The Senia-Maihar gharana is the sarod lineage of Hindustani instrumental music that Allauddin Khan founded at Maihar, a former princely state, in the early 20th century. Most sources treat it and the Maihar gharana as one school spanning several instruments. Allauddin Khan played and taught many instruments, yet gave his public recitals on the sarod. “Senia” names the Tansen line, which he joined as a disciple of Wazir Khan of Rampur. Ravi Shankar, a disciple of Allauddin Khan, called Wazir Khan a direct descendant of Tansen.

Allauddin Khan took up the sarod after hearing Ahmed Ali Khan in concert and studied with him, then went to Rampur to learn from Wazir Khan, a court musician there who played the been. He served Maharaja Brijnath Singh at Maihar as court musician and teacher until his death in 1972. Darbar dates the appointment to 1918 in one article and 1907 in its artist profile. Sources disagree on his birth year too: Banglapedia gives 1862, Darbar about 1862 and a 2012 Daily Star article 1881. Ravi Shankar wrote that nobody had kept a record of his age. Darbar's article also notes a Maihar tradition in the 19th century, before him, but names no earlier musician.

Darbar says Allauddin Khan leaned towards dhrupad and brought a dhrupad approach to the sarod, sitar, violin and bansuri. Banglapedia credits him with the right-hand stroke pattern diri diri in place of dara dara. The same encyclopedia records that his brother Ayet Ali Khan, who also trained under Wazir Khan, improved the sarod and the surbahar. Allauddin Khan created new ragas, and The Daily Star names Hemanta, Durgeshwari, Meghbahar and Prabhatkeli among them.

Allauddin Khan's son Ali Akbar Khan (1922-2009) trained under his father from childhood and became the line's leading sarod player. He first visited the United States in 1955, at Yehudi Menuhin's request, and founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta and later in California. The college calls its tradition the Seni Baba Allauddin gharana and tunes every instrument to C. Bahadur Khan, son of Ayet Ali Khan, learnt the sarod from his father, then from his uncle at Maihar. Banglapedia, The Daily Star and Darbar name Sharan Rani among Allauddin Khan's disciples. Ali Akbar Khan's sons Aashish Khan, Alam Khan and Manik Khan became sarod players, and Alam and Manik teach at the college.

Key exponents

  • Allauddin Khan (born 1862 or 1881, died 1972), founder, sarod player and teacher at Maihar
  • Ayet Ali Khan (1884-1967), the founder's brother, who improved the sarod and founded music colleges in Comilla and Brahmanbaria
  • Ali Akbar Khan (1922-2009), sarod, son of the founder and founder of the Ali Akbar College of Music
  • Bahadur Khan (1931-1979 in Banglapedia), sarod, nephew of the founder
  • Sharan Rani, disciple of Allauddin Khan
  • Aashish Khan, sarod, grandson and disciple of the founder
  • Alam Khan, sarod, son of Ali Akbar Khan and teacher at the Ali Akbar College of Music

Sources

  • Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, entries on Alauddin Khan, Ayet Ali Khan, Bahadur Hossain Khan and Ali Akbar Khan
  • Ravi Shankar, My Music, My Life (1968), excerpt on Allauddin Khan held by the Vijaya Parrikar Library
  • Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust, article and artist profile on Allauddin Khan
  • The Daily Star, Dhaka, articles on Allauddin Khan (2012)
  • Gale, Contemporary Musicians and Encyclopedia of India, entries on Ali Akbar Khan
  • Ali Akbar College of Music, San Rafael, About, Our Lineage and Faculty pages
Sign in to follow