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Aashish Khan(deb Sharma) | |
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 Khan in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1939-12-05)5 December 1939 |
| Died | 14 November 2024(2024-11-14) (aged 84) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instrument | Sarod |
| Years active | 1970–2024 |
Aashish Khan (5 December 1939 – 14 November 2024) was an Indianclassical musician andsarod player. He was also nominated for aGrammy Award in 2006 in the 'Best Traditional World Music Album' category for his album "Golden Strings of the Sarode".[1] He was also a recipient of theSangeet Natak Akademi Award. Besides being a performer, composer, and conductor, he was also an adjunct professor ofIndian classical music at theCalifornia Institute of the Arts, and theUniversity of California at Santa Cruz in the United States.
As the grandson ofAllauddin Khan, he collaborated with musicians such asRavi Shankar andThe Beatles. Beyond Indian classical music, he and his brother Pranesh Khan also composed disco music for the albumDisco Jazz (1982), sung byRupa Biswas.
Khan was born to aBengali family in 1939 atMaihar, a small state ofBritish India, where his grandfatherAlauddin Khan, founder of the "SeniaMaihar Gharana" or "Senia Maihar School" of Indian classical music, was a royal court musician.
His mother, the late Zubeida Begum, wasAli Akbar Khan's first wife. He was initiated intoHindustani classical music at the age of five by his grandfather. His training later continued under the guidance of his father,Ali Akbar Khan, and his aunt,Annapurna Devi. He was divorced and had two children, Faraz and Nusrat Khan.
Khan grew up inMaihar andCalcutta performingIndian classical music. He gave his debut public performance at the age of 13, with his grandfather, on theAll India Radio "National Program", New Delhi, and in the same year, performed with his father and his grandfather at the "Tansen Music Conference", Calcutta. Khan was also a founder of the Indo-American musical groupShanti with tabla playerUstadZakir Hussain in 1969 and later of the fusion group, "The Third Eye". In Shanti, Aashish Khan is featured playing the acoustic sarode, sometimes through aguitar amplifier with avibrato effect.
UnderRavi Shankar, he played on soundtracks for both film and stage, includingOscar winnerSatyajit Ray'sApur Sansar,Parash Pathar,Jalsaghar, andRichard Attenborough's filmGandhi. He has also played withMaurice Jarre onJohn Huston's film,The Man Who Would be King,David Lean'sA Passage to India, and composed the music forTapan Sinha's films,Joturgriha (for which he received the Best Film Score Award) andAadmi Aurat.
In the early 1980s, he and his brother Pranesh Khan took an interest in disco music following the success of Pakistani pop singerNazia Hassan. The brothers composed disco music for a project calledDisco Jazz, with "Aaj Shanibar" as its showpiece. While in Canada that year, they sawRupa Biswas perform at theUniversity of Calgary and approached her to perform vocals for the project. The albumDisco Jazz was completed in 1981 and released in 1982.Pitchfork noted that theBengali song "Aaj Shanibar" contains "touches of what would now be consideredBalearic beat music, with its expansive and hypnotic musical interludes."[2] During 1989–1990, Khan served as the composer and conductor for the National Orchestra ofAll India Radio, New Delhi, India.
Khan was a music teacher, later serving as an adjunct professor at both the Indian Classical Music at theCalifornia Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles, U.S., and at theUniversity of California at Santa Cruz.[3] He also taught at the faculties of theAli Akbar College of Music inSan Rafael, California,University of Alberta in Canada and theUniversity of Washington,Seattle. He later divided his time principally betweenCalcutta and California, where most of his students and disciples were located. He established a school under his name in Kolkata: Aashish Khan School of World Music.
Khan has collaborated withJohn Barham,George Harrison,Ringo Starr,The Beatles,Eric Clapton,Charles Lloyd,John Handy,Alice Coltrane,Emil Richards,Dallas Smith, Don Pope,Jorge Strunz,Ardeshir Farah, and thePhiladelphia String Quartet. Ustad Aashish Khan has co-led "Shringar" with Andrew McLean, featuring notableNew Orleans musicians such as Tim Green andJason Marsalis. Shringar recordings includeWonderwall Music,Young Master of the Sarode,California Concert,Sarode and Piano Jugalbandi,Shanti,Live at theRoyal Festival Hall London,Homage, Inner Voyage,Monsoon Ragas,The Sound ofMughal Court, andJugalbandi Sarode &Sarangi Duet withUstad Sultan Khan.
Khan was awarded the Fellowship of theIllinois Arts Council, U.S., in 2002 and theSangeet Natak Akademi award in 2005. In 2006, he was nominated for aGrammy Award in the 'Best Traditional World Music Album' category. On 24 May 2007, Ustad Aashish Khan became the first ever Indian classical musician to become a Fellow of theRoyal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the UK's highest society in Asian arts and culture.[4]
Khan was raised asMuslim before later identifying asHindu in the 2000s.[5] In September 2006, he announced at a press conference in Calcutta that since his forefathers were HinduBrahmins of theEast Bengal, and held the surname "Debsharma", he wished to use his forefathers' surname to help people understand the root of his musical lineage. He also claimed that his family were never officially converted intoIslam and the surname "Khan" did not necessarily imply he was a Muslim. He based this assertion on his grandfather's, the late UstadAllauddin Khan, biography,Aamar Katha (Bengali), that his forefathers were Hindus with the surname "Debsharma". He also said that his name (Aashish) and his brothers' names (Dhyanesh, Pranesh, Amaresh) were all given by their grandfather, Allauddin.
However, his father,Ali Akbar Khan, rejected Aashish's claims as fallacies. Ali Akbar Khan told theTimes of India newspaper in an email: "I do not support his (Aashish's) choice. Unfortunately, many statements made by my son in the newspaper regarding the history of my family are incorrect." He stated that their family has been Muslim for many generations, and will remain Muslims.[6]
Aashish Khan died at a hospital inLos Angeles,California, on 14 November 2024, at the age of 84.[7][8]
With George Harrison:
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