• darkblurbg
  • darkblurbg

About Naman Sajan Piya

Padmabhushan Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan (1905-1993) was a musician of musicians and one of the greatest ustads of the 20th century.  Born in the Atrauli khandan and rigorously groomed by the legendary stalwarts of the Agra and Atrauli gharanas, primarily Kallan Khan (1835-1925) of Agra and Mehboob Khan 'Daras Piya' (1845-1922) of Atrauli, he is one of the direct causes of the merger of the two gharanas which is now known as the Agra-Atrauli gharana.  Since he was trained in the early decades of the last century, the music imbibed by him came directly from the 19th century in its pristine and authentic form.

A virtual ocean of musical vidya, he made vidya daan his mission in life. He has trained innumerable disciples in Mumbai for over six decades, many of whom have achieved name and fame both in India and abroad.  They are propagating far and wide the great legacy so faithfully and lovingly handed down by the ustad, and in turn, so are their disciples. 

A traditionalist to the core and a stickler for purity and aesthetic delineation of ragas, he made sure that his disciples also imbibed this quality in their renditions.

Padmabhushan Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan had an uncanny knack of composing beautiful madhyalaya and vilambit compositions in both common and aprachalit ragas of both the Agra and Atrauli gharanas, which display a delightful interplay of sur, bol and laya, at the same time meticulously maintaining the purity of the ragas

It was felt that the rich legacy left behind by the great ustad should be made available not only to the disciples of the gharana, but to all musicians and music lovers not just in India but all over the world. 

The ustad's prominent and favourite disciple Vidushi Lalith J Rao and her talented disciples have achieved this objective by bringing out this compendium of the ustad's compositions, which the Shankar Mahadevan Academy has kindly agreed to put on their website which has a worldwide reach.  This compendium consists of compositions faithfully and beautifully rendered by the disciples, along with excerpts of live recordings of a few of the compositions performed by Lalith J Rao herself in public concerts.