- Original name:
- Masoom Ali Khan
- Byname:
- Sarod Samrat
- Born:
- October 9, 1945, Gwalior [then in the princely state of Gwalior, now in Madhya Pradesh], India (age 81)
Amjad Ali Khan
Who is Amjad Ali Khan?
What are some of Amjad Ali Khan’s notable achievements?
What is the Senia Bangash gharana?
What is known about Amjad Ali Khan’s family?
What collaborations has Amjad Ali Khan been involved in?
Amjad Ali Khan (born October 9, 1945, Gwalior [then in the princely state of Gwalior, now in Madhya Pradesh], India) is an Indian sarod player and music composer, celebrated for his contributions to Hindustani classical music and for bringing the sarod to global audiences. Across a career that has lasted more than 60 years, Khan changed the way the sarod is played by creating expressive techniques—such as rapid melodic passages articulated through alternating right-hand strokes (known as ekhara taans)—and by composing new ragas (melodic frameworks). A recipient of all three Padma Awards—Padma Shri (1975), Padma Bhushan (1991), and Padma Vibhushan (2001), among India’s highest civilian honors conferred by the government—he has been bestowed with the honorific ustad, a title traditionally used for master musicians in Hindustani classical music.
Personal life
The Senia Bangash gharana is a lineage of Hindustani classical music associated primarily with the sarod. Also known as the Ghulam Ali or Ghulam Ali Bangash gharana, it traces its origins to musicians of the Bangash tribe, who migrated from Afghanistan to India and adapted the Afghan rabab into the sarod. The term Senia reflects the gharana’s stylistic alignment with the musical tradition associated with Tansen.
The tradition is linked to Ghulam Bandegi Khan Bangash, who settled in India in the 19th century and transmitted raga-based music to his son Ghulam Ali Khan, who later served as a court musician in Gwalior. Under royal patronage, the family’s style developed a strong emphasis on melodic structure and disciplined phrasing. Later exponents of the lineage include Nanhe Khan and Hafiz Ali Khan, Ghulam Ali Khan’s son and grandson, respectively. Across successive generations, elements from the classical Indian vocal styles dhrupad and khayal were incorporated, helping establish the gharana within Hindustani classical music.
Born as Masoom Ali Khan in Gwalior, in British-ruled India, Khan came from a family of hereditary musicians. He was renamed Amjad Ali Khan during childhood. According to his own account, the name change occurred after a visiting sadhu (religious ascetic) heard him play the sarod and suggested the new name, blessing him to become an accomplished artist. Khan is the youngest child of Hafiz Ali Khan, a revered sarod player who served as a court musician in Gwalior, and his wife Rahat Jahan. Khan’s family traces its musical lineage back six generations to the Senia Bangash gharana (a school of music with a distinctive style), whose members were disciples of the Mughal court musician Tansen. In accordance with tradition, Khan began learning sarod under his father’s tutelage. He gave his first public recital at the age of six. Recalling his upbringing, Khan said in a 2025 interview with Northwest Asian Weekly:
I cannot remember a particular day that I was initiated into the world of music.…Indeed, I cannot think of a moment when music has been separated from my life. My father lived for music.…Since my childhood, I always wanted my instrument, the sarod, to express the entire range of human emotions—to sing, shout, whisper, and cry.
This dedication shaped Khan’s childhood. His early education and musical training took place largely at home in Gwalior. In 1957 his family moved to Delhi, after which Khan joined the Modern School, where his formal education was combined with intensive musical training. During his school years, he performed regularly at school events and continued to practice and play the sarod alongside his studies.
“My father always said, ‘Aap sab kuch nahi kar sakte (one can’t do everything).’ I chose to focus entirely on music and surrender to God. I am embarrassed to call it my profession. This is my passion.”
—Amjad Ali Khan, in a 2024 interview with The Indian Express
Khan was briefly married earlier in life and has a daughter from his first marriage. In 1976 he married Subhalakshmi Barua, a bharatanatyam dancer trained at the Kalakshetra Foundation in Madras (now Chennai) under Rukmini Devi Arundale. The marriage brought together different regional and religious backgrounds and initially faced social and familial hesitation. The couple has two sons, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, both of whom were introduced to music at an early age and were later trained as sarod players by their father. They frequently perform together in concert, continuing the family’s multigenerational musical lineage.
Career
Classical music
Over the course of his career, Khan has received numerous national and international honors in recognition of his contributions to Indian classical music.
