Biography of "Inayat Khan"

Born: 1894, Uttar Pradesh
Died: 1938, Kolkata

The credit of popularising Sitar and Surbahar goes mainly to Inayat Khan. He was a great artist. Nobody ever challenged the talent and skills of Inayat Khan anywhere in India. He was born on June 16, 1885, in Itawa of Uttar Pradesh. He learnt music from famous musicians Haddu Hansu Khan, Been player Nirmal Shah and Miyan Mauj. Later, he learnt Sitar and Surbahar from Shri Braj Kishore.

In his childhood, Inayat khan learnt Dhrupad, Khayal and Thumri from his father. His father was also his first teacher who taught him about Surbahar and Sitar. By dint of his continuous hard labour and practice, very soon, he became one among the famous musicians of India.

Inayat Khan, to some extent, was as talented as his father Emdad Khan. But he was a little bit more modern than his father. For the betterment of music, he could shed some of the traditional rules and regulations of music. He took part in many music conferences and received several awards. He died on November 10, 1938, in Kolkata.