales, and technique.

Apart from being a performer par excellence, with

an astounding command over 30-odd instruments

from the string, wind, bow and percussion groups,

he was a teacher, composer and conductor of

highest caliber.

He was a master of dhrupad, dhamar and other

styles of traditional vocal music. He innovated a

rich and varied repertory of ragas and instruments.

He secured tutelage from over a score of teachers,

including those of Western music.

His catholic understanding of Western instrumental

tradition culminated in the creation of what is

known as the Maihar Band, possibly the first-ever

attempt at orchestration of Indian music.

All these aspects of the maestro's contributions

deservedly brought him universal acclaim as

"Acharya''.

The vitality of the Acharya's universal approach to

the concept of music is resoundingly brought

home by the glorious line-up of some of our

greatest luminaries, all of whom benefited from

rigorous but rewarding training under him.

His disciples include his son, Ali Akbar Khan;

nephew, Bahadur Khan; sarod virtuosi Shyam

Ganguly, and Sharan Rani; and sitar stalwarts Ravi

Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee; His daughter,

Annapurna Devi, is known for her unequalled

command over the surbahar, while Pannalal

Ghosh became immortal as the pioneer in the

introduction of gayaki to woodwind instruments

under his mentor's inspiration.

It may well surprise many to know that composers

and music directors like Vishnudass, Shirali

S.D.Burman, as also his son R.D.Burman, Jaidev and

Roshan and the great Timir Baran of New Theatres

fame, immensely benefited from their association

with the acharya in the early days of their career.

Those fortunate old-timers, who had the

opportunities to hear his great music, recall with

nostalgia the characteristic, profoundly moving

strain, in the deep, powerful notes of his sarod and

the quality of humility in his music, which would

gradually reach the listener without his knowing it.

Behind this humility lay an intensely religious

approach to art and to life itself. It lent a halo of

universality to his music.

In this context, it will not be wide off the mark to

describe the acharya's music, as an expression

of spiritual purity, something which strikes a

chord of divinity inside us.

This relationship has been inherited, especially in

India, where the tradition of music has been

enriched by musician-saints like Swami Haridas,

Surdas, Tyagaraja, Shyama Sastry, Muttu Swami

Dikshitar and Vishnu Digambar Paluskar.

Acharya Allauddin Khan also belonged to this

tradition of musician-saints, and probably, is the last

of these greats.

Honors accolades and distinctions came his way in

profusion including the Padma Vibhushan, the

second highest civilian honor. To the manner born,

however, the reclusive acharya remained

indifferent to them.

Accepting a position as tabla player in the orchestra of

the Star Theater, Khan was mentored by conductor

Robert Lobo, who introduced him to the Western

classical music tradition.

Khan often participated in orchestral parties, held by

composer Habu Dutt, that combined Western and

Indian instrumentation. Although he augmented his

meager salary from the Star Theater by playing recitals,

Khan struggled financially.

He often ate his one meal a day at food dispensaries provided for the poor. Traveling to Muktogacha in eastern Bengal (now East Pakistan) during his early twenties, Khan was awestruck when he attended a performance by Ustad Ahmad Ali, a sarod player in the court of Raja Jagat Kishore. Inspired by what he heard, he convinced Ali to become his guru.

For the next four years, he devoted his full attention to learning the sarod. Although he accompanied Ali to Rampur, Khan's playing abilities were so threatening to the senior sarod player that he was instructed to begin playing on his own. Rampur provided an inspiring setting.

The center of Hindustani classical music, the city boasted more than 500 musicians who served in the court of the Newab of Rampur.

After studying with many of the city's musicians, Khan

managed to meet and convince the most important

musician in Rampur, Wazir Khan, to become his guru.

During the first two and a half years that he lived under

Wazir Khan's control, Khan served as a servant and

errand boy. The disillusioning arrangement changed

after a letter, telling Khan that his wife, who he had left

the day after marrying, had committed suicide, was

intercepted by Wazir Khan.

