Padma Vibhushan Ustad Amjad Ali Khan

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is highly revered as one of the greatest sarod players in the history of Indian classical music. The sixth generation of the illustrious Bangash lineage of the Senia Bangash Gharana, a family that claims to have invented the sarod, he was born Masoom Ali Khan to the legendary court musician Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan. His name was later changed to Amjad by a sadhu. He received his early training entirely under his father, performing publicly on the sarod from an age as young as six, and gave his first major solo recital at the age of twelve.

Over a career spanning more than six decades, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan transformed the way the sarod is played and perceived globally. He pioneered the technique of using fingernails instead of fingertips to produce a distinctive, ringing clarity of tone, and composed numerous original ragas, including Kiran Ranjani, Shivanjali, Haripriya Kanada, Amiri Todi, and Bapukauns. He first performed in the United States in 1963 and has since taken Indian classical music to concert stages across the world, collaborating with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, guitarist Charley Byrd, and other international artists. The U.S. state of Massachusetts proclaimed 20 April as Amjad Ali Khan Day in 1984; he was also made an honorary citizen of Houston, Nashville, and Tulsa. He has been appointed UNICEF's National Ambassador and received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of York, Delhi University, Rabindra Bharati University, and Visva-Bharati (Shantiniketan).

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's sons, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, are both internationally acclaimed sarod players trained entirely by him, and they regularly perform together as a trio, most notably at the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Concert. He has been the recipient of all three of India's Padma civilian honours: the Padma Shri (1975), Padma Bhushan (1991), and Padma Vibhushan (2001), in addition to the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1989), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (2011), the UNESCO Award (1970), the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize (2004), the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum, and the 21st Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award. A 1990 documentary film on him, directed by Gulzar, won the Filmfare Award for Best Documentary.