# Enayat Khan > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Enayat_Khan > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Enayat_Khan.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enayat_Khan > Source revision: 1350347137 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Musician sitar player (1894-1938)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}} {{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Ustad Enayat Khan | image = | alt = | caption = Enayat Khan with surbahar – in his day, the more prestigious instrument | birth_name = | birth_date = 1894 | birth_place = [North-Western Provinces](/source/North-Western_Provinces), [British India](/source/British_India) | death_date = 1938 (aged 43) | death_place = [Calcutta](/source/Calcutta) | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = [Sitar](/source/Sitar) player, Classical music performer }} Ustad '''Enayat Khan''' ({{langx|ur| عنایت خان }}; (1894–1938) also known as '''Nath Singh''' was one of [India](/source/India)'s most influential [sitar](/source/sitar) and [surbahar](/source/surbahar) players in the first decades of the 20th century. He was the father of [Vilayat Khan](/source/Vilayat_Khan), one of the top sitariyas (sitar players) of the postwar period.{{cite news |title= Master of technique, creator of own style & sitar (obituary and profile of Vilayat Khan plus info on his teacher/father Enayat Khan)|author=Nilaksha Gupta |url= http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040315/asp/nation/story_3005855.asp|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040501001436/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040315/asp/nation/story_3005855.asp|url-status= dead|archive-date= 1 May 2004|newspaper=The Telegraph (India newspaper)|date=15 March 2004|access-date=28 December 2023}}{{cite web|url=http://www.itcsra.org/tribute.asp?id=20 |url-status=dead|title=Tribute to a Maestro - Inayat Khan|website=ITC Sangeet Research Academy website|archive-date=6 June 2012|access-date=28 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606195630/http://www.itcsra.org/tribute.asp?id=20}} ==Early life== Enayat Khan was born in 1894 in the [North-Western Provinces](/source/North-Western_Provinces), [British India](/source/British_India) into a family of musicians.{{ref|Rajput}} His father was the great sitar maestro [Imdad Khan](/source/Imdad_Khan), who taught him the sitar and surbahar (bass sitar) in the family style, known as the [Imdadkhani Gharana](/source/Imdadkhani_Gharana) or [Etawah Gharana](/source/Etawah_Gharana) (music school origin),{{cite news |title= Seven strings to the rainbow|author=Amrita Dasgupta|url= http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article495275.ece|newspaper= The Hindu newspaper|date=1 July 2010 |access-date=28 December 2023}} named after a small village near [Agra](/source/Agra) called [Etawah](/source/Etawah). He married Bashiran Begum, daughter of [khyal](/source/khyal) singer Bande Hussain. ==Performing career== He settled with his family in [Calcutta](/source/Calcutta), where, though he only lived to age 43, he did much pioneering work on the sitar. He developed the 'gayaki ang' further that his father [Imdad Khan](/source/Imdad_Khan) had taught him, in sitar playing. He gave a new dimension to the crafting and making of the sitar. For example, he standardized its physical dimensions and added the upper resonator gourd, which is very popular with today's players (though his own descendants have not been using it). His improvements in sitar playing made the sitar much more popular among mass audiences.
"True, Vilayat Khan did not play the rapid-fire multi-stroke 'taan-toda' in which his father (Enayat Khan) excelled; but it can be conjectured with a fair amount of certainty that this was because he did not want to enter an area already developed to the hilt by Ustad Enayat Khan."
"No other instrumentalist in his time had such depth, mastery, knowledge, and the ability to organize and systemize the instrumental style."
In a place rapidly developing into an important North Indian centre of the arts, at a time when interest in national culture was strong, fueled by the struggle for independence, he brought sitar music out from its narrow connoisseur circles to new mass audiences. [Nobel](/source/Nobel_Prize) laureate [Rabindranath Tagore](/source/Rabindranath_Tagore) was a musical collaborator and personal friend. Some of Enayat Khan's recordings have been released on CD, on the ''Great Gharanas: Imdadkhani'' compilation in RPG/[EMI](/source/EMI)'s ''Chairman's Choice'' series.[https://www.swarganga.org/artist_details.php?id=221 Profile of Enayat Khan on SwarGanga Music Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008192627/https://www.swarganga.org/artist_details.php?id=221 |date=8 October 2024 }} Retrieved 28 December 2023 ==Death== Enayat Khan died young at age 43 in 1938, with four children. His two sons, noted sitar player [Vilayat Khan](/source/Vilayat_Khan) (1928-2004){{cite news |title= The master of sitar is no more|url= http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/mar/14ustad2.htm|newspaper= Rediff News|date=15 March 2004|accessdate=2 January 2019}} and [Imrat](/source/Imrat_Khan), were trained in the [Imdadkhani gharana](/source/Imdadkhani_gharana) style by other members of his extended family. Vilayat learned the sitar and Imrat the surbahar; both were to become very famous classical musicians later. ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Enayat}} Category:1890s births Category:1938 deaths Category:Etawah gharana Category:Hindustani musicians Category:20th-century Indian male classical singers Category:Indian sitar players Category:Pupils of Imdad Khan --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Enayat Khan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enayat_Khan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enayat_Khan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.