Bahadur Khan


Ustad Bahadur Khan was an Indian sarod player and film score composer.

Early life and family

Ustad Bahadur Khan, a Bengali, was born in 19 January 1931 in Shibpur, Comilla, Bangladesh,. From a musical family, he was the son of the Indian classical musician Ayet Ali Khan and related to sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar. Khan first learnt to play the sarode from his father and his uncle Alauddin Khan in Maihar, before he finally settled in Calcutta. He also practiced vocal music and later collaborated with his cousins Ali Akbar Khan and Shrimati Annapurna Devi.
Khan's brothers Abed Hossain Khan and Mobarak Hossain Khan were also musicians and based in Bangladesh, and were the recipients from the Government of Bangladesh for their contributions to classical music. Bahadur Khan is the father of sitar player Kirit Khan, who died in 2006. One of his better-known students is the sarod player Tejendra Narayan Majumdar.
He died on 3 October 1989 in Calcutta, India. His eldest son Bidyut Khan continues to perform the sarod around the world.

Music and film

Khan was a regular performer at the All India Radio, Radio Pakistan and Radio Bangladesh. He composed and directed music for many films by the legendary Indian filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak and featured in the following:
Khan was a reputed teacher, and a faculty member for six months at the Ali Akbar College of Music in California, USA, where he taught Indian classical music. His students include his son Bidyut Khan, nephew Shahadat Hossain Khan, Tejendranarayan Majumdar, Kalyan Mukherjee, and his nephew Khurshid Khan.
Every year, a one-day music festival takes place commemorating the death anniversary of the Khan in Calcutta, organized by the "Ustad Bahadur Khan Music Circle". In Bangladesh, his legacy is continued through the "Ustad Ayet Ali Khan Sangeet Niketon" - a music school in memory of his father Ayet Ali Khan - at their native village Shibpur.