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Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Unwrapped

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan performing crossed-legged with his sarod

Dive back into history and take a new look at one of one of India’s national treasures, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, with his son Alam Khan.

Bringing gems from the archives of the Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) near San Francisco, established by his father, the legend Ustad Ali Akbar Khan in 1967, Alam Khan takes a look back on his father’s life and influence.

Ali Akbar Khan’s father, the late Acharya Baba Allauddin Khan, is also acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in North Indian music of the 20th century.  Their family traces its gharana (ancestral school of music) from Mian Tansen, a 16th Century musical genius and court musician, to Mohammed Wazir Khan, court musician of Rampur State and Baba Allauddin Khan’s guru.

Alam continues to follow his father's wishes as a teacher of advanced instrumental and vocal classes at the Ali Akbar College of Music and has dedicated his life to preserving, performing and teaching this music to the world.

Running times will be announced closer to the event

Presented by Darbar in association with Barbican

‘Real music is not for wealth, not for honors, or not even for the joys of the mind- it is one kind of yoga, a path for realisation and salvation to purify your mind and heart and give you longevity.‘
Ali Akbar Khan (1922 - 2009)

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