With the truth of his tales of being an orphan revealed,

Khan was instructed to return home and make amends

with his family. Upon his return to Rampur, Khan was

promised that Wazir Khan would make him his chief

disciple and reveal the secrets of music.

He continued to be instructed by Wazir Khan for the

next few years and received a blessing when his guru

was on his deathbed. Following Wazir Khan's death,

Khan began performing on his own.

In addition to serving as a court musician to the Maharajah of Maihar, he became the principal of the Maihar College of Music and formed the Maihar Band with 100 orphaned children whom he had taught to play strings, brass, bagpipes, and drums.

In 1952, Khan was made a Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi (National Academy of Performing Arts). Six years later, he received the Padma Bhusan, an honorary title bestowed upon him by the president of the academy.

Khan became court musician for the Maharaja

of Maihar.

Here he laid the foundation of a modern Maihar

gharana by developing a number of ragas,

combining the bass sitar and bass sarod with

more traditional instruments and setting up an

orchestra.

In 1935, he toured Europe, along with Uday

Shankar's ballet troupe, and later also worked at

his institute, Uday Shankar India Culture Centre

at Almora for a while.

In 1955, Khan established a college of music in

Maihar.Some of his recordings are made at the

All India Radio in 1959–60.

Khan, Ameena Perera, Pranesh Khan and

Amaresh Khan. As a principle, he never

accepted cash or gifts from his disciples. As a

matter of fact, he took care of the food and

lodging expenses of his disciples.

In 1935-1936 Baba Allauddin Khan joined the

dance troupe formed by Uday Shankar, and

went on an international tour with the troupe.

Occasionally, he also worked at Uday Shankar’s

cultural centre at Almora. He visited

Shantiniketan. On his visit to Shantiniken,

Rabindranath Tagore asked Ram Kinkar

(sculptor) to create a statue of the maestro.

Khan was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1958

and the Padma Vibhushan in 1971, India's third

and second highest civilian honours.

Prior to that in 1954, the Sangeet Natak Akademi

awarded him with its highest honour, the Sangeet

Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime

contribution to Indian music.

Khan's son Ali Akbar Khan, daughter

Annapurna Devi, nephew Raja Hossain

Khan and grandson Aashish Khan went

on to become musicians.

His other disciples include Ravi Shankar,

Nikhil Banerjee, Vasant Rai, Shripad

Bandopdhyay, Pannalal Ghosh, Bahadur

Khan, Rabin Ghosh, Sharan Rani, Nalin

Mazumdar, Jotin Bhattacharya, Rajesh Chandra Moitra and W. D. Amaradeva.

Anecdotes about Khan range from

throwing a tabla tuning hammer at the

Maharaja himself to taking care of

disabled beggars.

Nikhil Banerjee said that the tough

image was "deliberately projected in

order not to allow any liberty to the

disciple. He was always worried that

soft treatment on his part would only

spoil them".

In 1955/56, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi

Shankar introduced and popularized the Maihar

Senia Gharana all over the world. Baba Allauddin

Khan composed many new raagas like the Madan

Manjari (named after his wife), Prabhakali, Swarasati,

Shobhavati, Madhavasri, Hem Bhairav, Madhavgiri,

Bhagvati, Hemant, Hem Behag and Manjh Khamaj.

He created the first Indian orchestra, known as a

Maihar Band or Maihar Vadya Vrinda. Since he knew

to play many instruments, he knew their tonality and

range and could improve upon the sound quality of

the instruments like the Sarode, Sitar, Sur Bahar, Sur

Shringar, Seniya Rabab, Chandra Sarang, Sitar Banjo,

Nal Tarang (made from steel gun pipes).

In 1952 he was presented the SangeetNatak Academy award, and was later affiliated with Sangeet Natak Akademiin 1954.

In 1955, he established the MaiharCollege of Music.

In 1958 he received the PadmaBhushan award and in 1971 he was honored with the Padma Vibhushanaward, considered as India`s third and second highest civilian recognitions.

