Music maestro Ustad Rashid Khan passes away

Ustad Rashid Khan, the renowned music maestro, passed away on Tuesday (January 9) while receiving treatment in a Kolkata hospital for prostate cancer. The 55-year-old artist required oxygen support and was on a ventilator.

According to a staff member at the hospital where Ustad Rashid Khan was admitted, they made every effort but were unsuccessful. He passed away at approximately 3:45 PM.

The musician suffered a cerebrovascular accident last month, which resulted in a decline in his health. The 55-year-old musician from Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana first sought care at Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital. At a later date, though, he decided to receive his treatment only in Kolkata. Sources claim that Khan was initially reacting favorably to the treatment.

Rashid Khan, born in Uttar Pradesh and nephew of Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, was trained initially by his maternal grand-uncle, Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan (1909–1993).

His uncle Ghulam Mustafa Khan, who gave him his first training in Mumbai, was the one who first noticed his musical abilities. On the other hand, Nissar Hussain Khan provided the main training, first at his Badayun home.

Rashid Khan made his stage debut at the age of eleven, and the following year, 1978, he performed at an ITC concert in Delhi. After this, in April 1980, Rashid Khan, then 14 years old, enrolled in the ITC Sangeet Research Academy (SRA) in Calcutta upon Nissar Hussain Khan’s transfer.

Khan experimented with fusing lighter musical genres with classical Hindustani music and performed in concerts with Western instrumentalist Louis Banks. He also demonstrated his versatility by taking part in jugalbandis, where he performed on stage alongside other musicians and sitarist Shahid Parvez.