Amir Khan Biography In English Pdf Life Story 1912 – 1974

Amir Khan Biography In English

Birth Details –

Place – Kalanaur, India

Date of Birth – August 1912

Marital Status – Married

Nationality – Indian

Family –

Father- Shahmir Khan

Brother – Basheer

Wives – Zeenat, Munni Bai, Raisa Begum

Daughter – Farida

Son- Haider Aamir, Akram Ahmed

Teacher – Shahmir Khan

Early Life –

• Amir Khan was born in Kalanaur, India to a family of musicians.
• His father, Shahmir Khan, was a sarangi and veena player from the Bhindibazar Gharana, who served in Holkar’s court.
• His grandfather Changhe Khan was a singer in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar. Amir Ali’s mother died when he was nine years old.
• He had a younger brother, Bashir, who later became a sarangi player at the Indore station of All India Radio.
• He was initially trained in Sarangi by his father. However, noticing her interest in vocal music, her father gradually devoted more time to vocal training, focusing on the Merukhand technique.

Personal life

• Aamir Khan’s first marriage was with Zeenat, sister of sitar maestro Vilayat Khan. From this marriage, which eventually failed and ended in separation, they had a daughter, Farida.
• His second marriage was to Munni Bai, with whom he had a son, Akram Ahmed.
• Around 1965, Khansaheb married Raisa Begum, daughter of Thumri singer Mushtari Begum of Agra.
• He hoped that Munni Begum would accept a third wife; However, Munni goes missing and it is rumored that she has committed suicide.
• He had a son with Raisa, Haider Amir, later known as Shahbaz Khan.
• Khansahib died in a car accident in Calcutta on 13 February 1974 at the age of 61, and was buried at Gobra Kabristan in Calcutta.

Career –

• In 1934, Amir Khan moved to Bombay, and gave a few concerts there.
• These initial showings were not well received. Following his father’s advice, in 1936 he joined the services of Maharaja Chakradhar Singh of the Raigad Institute in Madhya Pradesh.
• He performed at a music conference in Mirzapur on behalf of Raja, in which many famous musicians were present, but after about 15 minutes he was removed from the stage.
• The organizer suggested singing Thumri, but he refused saying that his mind had never really turned to Thumri.
• He stayed in Raigarh for about a year only. Amir Khan’s father died in 1937. Later, Khan Sahib lived in Delhi and Calcutta for some time, but after the partition of India, he went back to Bombay.
• Aamir Khan was virtually a self-taught musician. He developed his gayaki (singing style) influenced by the styles of Abdul Waheed Khan (delayed tempo), Rajab Ali Khan (Tance) and Aman Ali Khan (Merukhand).
• This unique style, known as Indore Gharana, blends the spiritual flavor and grandeur of Dhrupad with the ornate vibrancy of Khayal.
• Amir Khansahib had a rich baritone open-throated voice with a three-octave range.
• Khansahib often used taal jhumra and ektal, and generally preferred a simple theka (the basic tabla stroke that defines the taal) from the tabla accompanist.
• Even though he was trained in Sarangi, he performed Khayal and Tarana with only six-stringed Tanpura and Tabla for accompaniment.
• Sometimes he had a subdued harmonium accompaniment, but he almost never used the sarangi.
• There was an understated elegance, reverence, restrained passion and lack of pretentiousness in his performance that both impressed and astonished the audience.
• According to Kumarprasad Mukhopadhyay’s book “The Lost World of Hindustani Music”, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan’s music was extroverted, upbeat and a crowd puller, while Aamir Khan’s music was introverted, iconic durbar style.
• Amir Khansahib believed that poetry was important in khayal compositions, and with his pen name, Sur Rang (“color in tone”), he left many compositions.

Research in the field of Tarana –

Ustad Amir Khan devoted a major part of his musical career to the study of taranas. In his research, he found that the words used in Tarana come from Persian and Arabic languages.

In one of his research articles, he explained their meaning as follows:

• Tanan Dar Aa – Enter my body.
• Dani – He knows
• Tu Dani – You know.
• Na dir dānī – You are fully knowledgeable.
• Tom – I’m yours, I’m yours.
• Yala – Ya Allah
• Yali – Ya Ali

In another interview, he also explained the meaning of the following syllables:-

• Dar – inside, inside (within)
• Dara – come in (come in or come in)
• Darton-tanke aandar (inside the body)
• Tanandra – Tanke Aandar Aa (Come inside the body)
• Tom – I am you (I am you)
• Nadirdani – Tu Sabse Janata Hai (You know more than anyone else)
• Tandardani – Tanke Andarka Jananewala (One who knows what is inside the body)

Awards –

Other Information –

Death date – 13 February 1974

Place – Calcutta , India.

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