Biography

Aashish Khan is a professional sarod player based out of the capital city of West Bengal, Kolkata. His training in Hindustani classical music began when he was five years old, under his grandfather, Acharya Baba Allauddin Khan Sahib. He has also attained training under his father, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, and his aunt, Smt. Annapurna Devi, At present, he is one of the leading exponents of the Senia Maihar Gharana in the Beenkar and Rababiya Anga (style), pursuing the dhrupad style in vocal music. Aashish gave his debut public performance at the age of 13 with his grandfather on a national program by AIR in New Delhi, alongside Pt Kanthe Maharaj on tabla. In 1953, he performed with his father and grandfather at the Tansen Music Conference in Kolkata. In 1961, he accompanied his father as a representative for the Indian Govt at the East West Music Encounter held in Tokyo, Japan. In 1967, he played a sarod duet with his father at the Hollywood Bowl in LA, for an audience of more than 20,000 people. He received the 'best sarod player' award in 1996, from All India Critics Association of India. Aashish has composed music for ballets and movies, and has also worked with Uday Shankar and Late Pt Ravi Shankar. He has also worked on several projects for both film and theatre, including Satyajit Ray’s films like Apur Sangsar, Parash Pathar, Jalsha Ghar, Goopi Gayen Bagaha Bayen, and Sir Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi. He has also given music with Maurice Jarre on John Houston’s movie 'The Man Who Would Be King', Clint Eastwood’s 'Breezy', David Lean’s movie 'A Passage to India', and Ismail Merchant's film 'Mystic Massure'. Other achievements He composed the music for Tapan Sinha’s movies – 'Aadmi aur Aurat' and 'Joturgriha', for which he bagged the 'Best Film Score' award by Bengal Film Journalist’s Association. He collaborated with Western musicians like John Barham, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Charles Lloyd, John Handy, Charlie Hadan, David Rosenboom, Alice Coltrane, Miroslav Tadic, Vinny Golia, Randy Gloss, Alfred ladzekpo, I Nyoman Wenten, Rachel Rudich, George Brooks, Emil Richards, Dallas Smith, Jorge Strunz, Ardeshir Farah, Don Pope, Tim Green, and the Philadelphia String Quartet. In 1989–90, Aashish Khan was appointed the prestigious post of Composer and Conductor for the national orchestra, Vadya Vrinda of AIR New Delhi, succeeding stalwarts like Pt Ravi Shankar and Pt Pannalal Ghosh. In 2003, along with performing worldwide, he also formed an Indo-jazz group in New Orleans called 'Shringar', to continue his contributions to world music and harmony of inter-cultural diversities. In 2002, he received the 'Fellowship Award' from the Illinois Arts Council, Chicag. In 2005, he bagged the Sangeet Natak Academy award from the President of India. In 2007, he earned a Grammy-award nomination for the traditional Indian classical music in 'world' category.