Singer of the sitar no more

Sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan died in Mumbai last night following prolonged illness.Suffering from diabetes and hyper-tension for...

Sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan died in Mumbai last night following prolonged illness.

Suffering from diabetes and hyper-tension for long, Khan was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and admitted to Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital on February 26 where he died at 11.25 pm last night. He is survived by two wives, sons Shujaat and Hidayat and daughters Yaman Khan and Zila Khan.

Khan belonged to a family of great sitarists including his father Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan and grandfather Imdad Hussain Khan. Both his sons, brother Imrat and nephew Rais Khan are accomplished sitar players.

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Vilayat Khan, who used to spend most of his time in his second home in New Jersey in the US, was born in 1928 in Gouripur, now in Bangladesh, and was initiated in music quite early in life. Since his father died early, he received most of his training from his maternal grandfather Ustad Bande Hussain Khan and maternal uncle Zinda Khan. His first recording was at the age of eight and he went on to achieve worldwide fame. He was probably the first Indian musician to go out of the country and perform in UK after Independence in 1951.

Considered by most music critics as the finest exponent of sitar the country has ever produced, Khan was credited with creating his own style of sitar play. Since he had a deep interest in Mughal music as well, he invented the gayaki (vocal) style in sitar playing to give the audience a sense of singing on sitar.

He was the only artiste to receive the title of ’Aftab-e-Sitar’ (the sun of sitar) from former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.