Last night while attending a concert by Irshad Khan I learned that Ustad Ali Akbar Khan had joined the Masters in the celestial realms...The world mourns another irreplaceable icon...
This one had the great fortune to see this legend at the Doverlane Music Conference through the great blessing of being in Kolkata (or as many locals say 'Cal'), India/Bharat with some great friends of family who had sponsored Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma. I remember that He had brought many of His students from California and it was a fantastic and unexpected jugalbundi of instruments and voices. Even then He was gravely ill and it was unsure if He would make it. He spoke for some thyme in a mixture of Hindi, Urdu and Bengali and said it would probably be the last thyme anyone would see Him at Doverlane...I remember many people crying after hearing this...thankfully there were several more years where the world would experience the Master live in concert...
We must now connect with this great devotee of Allah and Ma Saraswati through the lineage and the many recordings He has left for us...
"Real music is not for wealth, not for honours or even the joys of the mind... but as a path for realisation and salvation."
click on picture for Lp @ Magic of Juju
Radio Homage @ NPR
Here are some videos about His Father...the Great Ustad Baba Allauddin Khan...
