Ali Akbar Khan (Bengali: আলী আকবর খাঁ) (April 14, 1922 – June 18, 2009), often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad (master), was an Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Khan was instrumental in popularizing Indian classical music in the West, both as a performer (often in conjunction with Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar), and as a teacher. He established a music school in Calcutta in 1956, and the Ali Akbar College of Music in 1967, which is now located in San Rafael, California and has a branch in Basel, Switzerland. Khan also composed several classical ragas and filmscores.^[1]

Trained as a musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, Khan first came to America in 1955 on the invitation of violinist Yehudi Menuhin and later settled in California. Khan was nominated for five Grammy Awards and was accorded India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, in 1989.^[2] He also won the MacArthur Genius Grant and the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship.

Health update on Maestro Ali Akbar Khan

I am writing to inform you all of my father's health situation. He has been a patient of dialysis for the past 5 years. It has been an incredibly difficult and trying period of his life. The will power and sacrifice needed to keep going is beyond comprehension. In this time he has been teaching us at his music college - two to three days, without fail - every week while receiving dialysis treatment. He had to stop performing about two years back due to his treatment but has never stopped in fulfilling his "duty" on this earth. Teaching and performing the music of his father is his life and he has never wavered in that through all the ups and downs and obstacles he has faced.

The doctors unfortunately are saying that his heart has become too weak to continue dialysis treatment. He has gone a week now without treatment. He is at home in California with my family and I who are all taking care of him. Many of his students, friends and family have come to see him in his final days. This is the hardest time of our lives for those that love Baba as we do. Please send your love and good thoughts for him to find inner peace. We are forever grateful for all he has given us.

I will leave you with this:

Last evening 6/17/09 while surrounded by his students and family here at our home, Baba said to us, "bring the harmonium."

We all were surprised, to say the least, and concerned that he should rest. He kept requesting us so I went into the next room to bring the harmonium. One of his youngest disciples whom he has been teaching since childhood began to play Sa upon his request. Soon after, Baba began to sing to us all in Rag Durga. He proceeded to teach us for the next 30 minutes and all in the room were singing and weeping. It was truly a moment in my life I will never forget and was so moving I felt as though I was living in a story one might hear of the great legends of olden times. Even while "on his deathbed" (or chair, in his case) and not being able to lift his head, our father and guru wanted to still teach us and share with us this beautiful music. God bless him... God bless him.

Alam Khan

Washington Post Article on Ali Akbar Khan

Ali Akbar Khan's Official Website