- 1970: UNESCO Award, recognizing his contribution to music and cultural heritage
- 1975: Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor
- 1989: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, India’s national honor for the performing arts
- 1991: Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honor
- 2001: Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honor
Khan first performed publicly as a soloist at the age of 12 and soon became known on the Indian classical music circuit. During his teenage years, Khan received recognition from the Prayag Sangeet Samiti—a long-established institution for Indian classical music based in Allahabad (now Prayagraj), Uttar Pradesh—which conferred on him the moniker “Sarod Samrat” (“Emperor of the Sarod”). A distinctive aspect of Khan’s playing is his use of fingernails rather than fingertips to stop the strings on the sarod. This technique produces a sharper, more ringing tone and requires careful control.
When he was about 18 years old, Khan made his international debut, performing Indian classical music in the United States at a time when it was only beginning to be introduced to Western audiences. This tour was undertaken as part of a cultural group of Indian musicians and dancers and included the kathak dancer Birju Maharaj, with whom Khan performed in combined music-and-dance presentations. He rose to prominence for his technique and soulful renditions of ragas. In 1971 Khan made a landmark appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York City, becoming the first sarod player to perform at the venue. From the 1970s onward he toured both in India and abroad extensively.
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In 1981 Khan became the first Indian classical musician to perform in Pakistan after decades of limited cultural exchange between the two countries, which had been brought on by political tensions following the partition of India in 1947 and subsequent conflicts.
Khan also contributed to the instrument’s repertoire by composing several ragas, including Amiri Todi, Shivanjali, Kiran Ranjani, Lalit Dhwani, Shyam Shri, Jawahar Manjari, Haripriya Kanada, Bapukauns, and Suhag Bhairav. He was the first Hindustani musician to perform at the Thyagaraja Aradhana, an annual music festival held at Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu, where he presented compositions of Thyagaraja, a 19th-century Indian composer central to the Carnatic tradition.
Collaborations and orchestral work
In addition to solo performances, Khan has collaborated with musicians from the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions, including shehnai player Bismillah Khan, veena player Emani Sankara Sastri, and violinists Lalgudi Jayaraman, L. Subramaniam, and V.G. Jog.
As a sarod soloist, Khan has been accompanied by many prominent tabla players over the course of his career, among them Zakir Hussain, Kishan Maharaj, Alla Rakha, Samta Prasad, and Swapan Chaudhuri. His collaborations have also included vocal and contemporary projects. He worked with singer Girija Devi on recordings that brought together instrumental and vocal forms and composed music for Pankaj Udhas in the ghazal tradition. In 2024 he took part as a vocalist in an ensemble performance marking World Music Day, alongside other Indian musicians.
While remaining rooted in Hindustani classical music, Khan has presented the sarod in orchestral and cross-genre settings through collaborations with Western classical and contemporary musicians. One of his major works in this area is Samaagam: A Concerto for Sarod, Concertante Group, and String Orchestra, first performed in 2008 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The title Samaagam, drawn from Sanskrit, refers to a coming together or confluence, reflecting the work’s structure, which brings the sarod into dialogue with Western string instruments. Since then, the work has been presented with ensembles such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, and the Welsh National Opera.
Khan’s work with American classical guitarist Sharon Isbin developed over the 2010s and led to the concert series and 2020 album Strings for Peace. He has also performed with American jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd, Russian violinist Igor Frolov, and American singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer, with whom he recorded the album Everything Is Everywhere (2011).
In 2014 Khan appeared at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, where he performed a composition titled “Raga for Peace” with his sons, along with tabla player Satyajit Talwalkar. The performance was dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize and the 2014 Peace Prize laureates—Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child-rights activist, and Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani education activist. In 2025 Khan contributed music to Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, a spoken-word album featuring the voice of the 14th Dalai Lama. The album received the 2026 Grammy Award for best audiobook, narration, and storytelling recording.
Teaching and mentorship
In addition to performing, Khan has devoted himself to teaching and preserving his art for future generations. His first disciples were his two sons, whom he trained from childhood in the sarod. Both sons have become accomplished musicians who often join him onstage, carrying the family legacy into the seventh generation.
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan performed an instrumental rendition of “Jana Gana Mana,” India’s national anthem, on the sarod with his sons, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, to celebrate the country’s 72nd Independence Day in 2018.
Beyond his family, Khan has led workshops and masterclasses around the world to inspire young musicians. He has served as a visiting professor in residence at several universities, including Stanford University and the University of New Mexico, among others. Khan has described musical practice as a form of sadhana (“realization”) rather than a profession, emphasizing long-term discipline and personal commitment over technical accomplishment alone.
Beyond the stage
Khan’s life and work have been documented in film and print. He was the subject of the documentary Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (1990), directed by Gulzar, which received the Filmfare Award for best documentary. He is also the author of Master on Masters (2017), a book in which he reflects on the lives and music of several Indian classical musicians, drawing on personal experience and long professional association.
