Ali Akbar Khan, famed Indian musician, teacher, dies at 88

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jun 19, 2009 | by Paul Liberatore

Ali Akbar Khan, one of the greatest North Indian classical musicians of all time, died Thursday night at the age of 88, according to sources close to the family.

Khan, a master of the sarod, a multi-stringed instrument, had been suffering from a chronic kidney ailment. He had been on dialysis and had been in declining health in recent months.

Called Khansahib by his followers, he founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Fairfax in 1968, later moving to San Rafael. No one from the school was immediately available to comment on his death.

One of the first teachers of Indian classical music in the West, Mr. Khan taught thousands of musicians at his school in Marin over the past 40 years.

He had 11 children and lived in San Anselmo with his wife, Mary.

Khan first visited the U.S. in 1955 to play at the Museum of Modern Art in New York at the invitation of violinist Yehudi Menuhin. He gave the first television performance of Indian music on Alistair Cooke's "Omnibus" show.

He began studying music with his master musician father, Allauddin Khan, when he was 3 years old.

A recipient of a MacArthur grant in 1991, Khan toured the world extensively in his performing career, playing at Carnegie Hall and the Newport Folk Festival, introducing Indian music to American audiences.

In a 1993 interview, Mr. Khan said, "I feel more at home here than in India. In India, most of my friends have died and many have become old. Here I know everyone."

Reach Paul Liberatore at liberatore@marinij.com.