Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan (19 August 1908 – 18 February 2016) was an Indian vocalist of
Hindustani music
Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sit ...
.
Apart from
khayal
Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian/Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with romantic poetry, and allows the perfor ...
, he performed
dhrupad
Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music, Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampraday and also related to the South Ind ...
,
dhamar and
thumri
Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dra ...
.
, he is the oldest person to have been conferred a
Padma award.
Early life
Abdul Rashid Khan was born in a family of musicians tracing back to Behram Khan, who was a singer of traditional
Gwalior gharana
The Gwalior Gharana (Gwalior school of classical music) is one of the oldest Khyal Gharana in Indian classical music. The rise of the Gwalior Gharana started with the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542–1605).
The favourite singers of t ...
gayaki. He received his initial training from his father's elder brother Bade Yusuf Khan and from his father Chhote Yusuf Khan.
This was followed by extensive musical training from his family elders like Chand Khan, Barkhudar Khan and Mahtab Khan who taught him the Gwalior Gayaki. He further developed this style suiting his own artistic sensitivity. He was a descendant of
Tansen
Tansen ( – 26 April 1589), also referred to and commonly known as Sangeet Samrat () , was a Hindustani classical musician. Born in a Hindu Gaur Brahmin family, he learnt and perfected his art in the northwest region of modern Madhya Pra ...
, a renowned singer who was one of the nine gems in the court of
Akbar the Great
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
during the sixteenth century.
[
]
Career
Abdul Rashid Khan's traditional compositions have been recorded by the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and Iraq Radio. Organizations like
have recorded and preserved many of his compositions. For several decades, he was a regular performer on
. Khan participated in many national and regional conferences like Sadarang Conference, Godrej Conference, Lucknow Mahotsav, Dover Lance Conference, ITC Sangeet Sammelan,
Sangeet Sammelan all over India. He has been felicitated by critics, fellow artists and many reputed recognized institutions like Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Academy (1981),
(1993), Eastern Zone cultural center and Press Club Kolkata.
Abdul Rashid Khan composed over 2000 compositions over his lifetime and was also a prolific writer and poet under the pseudonym "Rasan Piya". Many compositions (
) that he sang were his own creations. He trained numerous students in his lifetime and became regarded as a "guru" at the
, Kolkata.