Baba`s last stage performance was in 1959 in Kolkata, and he retired from an active public life and stage in 1961. With a long and luminous life of exceptional creativity behind him, Baba Allauddin Khan lived in Maihar from 1918 until his demise in 1972.

A devoted Muslim, and also a great devotee of Maa Sharada (Saraswati) of Maihar temple and Lord Shiva. His residence has several pictures, images and of Hindu deities and idols. The Films Division’s documentary, `Baba`, which depicts different aspects of his life, has also captured the secular and devout Baba.

A distinguished lineage of instrumentalists descends

from India's most renowned classical music

maestro of the 20th century, Ustad Allauddin Khan,

affectionately known as ‘Baba'. He reportedly lived

to be 110 years old (c.1862-1972).

Allauddin did not come from a hereditary family of

musicians although music was played for

enjoyment. He ran away from home at the age of

ten to join a jatra (traditional Bengali street theatre)

group, which exposed him to Bengal’s immensely

rich folk music.

He settled in Calcutta (now called Kolkata) and began a twelve year programme of formal study in Indian classical music, initially as a vocalist with one of Bengal’s greatest singers, NuloGopal.

But seven years later, when his teacher died suddenly of the plague, Khan is said to have been so aggrieved that he vowed to never pursue a career as a vocalist.

He considered himself to not even have reached the most basic threshold in music with his guru, and instead began to turn his attention to various other instruments, including the violin, which he learned to play.

He became drawn to the sarod on hearing a recital by a pupil of the great Asghar Ali Khan (Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s grand uncle). Eventually he moved to Rampur, an important centre for royal patronage of music, to study with the legendary veena player Ustad Wazir Khan (who was also tutor to Hafiz Ali Khan, Amjad’s father, in the same period).

Later he became the court musician and tutor to Maharajah Brijnath Singh of Maihar, a princely enclave in central India. He remained in Maihar from 1918 until his death in 1972, long after India had disbanded its royalty.

A Maihar tradition had already been established in the 19th century, but AllauddinKhan’s contribution to its development and technical perfection has been so tremendous that it is often assumed that he was the founder of what is now known as the Maihargharana.

The beginning of the 20th century was an important period for classical instruments with two main opposing schools of thought on how an instrument should sound: there were those who attempted to emulate the modern, romantic khayal style of playing as opposed to others who sought to restore the original Dhrupad flavour of Tansen's days.

Allauddin Khan clearly leaned towards the latter and although his public recitals were always on the sarod, he could play many instruments – Indian and Western – with tremendous ease and confidence.

Anecdotes about his time as a court musician range from throwing a tabla-tuning hammer at the Maharajah himself to personally undertaking the care of a disabled beggar.

One of the most prolific classical composers of the 20th century, he had a tendency towards mixed or composite raags (meolodicstructures) and produced a few dozen new ones of which the best-known is Raag ManjKhamaj. Fortunately, a number of his recordings survive intact, the most important ones being his recitals for All India Radio in 1959 and 1960.

Ustad Allaudin Khan has groomed some of the greatest instrumentalists of our time, most notably his son and pupil Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) and, most unusually for that time, his daughter Annapurna (real name RoshanaraKhan), who went on to be a fine vocalist, sitar and surbahar player.

Other disciples include such distinguished names as Pandit Pannalal Ghosh (bansuri) and Pandit Nikhil Banerjee (sitar). Even so, perhaps his most famous pupil remains Pandit Ravi Shankar, who went on to make the sitar a world famous Indian instrument.

Ustad Alauddin Khan (1963), a documentary

directed by Ritwik Ghatak Raga (1971), directed

by Howard Worth.

Remastered version released in 2010 by East Meets

West Music.

Maihar Raag (1993), directed by Sunil Shanbag. A

look at Allauddin Khan's crumbling heritage in

Maihar, which won the National Film Award for

Best Non-Feature Film in 1994.