Just read on the Net that sarod legend Ustad Ali Akbar Khan passed away this morning after a prolonged illness. He was 87. This is indeed a terrible loss to Indian classical music. Besides being a master of his instrument, the soft-soken Khansaab has played a phenomenal role in popularising Indian music in the west. Such was his charisma that many foreign musicians converted to the sarod and sitar after hearing him and enrolling in the various institutes he started in the US and in Basel, Switzerland.
While both his solo performances and his jugalbandis with Ravi Shankar have been hailed worldwide, one of the landmarks of his career was his rendition of raag Chandranandan - whose progression he is believed to have created impromptu. May his soul rest in peace.
I must also add that I am shocked and disturbed to read some of the comments made by readers in rediff.com in reaction to this tragic event. It just shows how culturally insensitive a large section of people are.

Oh, thats indeed a big loss.
May his soul rest in peace !!!

Quoting Narendra Kusnur ji:

sarod legend Ustad Ali Akbar Khan passed away this morning after a prolonged illness. He was 87. This is indeed a terrible loss to Indian classical music. Besides being a master of his instrument, the soft-soken Khansaab has played a phenomenal role in popularising Indian music in the west. Such was his charisma that many foreign musicians converted to the sarod and sitar after hearing him and enrolling in the various institutes he started in the US and in Basel, Switzerland.
While both his solo performances and his jugalbandis with Ravi Shankar have been hailed worldwide, one of the landmarks of his career was his rendition of raag Chandranandan - whose progression he is believed to have created impromptu. May his soul rest in peace.
I must also add that I am shocked and disturbed to read some of the comments made by readers in rediff.com in reaction to this tragic event. It just shows how culturally insensitive a large section of people are.

I read about the news on panchamfanclub site, since he was teacher of Pancham.

But indeed disturbing to read many comments on rediff, this clearly indicates towards a society on decline:

http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/jun/ ... s-away.htm

Yes indeed, Khansaab was a guru to Pancham. Another related fact is that in the mid 90s he collaborated with Asha Bhosle to release the album Legacy which contained traditional Indian compositions. I had heard the tape then, but have not seen the CD in stores recently. Amazon has some details of the album, in the following link

http://www.amazon.com/Legacy-16th-18th- ... B0000057R6

This is his homepage, may his soul rest in peace:

http://www.ammp.com/aak.html

RIP!

I am really shocked reading this early in the morning.. May his soul rest in peace..

A shocking news indeed and the fact that Indian newspapers gave almost zilch coverage to this is as shocking! A sorry state of affairs indeed!
RIP Ustadji ...