Ustad Ali Akbar Khan passed away

[shaad]

I am sorry to report that the sarod virtuoso, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, died from renal failure on June 18, 2009.

For those of us who enjoyed the performances of one the greatest sarod players of our time, this is quite a loss. May his soul rest in peace.

[bujhee kom]

Inna Lillahe....Rajeun!
Rest in peace the great Ustaad!

[ammark]

Truly a great loss. He was a true maestro. May he rest in peace.

[One World]

Mr. Khan was a virtuoso of the sarod, a 25-string instrument in the lute family. His chosen musical genre is based in part on the concept of the raga, which consists of improvised music based on a variety of scales. From these scales, or permutations of them, Indian musicians follow traditional forms but add their own inflections and feeling.
The late American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who became one of his earliest champions in the West, said he considered Mr. Khan "an absolute genius, the greatest musician in the world."

In 1971, a civil war transformed Mr. Khan's homeland, called East Pakistan at the time, into the independent country of Bangladesh. The war created an immense humanitarian crisis among the already poor population. Former Beatles guitarist George Harrison, a student and performer of Indian music, assembled a number of musicians for a relief benefit concert held at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Mr. Khan and Shankar, whose divorce from Mr. Khan's sister strained their relationship, performed at the Concert for Bangladesh with musicians including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr. An album and film of the concert were later released.
In an interview many years later, Mr. Khan said he had bad memories of the Madison Square Garden event. "That was not music but I'd say a war of music," he told Reuters in 2007, adding at one point he stuffed toilet paper in his ears to block out the noise.

Oh it was a great find to learn that Menhuin was one of his biggest admirers. My respectful condolences to this loss which is nothing worthy of.

[Navarene]

I had the honor to have the opportunity to watch ustadji playing live at Wiener Stadthalle (Vienese State Opera), one of the prestigeous opera halls in the world. It was magical. I was hippoptamusly happy and elephantastically proud for being a part of the audience!

[revolver]

inna lillahi wa nillalhi rajeoon

[uss01]

So was he Indian or Bangladeshi or both? Looks like he was an urdu speaker, family originally from Madhya Pradesh.