THE GRAND TRADITION
‘ETAWAH’
GHARANA
DISCOGRAPHY
By Michael Kinnear
This ‘ETAWAH’ DISCOGRAPHY contains sound recordings only up until c. 1960. This is a limited ‘DISCOGRAPHY’ of the recordings made by the musicians.
Enayat Khan, Centre: Imdad Khan, Wahid Khan
(c. 1910, Calcutta)
KHAN FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE ‘ETAWAH’ GHARANA
ETAWAH
Etawah, is a city on the banks of Yamuna River in the state of Western Uttar Pradesh in India. Etawah is about 120 km east of Agra.
SAHABDAD KHAN
Dhrupad, Khayal, Sitar, Surbahar, Jaltarang
Sahabdad Khan was a court musician at the Naigaon Durbar (Sheopur District), just to the southwest of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. Sahabdad Khan is said to have developed the Surbahar (known as a base sitar) by modifying a Kachhwa-veena.
The Surbahar instrument is from the collection given to the V&A in 1890 by Rajah Sir Sourindro Mohun Tagore, a Bengali ethnomusicologist. He was the younger brother of the Maharaja Sir Jotindra Mohan Tagore. Imdad Khan was a staff musician in Maharaja Sir Jotindra Mohan Tagore’s service in Calcutta.
IMDAD HUSSAIN KHAN
[1848-1920]
Sitar
Photo Courtesy: Patrick Moutal Site – Indian Music
Imdad Khan was born in 1894 and lived at Etawah on the outskirts of Agra. Imdad Khan is considered one of the founders of Etawah Gharana (Imdadkhani Gharana) of Hindustani classical music. He was taught by his father, Sahabdad Khan on both the sitar and the surbahar and practiced in his youth at Etawah for quite some years before the family moved to Calcutta in [1904-05] where he and his family are said to have lived for several years in the house of Tara Prasanna Ghosh, in Bidon Street, North Calcutta. Imdad Khan is said to have also been employed at the court of Nawab Ali Shah, (living at Matiaburj, Calcutta). Imdad Khan was then as a staff musician in the service of Maharaja Sir Jotindra Mohan Tagore, and to have lived in Calcutta for 25 years. He then moved to Delhi for a time and then later was in the service of the Mysore Durbar [1910] and then moved to Indore – where he remained until his death in 1920.
Imdad Khan was the first sitar player to be recorded by The Gramophone & Typewriter, Ltd with recordings taken at Calcutta by the recording expert, William Sinkler Darby in late 1904 and released in 1905.
Quote from: ‘The Gramophone Company’s Indian Recordings, 1908-1910′
Page 36
“While in Madras, George Dillnutt the recording expert for The Gramophone Company Ltd. made a quick visit to Mysore in August 1910, to negotiate the recording of artistes there for 100 titles, including some recordings by Ustad Imdad Khan, the renowned Sitar player of Calcutta who was in Mysore at the request of His Highness the Maharajah of Mysore, Sri Krishnarajendra Wadayar, who also wanted recordings taken of his palace band and members of the Dramatic troupe attached to the palace, including Bidaram Krishnappa, a vocalist of great ability and wide renown.”
Imdad Khan was married to Bendo Bibi and had two sons; Enayat Khan [1894 – 1938], Wahid Khan [1895-1961] and four daughters, of which one was named Begum Bibi.
CHAIRMAN’S CHOICE Great Gharanas – Imdadkhani
Ustad Imdad Khan – Sitar
(9 selections – Recorded 1905, 1910)
Double Compact Disc .EMI 2CD CMC-1-82507-08 UK 1994
Double Cassette .HMV CMC 882507-08 India 1994
As consultant to and Project Supervisor of Indian Historical Recordings Project on behalf of The Gramophone Co. of India Ltd., Dum Dum, officiated at EMI Music Archives, Hayes, Michael Kinnear transferred the original Indian 78 rpm shellac records of Ustad Imdad Khan from the early 1900’s to Digital Audio Tape format. The CD series was released as the “CHAIRMAN’S CHOICE’ in 1994.
