Ustad Sultan Khan

Born in the year 1940 into a historic Family of classical musicians in Sikar , Rajasthan , India, Ustad Sultan Khan became the most successful musician from this Family. Khansahib was considerate to take as s student at the request of his personal friend and concert producer , Mr Jay Visvadev – Chief Executive Officer of ‘SAMA ARTS.

Mr Visvadev has been been hailed by the Times of London as the leading concert producer over the past 50 years in Britain.

Ustad Sultan Khansahibs chosen instrument was that of his Family the Sarangi. It being te most difficult of all instruments, the Ustad as a young boy , became intensely attracted to it. His Brothers , Ustad Niaz Khan and Ustad Nasir Khan chose to be accomplished in the Sitar. All 3 Brothers received their training from their Father , Ustad Gulab Khan.

The exceptional skill developed by Khansahib led him , now as a solo sarangi artiste. He took up the post of a radio artiste at Rajkot Radio.

The Ustad was invited by the Noble Mangeshker Family to Mumbai and thereby entering the film industry and playing with the finest artistes for a period of 4 decades. Khansahib also became associated with fellow great classical artistes. As a classical artiste , Khansahib became one of the most successful classical musicians in India. In 1974 Khansahib was chosen by Pt Ravi Shankar and George Harrison for the Dark Horse tour to Britain. During this tour Khansahib played at the Royal Albert Hall, along with the other artistes who formed the Tour. This tour and its success led to Khansahib forming musical associations internationally.

This led to a period of 30 years of concerting internationally with the best artistes in Europe, USA , Canada, and India. Khansahib also played at the White House, the Parliament in Britain, for Prince Charles at Highgrove. In addition to playing the Sarangi on film soundtracks, Khansahib also collaborated with Hollywood producers for films such as ‘ Heat and Dust ‘ , ‘ Room with a view’ , and later worked for another Hollywood Producer, Mr Ismail Merchant’s. This was for the compositions of a TV documentary ” the street musicians of Bombay.’

Khansahib , together with Ustad Zakir Hussain Quteshi were asked to produce the soundtrack of the Ismail Merchant classic – ” In Custody” (1992).

In fact , the association between the above 2 masters led to enormous success for them. They concerted throughout the world and one of their many brilliant concerts was at the Houses of Parliament in London in 1993. Here the entire British parliament was held in awe of the music of the 2 master musicisns. The lead artiste at this recital was Ustad Allah Rakha Qureshi.

Khansahib continued with his concerting and recording in India and abroad. It was in India in the late 1990s that Khansahib burst onto the bollywood film world , as a Singer. His song ” piya basanti re ” became an international hit song. This was followed by so many other great songs, such as ” albela sajan..” and many many more. On 2009 Khansahib was awarded the ” Padma Bhushan award from the Government of India. It was in 2011 that Khansahib passed away in Mumbai after a long illness. He was buried in Jodhpur Rajasthan, his place of Birth.

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