Ustad Sultan Khan

Sultan Khan
Sultan Khan in 2009
Background information
Born	15 April 1940 Sikar, Rajasthan, India
Died	27 November 2011 (aged 71) Mumbai, India
Genres	Hindustani classical music
Instruments	Sarangi
Associated acts	Tabla Beat Science, Zakir Hussain

Ustad Sultan Khan (15 April 1940 – 27 November 2011) was an Indian sarangi player and Classical vocalist belonging to Sikar Gharana. He was one of the members of the Indian fusion group Tabla Beat Science, with Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor, in 2010.

Sultan Khan was born in Sikar, Rajasthan, the princely state of in the Indian Empire. He learned sarangi from his father Ustad Gulab Khan.

He started his career at the radio station Rajkot in Gujarat as a 20-year-old boy. After having spent eight years in Rajkot very happily, he got a chance to play with Lata Mangeshkar during her visit to Rajkot. This proved a turning point for him. Thereafter he was transferred to the Mumbai radio station. Having joined the Mumbai radio he was not only deeply involved with the Mumbai classical music circuit but also with film industry music.

He gave his first performance at the All-India Conference at the age of eleven, 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 Natak Akademi 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.

He has had the good fortune of accompanying all the great Maestros like Ustad Amir Khan, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Pt.Omkarnath Thakur, Ustad Nazakat ali-Salamat ali khan, Kishori Amonkar are the name to few. He is acknowledged both as a Sarangi player and a vocalist & has several albums to his credit.