Musicians - Imrat Khan

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	Musicians - Imrat Khan

Imrat Khan (Born 1936) is India's leading surbahar (bass sitar) player, younger brother of sitar great Vilayat Khan.

Training and early career

Imrat was born in Calcutta into a family of musicians tracing its pedigree back for several generations, to the court musicians of the Mughal rulers. His father was Enayat Khan (1895–1938), recognised as a leading sitar and surbahar player of his time, as had been the grandfather, Imdad Khan (1848–1920), before him. His father died when Imrat was just a child, so he was raised by his mother, Bashiran Begum, and her father, singer Bande Hassan Khan. In 1944, the family moved with rising star Vilayat to Bombay and sent Imrat to uncle Wahid Khan. Wahid Khan was a surbahar master, and taught Imrat on the instrument in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani gharana (school), or Etawah gharana, after a village outside Agra where Imdad Khan lived.

In 1952 Vilayat and Imrat moved in together in Calcutta. For years they would perform together, but had a great falling-out after which they were for a long time not on speaking terms. From the 1960s onwards, Imrat has performed and recorded solo, playing both sitar and surbahar.

Solo career and legacy

For decades, Imrat has recorded extensively on both his instruments. His full performance pratice starts with a surbahar alap in dhrupad ang (embellished with more romantic touches), followed by a shorter alap on the sitar leading into gat in traditional Imdadkhani style – in stark contrast with players such as Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee, who have added bass strings to ther sitars to achieve at least some of the surbahar's lower range. He has toured to Europe, the Americas and East and South-East Asia. Surbahar players are rare today, and Imrat is considered the greatest living exponent.

He has four sons, Nishat, Irshad, Wajahat and Shafaatullah, who are all classical musicians: Nishat plays the sitar, Wajahat concentrates on the sarod and Shafaatullah typically accompanies his father on the tabla. The surbahar tradition is continued by Irshad, who has made some very traditional solo recordings.

Famous Students

George Harrison , the Beatles (Later George became a student of Ravi Shankar)

Keith Jones, the Rolling Stones

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