Sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan passes away

June 19, 2009

Sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan passed away in San Francisco in the US after a prolonged kidney ailment, according to a family friend in Kolkata. 88-year-old Khan died at his music centre at 10 am IST, Rabin Pal, the secretary of sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar,said.

The Sarod maestro is survived by wife Mary, three sons and daughter. Pal, a family friend of the sarod maestro, said that he was informed about the death of Khan by the Ustad's family in San Francisco. Khan's secretary in Kolkata Ashish Roy said the maestro, who was on dialysis, had been ailing for over four years and his condition had deteriorated in the last four months.

A recipient of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, Khan was a colossus in the world of Indian classical music for the last five decades. One of the most accomplished of Indian musicians in the Classical tradition, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan has been designated a 'Living National Treasure' in India - not to mention the fact that he is the object of much admiration in the rest of the world for his absolute mastery of the 25-stringed sarod.