Ustad Ali Akbar Khan`s latent talent was but hereditary, to have been born in such a gifted family. Trained under the watchful and severe tutelage of his highly disciplinarian father, Ustad Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar was at one time exasperated by such strictness. He fled to Bombay to try his luck in AIR Bombay, but was traced back home by his father. Few years later, he started showcasing his hidden talent, becoming the court musician of the King of Maihar. But, his first true achievement came when he was announced the court musician of the Maharaja of Jodhpur. His mastering the sarod and its every nuances wondrously complemented his jugalbandis along with Pt. Ravi Shankar, regarded the high-point of his billowing career. His raaga renditions like Bilaskhani Todi, Palas Kafi, Shree or Manj Khammaj are etched in the minds of everybody who were privileged enough to have heard it. And his frenzied alaap, jod, jhala or those spellbound meends possess the methodical precision and tuneful logic. His style of carrying the vilambit gats evokes a sense of sculptured beauty, plenty of them captured in recorded versions through umpteen albums.
Ali Akbar Khan, son of Ustad Allauddin Khan, needs little introduction for his name occupies an elevated position in the Hindustani music. He did for the sarod, what Ravi Shankar did for the sitar. Such epithets as `Emperor of Sarod` and `Bach of Indian Music` are distinguishing of the esteem that he enjoys in the West such that his name has become synonymous with the instrument.
Ali Akbar too, like Baba Allauddin Khan, grew up in an environment where swara, laya and raaga were as commonplace as breathing, eating and sleeping. Pointless to mention, he was trained by Baba from his tender years. He was taught dhrupad and dhammar first and the sarod from the age of nine. Baba was a ruthless disciplinarian and an uncompromising perfectionist as a teacher. He would lock up the young boy in a room and command him to practice for long years. Mistakes rarely went unpunished. Baba expected nothing short of perfection from his disciples.
Naturally enough, the young Ali Akbar began to fret when he was submitted to such harsh methods of instruction. On one such occasion, he fled from home at the dead of the night. He too, like his illustrious father, took to the streets and wandered about in search of music and a guru, though penniless and homeless. However, he managed to land up at the Bombay AIR and once during one of his musical airing, the Maharaja of Maihar chanced to hear it, and promptly informed the agonized Baba, who speedily reached Bombay and hauled his son back home. Baba though made his training session a bit less rigorous. The Maharaja also appointed Ali Akbar as his court musician. In no time, he began to scale the musical heights his father had in mind for him. From this point on there was no looking back. The first indication of the immense fame to follow came in his twenties, when he was appointed as court musician by the Maharaja of Jodhpur. Several honours and much wealth came his way ceaselessly from that point on.
Ali Akbar too, along with his father, joined Uday Shankar`s ballet troup and toured many countries in the West. Soon enough, Ravi Shyankar became his guru-bhai and later his brother-in-law. In the mid 1950s he started visiting the United States for long spells. After a while, sensing lucrative prospects there, he settled down in San Rafael, California and started a school of music there. During the 1960s and 1970s, both Ali Akbar and Ravi Shankar gave a number of jugalbandis at various places in the U.S., and in European countries. This partnership proved to be extremely fruitful while it lasted. The concept of jugalbandi received solidity and weight in the hands of these nearly matched instrumentalists, who shared similar ideas on music and could take it to new heights. Some of these jugalbandis were commercially recorded, especially their Hem Bihag, Sindhu Bhairavi, Bilaskhani Todi, Palas Kafi, Shree and Manj Khammaj. These recordings are truly great contributions to Indian music. One has only to listen to their Palas Kafi and Bilaskhani Todi to find out to find out how one instrumentalist complements and spurs the other - Ali Akbar`s masculine sarod and Ravi Shankar`s coy sitar, independently and together scaling the peaks of melody.
There is something honestly fascinating and traditional about Ali Akbar`s music. Though a lot less flamboyant, he made innumerable innovations to the instrument and the style of playing in a much quieter manner. His rigorous training under Baba, as also his own innovative additions, gives his alaaps the meticulous structure, the grand spaciousness and solemn depth, typical of dhrupad. One notices the predominance of the tantkari-ang in his alaaps. Yet, Ali Akbar does not hesitate to judiciously coalesce in the gayaki-ang into his alaaps and gats when required. His exquisite meends possess elegance, as they do precision. His jods and jhalas, while neither glitzy nor mechanical, display much spontaneity and melodic variety. Never for a moment does his sarod sound raspy and metallic in these fast sections. The sureness of the melodic touch is always palpable in his vilambit gats. In his slow section, one is amazed by his ability to switch from the middle octave string to the bass one and vice versa, while elaborating the numerous melodic possibilities without any straining after effect or loss of musicality. Ali Akbar`s command over rhythm is superb and, at times, even breathtaking, especially when he has someone with astounding gifts like Pt. Swapan Chowdhry as his percussionist.
Ali Akbar is a widely recorded artist. One has only to listen to some of the recordings that came out in the 1950s and the 1960s to appreciate the unequalled melodic variety he has at his command. Of these, his elaborate Bageshri Kanada, brought out by HMV, offers a complete picture of his classico-romantic approach both in alaap and gat sections. His expressive Malkauns, his lyrical Jaijaiwanti and his hauntingly devout Asavari are testimonies of a master sculptor of alluring sounds. One could also savour his Bairagi, Mian ki Todi, Bhoopal Todi and Nat Bhairav to get a clear sense of insightfulness with which he empowers these morning raagas. His penchant for bringing out the spiritual ambience of morning raagas is seen in his live recordings of Basant Mukhari and Jogiya, brought out by Chhanda Dhara. His AIR recordings of Darbari, Shri and Pilu, brought out by T-Series, show the splendour of deep introspective feeling. His poignant renditions of Sindhi Bhairavi and Misra Shivranjini create invigorating emotional reverberations, brimming with the implicative power of his deeply pondered art.
During the 1970s, following his explosive success in the west, Ali Akbar also went on to create a handful of raagas like Chandranandan, Medhavi, Lajwanti and Gauri Manjari. Of these, Chandranandan seems quiet popular among his students. In over three decades, Ali Akbar has made San Rafael his home as also the nucleus of all his musical activities. Here he trained a number of American disciples into the nuances of Hindustani instrumental music. Some of them, like Charles Capwell and Ken Zuckerman are well-known exponents of the sarod in the West. But, Ali Akbar Khan`s truly gifted disciples hail from India. Among them, his senior-most disciple, Sharan Rani was possibly one of the first woman to storm the male stronghold in a significant manner. His son, Ashish Khan has emerged as a truly worthy son of his illustrious father. Brij narayan, Rajeev Taranath and Pradeep Barot are also gifted players who trained under Ali Akbar Khan. The pioneer of the Hawaiian guitar, Pt. Brij Bhushan Kabra too was trained by Ali Akbar.
