Mumbai: Renowned sarangi player and classical singer, Ustad Sultan Khan passed away in Mumbai on Sunday. He was one of the members of the Indian fusion group Tabla Beat Science, with Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell.
Ustad Sultan Khan awarded the Padma Bhushan, India`s third highest civilian honor, in 2010. Khan gave his first performance at the All-India Conference at the age of 11, and has performed on an international scale with Ravi Shankar on George Harrison`s 1974 Dark Horse World Tour.
He has won numerous musical awards including, twice, the Sangeet Natya Academy Award, also known as the President`s Award, as well as the Gold Medalist Award of Maharashtra and the American Academy of Artists Award in 1998. In 1997 he was requested to perform at Prince Charles 50th birthday celebrations.
Khan has taught music producers such as Sukshinder Shinda and Ram Gopal Varma (who provided the music for his film, Deyyam) to play the sarangi. Belonging to the Indore Gharana, Khan performs sarangi and sings. He has many students but few gandhabandha disciples (notables are Anand Vyas and Ikram Khan). He is also the teacher of Deeyah, a Norwegian born singer, and he performed on her debut album I Alt Slags Lys in 1992.