Gramophone Concert Record – 2622-h – 17364
-IMDAD KHAN – SOHANI KAWALI – Sitar
ENAYAT HUSSAIN KHAN
[1894-1938]
Sitar, Surbahar, Sursaptak
Enayat Khan was born in Calcutta in 1894 and was taught by his father, Imdad Khan on both the sitar and the surbahar. He later moved with his father to Indore, and stayed there following his father’s death in 1920, up to 1922. Enayat Khan then moved to Calcutta. He took a position at the court of Brajendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury, at Gauripur, Goalpura District, on the Gadadhar River, (Assam) formerly a part of the Mymensingh District, (now in Bangladesh). Enayat Khan also lived at Karaya Road, Calcutta in a house said to have been provided by Brajendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury.
Enayat Khan first had recordings taken at the Dum Dum Studios, of the Gramophone Company Ltd, in Calcutta in 1932 for ‘Megaphone’ Record and release as by ‘Professor Enayat Khan’. Enayat Khan died on 10th November, 1938.
Enayat Khan was married to Bashiran Begum, the daughter of Ustad Bande Hussain Khan of Saharanpur and had two sons; Vilayat Hussain Khan [28 August, 1928 – 13 March, 2004] and Imrat Hussain Khan [17th November, 1935-22 November, 2018 ], and three daughters; Nasiran Bibi; Safiran Bibi; Rahisan Bibi.
Megaphone – 0E-1525 JNG-25
Professor ENAYAT KHAN – Alap – BAGESHRI – SURBAHAR
WAHID HUSSAIN KHAN
[1895-1961]
Sitar, Surbahar, Been
Wahid Khan was born at Etawah in 1895. Later the family moved to Calcutta and lived in the house of the wealthy Taraprasad Ghosh where Imdad Khan trained his sons, with Wahid Khan specialising in the surbahar. Wahid Khan moved from Calcutta with his father, Imdad Khan and elder brother, Enayat Khan to Indore. Wahid Khan was appointed as the Court musician of the Maharaja Holkar of Indore where he lived for 18 years. He then moved back to Calcutta and later to Gauripur.
Wahid Khan first had recordings taken at the Bombay Studios of the Gramophone Company of India, Ltd., in September 1948 and released on the ‘His Master’s Voice’ label. Wahid Khan died in 1961.
Wahid Khan had two sons; Ustad Hafeez Khan (Babbu Khan) and Ustad Aziz Khan (Gunna Khan), and a daughter.
HMV – 0MR-756-1P N-15916
Khan Sahib WAHEED KHAN – Sitar Gat – TODI KHAMAJ – SITAR
VILAYAT KHAN
[1928-2004]
Sitar, Surbahar
Photo Courtesy: Namita Devidayal’s ‘The Sixth String of Vilayat Khan’
Vilayat Khan was born on 28 August, 1924, in Gouripur, Mymensingh in then East Bengal in British India and current Bangladesh. He moved to Calcutta during the 1930’s and later to Bombay. Vilayat Khan spent much of his life in Calcutta. He was married twice. Vilayat Khan’s first wife, Monisha Hazra was from Calcutta. He had three children from his first marriage: Yaman Khan, Sufi singer Zila Khan and sitarist Shujaat Khan (b. 1960). By his second marriage, Vilayat Khan had one son, Hidayat Khan (b. 1975). Vilayat Khan died on 13th March, 2004.
HMV – 0JW-3396 N-92575
Ustad VILAYAT KHAN, Mohammed Ahmed – Tabla Sitar Gat – SHAM KALYAN – Sitar
IMRAT KHAN
[1935 -2018]
Sitar, Surbahar
Imrat Khan was born in Calcutta on 17 November 1935. Imrat Khan’s father was also Enayat Khan (1894–1938). Enayat Khan died when Imrat was a child, so he was raised by his mother, Bashiran Begum and her father, singer Bande Hassan Khan. In 1944, the family moved with Vilayat Khan, Imrat’s older brother, to Bombay where both the brothers learned sitar-playing extensively from their uncle Wahid Khan. In 1952, Vilayat Khan and Imrat Khan moved in together in Calcutta and they performed together for many years. Imrat Khan died on 22 November, 2018.
HMV – 0JW-4091 N-92612
IMRAT KHAN – Sitar Gat – JHINJHOTI – SITAR
Photo: (c. 1910, Calcutta) – From left to right Ashiq Ali Khan, Enayat Khan, Imdad Khan, Wahid Khan, Sakhawat Hussain Khan