About Artist

Amjad Ali Khan is one of the greatest exponents of the sarod. Despite being relatively young, he has been able to establish himself among the top in the musical universe. He learnt the sarod from his father Hafiz Ali Khan.
He was born in 1945 .He comes from a family of muscians. His great-grand father, Gulam Ali Khan, was a court musician at Gwalior and is credited with modifying the difficult rabab into the sarod. His grandfather Nannhe Khan was also a court musician in Gwalior. Amjad Ali Khan studied under his father Hafiz Ali Khan of Gwalior. By the age of ten he was holding public performances and matured into a recognized talent by 15.Amjad Ali Khan has contributed immensly towards making the sarod popular as a solo instrument in the western world. He made many changes to the conventional style and structure of the sarod. The sarod, as gned and constructed earlier, could not convey the subtle shades of classical music. It tended to distort the tonal facets emphasising more on staccato than legato features. Nor could it produce the fast tans and gamakas. He researched these problems and made changes in the gn of the instrument and gauze of the strings used. He also introduced the gayaki in the sarod, which has added new dimensions to performances on this instrument. He plays with his nails to produce precise, clear and microtonal sounds and with the fleshy part of his fingers which produces a flat sound known as rui dhunna, which refers to the sound made when fluffing and cleaning cotton wool by hand.
He takes keen interest in creating and spreading music for children. In the process of teaching music to his two sons, he has composed special songs for them and for children all over the country. His message is to spread love and affection among people. He has also composed a special ¦Birthday Songª for children. He has composed new ragas like Amiri Todi, HaripriyaKannada, Jawahar Manjari and Shivanjali for special occasions.He has founded the Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial Society to commemorate his father. It presents annual awards to outstanding musicians in recognition of their services to classical music.He has also trained some eminent sarod players like Gurdev Singh.
Amjad Ali Khan has the distinction of being the first north Indian artist to have performed in honour of Tyagaraja at the saint-musicianªs Thiruvaiyar shrine. He was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1989.

Instrument : SAROD



The sarod is much smaller than the sitar. It sits comfortably in the player’s lap and is leaner and cleaner in sound, without that predominant jangling of sympathetic strings. The sarod has resonant sympathetic strings, but they are fewer and far less prominent in the soundscape. Still, it’s no less demanding to play.




The instrument speaks eloquently of the close connections between India and Afghanistan and the Persian world. Architecture, food and music are amongst the great hybrids born of the Islamic invasion of northern India through Afghanistan. The sound of the sarod as we know it today is distinctly Indian in character, but it links to the sinewy, muscular style of the Afghan rabab - a wooden Central Asian lute, covered with skin. For Amjad Ali Khan it’s the tone quality that’s the attraction: “The skin makes the sound very human - it’s not wooden. It has flexibility, sensitivity and depth.” The sound of the sarod is dominated by the singing, vocal tone of its melodic strings. Many instrumentalists - including violinists, clarinettists, sarangi and sitar players - like to compare the sound of their instruments to the human voice. And sarod players are no exception. “I actually spend as much time singing as playing,” admits Amjad Ali Khan and through his father he learned about applying the vocal traditions of dhrupad and khayal to his instrument.

“I am singing through my instrument,” he says. One of the principalmodifications of the sarod from the Afghan rabab is its long metal fingerboard,which allows swooping melismatic slides between the melody notes. This is something you can’t do on fretted instruments.This is a big advantage of the sarod over the sitar”, he explains. “On the sitar you have to pull the string sideways to create the slides. And you can’t pull that far - not more than 3 or 4 notes. But on the sarod you can slide over 7 notes or more, skating up the fingerboard.” As well as this lyrical, vocal style, Amjad Ali Khan is renowned for his fast staccato passages up and down the instrument - something he has made very much his own. This is the latest addition to a long tradition of sarod playing and Amjad Ali Kahn’s two sons, Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, are now taking it forward to the next generation. As with the Griots of West Africa, lineage and family are hugely important in Indian music. You wonder what would have happened had one of Amjad Ali Khan’s sons said they were more interested in the electronic keyboard, or accountancy!


Award and titles






Album : ROOTS : Tracks

1. PASSING ON THE TRADITION

Raga –Chander Bhankar (1973)
Gat in Teental
Artiste-Ustad Haafiz Ali Khan
(Father & Guru Ustad Amjad Ali Khan)

2. USTAD AMJAD ALI KHAN’S FIRST L P RECORD
Raga- Desh (1967)
Accompanist-Tabla: Pt Shamta Prasad

3. AMJAD ALI KHAN PERFORMS

The King of Ragas-Raga Darbari (1979)
Alap, Jod, Jhala, Gat-Madhyalaya-Trital
Accompanist-Tabla: Sabir Khan
4. RAGA-DARBARI (1979)

Originally Posted by bEdenkot ase gechi click kore arekta donnobad dite. dhonnobad bhai saheb:)

Originally Posted by nishongopothik Dhonnobad debar bhasha nai. tar por o ashonkho dhonnobad. Acha panar kache ki karunesh er kono album ache isinpt bahi? I heard some of his creation. Ek kothai odvhut. its a mix of eastern and western musics.

Originally Posted by muntasar125 Isinpt vai apnar jonno kintu ami instrumental-er sur-er jogote dhuika portasi ....pore kisu hoile kintu apni bujben...hahaha.Thanks vai valo ekta jinish sobar sathey share korar jonno.

Originally Posted by isinpt hobey hobey shob e post hobey..ekhon cholchey amar "Ustad Amjad Ali khan" er series.aaro 3-4 ta album release er por Onno Artist er kotha bhaba zabey.

Originally Posted by bEdenkot instrumental-er sur-er jogote swagotom mun bhai. apnar to pattai nai! koothai thaken?