About

I’ve been playing the Esraj for six years now. Not that long in the grand scheme of things, but long enough to fall completely in love with this rare instrument and realize how much of its story is at risk of being lost.

Here’s the thing – I’m not just any Esraj player. I’m the grandson of Ustad Allauddin Khan. Yeah, that Ustad Allauddin Khan. The one who brought Esraj into ghazal, who accompanied legends like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan, and Jagjit Singh. The one who spent 60 years proving this rare instrument of India belonged everywhere.

That’s a heavy legacy to carry. But it’s also a privilege.

Learning from the Best

My guru is Ustad Arshad Khan – my uncle and one of the finest Esraj players alive today. Learning from him means I’m not just learning technique. I’m learning family history, musical philosophy, the weight of keeping a tradition alive.

But I’ve also been guided by my father, Ustad Amjad Khan. His knowledge, his approach, his understanding of music – all of that is infused in how I play and think about the Esraj.

Growing up in this family, watching Ustad Arshad Khan accompany everyone from Shreya Ghoshal to Shankar Mahadevan, seeing his Esraj in Bollywood films and MTV shows – I understood early on that this instrument could go anywhere if you believed in it enough.