Personality: Ustad Vilayat Khan had developed his own distinct style in sitar playing

Internationally renowned sitar player Ustad Vilayat Khan was born on August 28, 1928 in a musician family at a place called Gauripur in the then East Bengal. This great sitar player was affected by lung cancer. For its treatment, he was admitted to “Jaslok Hospital” in Mumbai. It was here that he took the last breath of his life. He died on March 13, 2004.

For his special contribution in the field of sitar playing and music, Vilayat Khan was awarded “Padma Shri” in 1964 and “Padma Vibhushan” in 1968, but he said that the Government of India did not give proper respect to his contribution to Hindustani classical music. Did, declined both honours. Vilayat Khan had developed his own distinct style of sitar playing, the Gayaki style, in which the audience felt like singing. In sitar playing, music comes directly from the soul and good music conveys its message to the world without saying anything. He had developed his own distinct style in playing sitar. Along with the musical skills in sitar playing, there is a clear glimpse of the singing ability. An artist, who is not only maintaining the legacy of so many generations but is also adding a lot to it, gets angry when his country ignores his ability.

He was the first person from independent India to go to England and present a musical programme. Good music conveys its message to the world without saying anything. Not only did he connect the playing of the sitar with the singing organ, but he also made many such changes in the notes of the sitar, after which this instrument is now seen in a new avatar. Now when the sitar is played, it seems as if someone is singing. Vilayat Khan developed a different singing style of sitar playing, in which the listeners feel the singing of clear syllables.