Chhote Rahimat Khan (born 1959), is a Hindustani classical

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

player of the Bande Ali Khan (beenkar) Gharana, taught by his father, Abdul Karim Khan, and grandfather, Ratna Rahimat Khan, as well as his older brothers. Rahimat Khan is the elder brother of Ustad Bale Khan and a young twin brother, Ustad Shafique Khan, Rafique Khan also a sitarist. Belonging to the seventh generation of musicians from

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

, he received the majority of his training from his father, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, although he has also benefited from the influence of his legendary grandfather, Sitar Ratna Rahimat Khan (born 1863). Ratna Rahimat Khan, a disciple of the great master, Ustad Bande Ali Khan, was a

rudra vina The ''Rudra veena'' ( sa, रुद्र वीणा) (also spelled ''Rudraveena'' or ''Rudra vina'')—also called ''Bīn'' in North India—is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani Music, especially dhrupad. It is one of the m ...

and

player who was responsible not only for modifying the three-string sitar to the seven-string instrument that we have today, but also for reunifying the instrumental khyal of the

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 ...

with the instrumental

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 ...

.Gwaliorworld.com: The Style of Gwalior Gharana
/ref> It is this inimitable legacy that gives his music a unique and distinctive colour, rarely experienced in modern music circles. His music is a sonorous blend of both Gayaki Ang, which aims to imitate the tonal nuance of the human voice on the instrument, and Tantakari Ang, the more traditional instrumental style played on the instrument.

Recognition and achievements

He secured second prize in the All India Radio Music Competition held in Dharwad in 1978, at the age of 19, and also won the first award in the preliminary and final round of the Yuva Sangeet Nrithya Mahotsav organized by the South Central Zone Cultural Centre at

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

on 6 October 1987. He is a regular artist on AIR Dharwad and AIR Panaji,

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

Music direction

He is also a music director. He scored music to ''Vadhachakra'', the first Marathi film of Goa, in 1992, and also to ''

Tulsi ''Ocimum tenuiflorum'', commonly known as holy basil, ''tulsi'' or ''tulasi'', is an aromatic perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and widespread as a cultivated plant throughout the Southeast Asian ...

'', a Konkani Tele Film, in 1994. He has also scored live music for one of

Kālidāsa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and t ...

’s plays, '' Abhidnyan Shakuntal'', staged by Prof. Kamalakar Sonatakke, on 16 and 17 December 2005.

Current position

Ustad Chhote Rahimat Khan has been the Head of the Sitar Faculty at Kala Academy in Goa for several years now, and has also given public performances in numerous festivals in Asia and in Europe. Besides many concerts in India, he has performed in the UK, Portugal, China, France, Finland, Malaysia and Singapore. He is a recognised 'Top' graded artist of the All India Radio.

References

External links

* Official Websit

* Other Websit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Chhote Rahimat 1959 births Living people Sitar players Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2019