Amir Khan (singer)

Ustad Amir Khan (; 15 August 1912 – 13 February 1974) was one of the greatest and most influential Indian vocalists in the Hindustani classical tradition. He was the founder of the Indore gharana.

Early life and background

Amir Khan was born in a family of musicians in Kalanaur, India. His father, Shahmir Khan, a sarangi and veena player of the Bhendibazaar gharana, served at the court of the Holkars of Indore. His grandfather, Change Khan, was a singer in the court of Bahadurshah Zafar. Amir Ali's mother died when he was nine years old. He had a younger brother, Bashir, who went on to become a sarangi player at the Indore station of All India Radio.
He was initially trained in the sarangi by his father. However, seeing his interest in vocal music, his father gradually devoted more time to vocal training, focusing on the merukhand technique. Amir Khan was exposed at an early age to many different styles, since just about every musician who visited Indore would come to their house, and there would be mehfils at their place on a regular basis. He also learned the basics of tabla playing from one of his maternal uncles, who was a tabla player.

Amir Khan moved to Bombay in 1934, and there he gave a few concerts and cut about half a dozen 78-rpm records. These initial performances were not well received. Following his father's advice, in 1936 he joined the services of Maharaj Chakradhar Singh of Raigadh Sansthan in Madhya Pradesh. He performed at a music conference in Mirzapur on behalf of the Raja, with many illustrious musicians present, but he was hooted off the stage after only 15 minutes or so. The organizer suggested singing a thumri, but he refused, saying that his mind was never really inclined towards thumri. He stayed at Raigadh for only about a year. Amir Khan's father died in 1937. Later, Khansahib lived for some time in Delhi and Calcutta, but after the partition of India he moved back to Bombay.

Singing career

Amir Khan was a virtually self-taught musician. He developed his own ''gayaki'' (singing style), influenced by the styles of Abdul Waheed Khan (''vilambit'' tempo), Rajab Ali Khan ('' taans'') and Aman Ali Khan (merukhand). This unique style, known as the Indore Gharana, blends the spiritual flavour and grandeur of dhrupad with the ornate vividness of khyal. The style he evolved was a unique fusion of intellect and emotion, of technique and temperament, of talent and imagination. Unlike other artists he never made any concessions to popular tastes, but always stuck to his pure, almost puritanical, highbrow style.

Amir Khansahib had a rich baritone open-throated voice with a three-octave range. His voice had some limitations but he turned them fruitfully and effortlessly to his advantage. He presented an aesthetically detailed ''badhat'' (progression) in ''ati-vilambit laya'' (very slow tempo) using ''bol-alap'' with merukhandi patterns, followed by gradually speeding up "floating" '' sargams'' with various ornamentations, ''taans'' and ''bol-taans'' with complex and unpredictable movements and jumps while preserving the raga structure, and finally a ''madhyalaya'' or ''drut laya'' (medium or fast tempo) chhota khyal or a ruba'idar tarana. He helped popularize the tarana, as well as khyalnuma compositions in the Dari variant of Persian. While he was famous for his use of merukhand, he did not do a purely merukhandi ''alap'' but rather inserted merukhandi passages throughout his performance. He believed that practising ''gamak'' is essential to mastering singing.

Khansahib often used the ''taals'' Jhoomra and Ektaal, and generally preferred a simple ''theka'' (basic tabla strokes that define the ''taal'') from the tabla accompanist. Even though he had been trained in the sarangi, he generally performed khyals and taranas with only a six-stringed tanpura and tabla for accompaniment. Sometimes he had a subdued harmonium accompaniment, but he almost never used the sarangi.

While he could do traditional ''layakari'' (rhythmic play), including ''bol-baant'', which he has demonstrated in a few recordings, he generally favored a ''swara''-oriented and ''alap''-dominated style, and his ''layakari'' was generally more subtle. His performances had an understated elegance, reverence, restrained passion and an utter lack of showmanship that both moved and awed listeners.Amir Khan - Tribute to a Maestro
ITC Sangeet Research Academy website, Retrieved 20 August 2018 According to Kumarprasad Mukhopadhyay's book "The Lost World of Hindustani Music", Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
* use of kan swaras (acciaccatura) in all parts of performance
* controlled use of embellishments to preserve introspective quality
* rare use of tihai
* careful enunciation of text of bandish
* actual bandish as sung may or may not include antara
* multiple laya jatis in a single taanKhansahib demonstrated this in an interview with the tabla player Chatturlal
* mixture of taan types (including chhoot, sapaat, bal, sargam and bol-taan) in a single taan
* use of ruba'idar tarana (considered similar to chhota khyal)

Besides singing in concerts, Amir Khan also sang film songs in ragas, in a purely classical style, most notably for the films ''Baiju Bawra'', '' Shabaab'' and ''Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje''. This attempt to introduce classical music to the masses through films significantly boosted Khansahib's visibility and popularity. He also sang a ghazal ''Rahiye Ab Aisi Jagah'' for a documentary on Ghalib.

Khansahib's disciples include Amarnath, A. Kanan, Ajit Singh Paintal, Akhtar Sadmani, Amarjeet Kaur, Bhimsen Sharma, Gajendra Bakshi, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Kamal Bose, Kankana Banerjee, Mukund Goswami, Munir Khan, Pradyumna Kumud Mukherjee and Poorabi Mukherjee, Kamal Bandhopadhyay, Shankar Mazumdar, Shankarlal Mishra, Singh Brothers, Srikant Bakre and Thomas Ross. His style has also influenced many other singers and instrumentalists, including Bhimsen Joshi, Gokulotsavji Maharaj, Mahendra Toke, Prabha Atre, Rashid Khan, Ajoy Chakrabarty, Rasiklal Andharia, Sanhita Nandi, Shanti Sharma, Nikhil Banerjee, Pannalal Ghosh, the Imdadkhani gharana