Ali Akbar Khan

Ali Akbar Khan (1922-2009) was an Indian sarod player and composer of the Maihar gharana, trained from childhood by his father Allauddin Khan. He was among the first musicians to bring Hindustani classical music to Western audiences, starting with a 1955 visit to the United States at the invitation of Yehudi Menuhin. He later spent decades teaching in California, where he founded a branch of his Ali Akbar College of Music. Ali Akbar Khan was born in Shibpur, in present-day Bangladesh, and died in San Anselmo, California.