Ali Akbar Khan

Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 1922 – 18 June 2009) was an Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana and one of the foremost exponents of the sarod. Renowned for his virtuosity, melodic invention, and the emotional depth and intensity of his playing, Khan was among the most celebrated Indian classical musicians of the twentieth century. Trained from childhood by his father, Allauddin Khan, he inherited the musical tradition of the Maihar gharana and became its leading sarod virtuoso. Violinist Yehudi Menuhin described him as "an absolute genius" and "the greatest musician in the world".

Khan belonged to a remarkable musical family formed around his father, Allauddin Khan. His younger sister, Annapurna Devi, became a celebrated master of the surbahar and was the only known female maestro of the instrument in the twentieth century. Although she withdrew from public performance in the 1950s despite the high regard in which her playing was held, she remained an influential musician and teacher whose students included Nikhil Banerjee and Hariprasad Chaurasia.

Khan's playing combined formidable technique with an austere, deeply expressive style. Rather than relying on outward display, he was noted for drawing extraordinary intensity, emotional depth, and tonal color from individual notes and simple melodic passages. His improvisations were distinguished by their melodic inventiveness and by an exceptional command of the expressive possibilities of the sarod. He also composed numerous classical ragas and film scores.

Source: Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Akbar_Khan