Ali Akbar Khan

Born in 1922 in Shibpore, East Bengal, now Bangladesh, as son of the legendary Acharya Baba [a2760667]; died at 87 at his home in San Francisco on June 18, 2009, having suffered four years of kidney-related illness. His vocal training began at 3 and, after studying the surbahar, sitar and tabla, focused on the sarod. Ali Akbar Khan was one of today's most accomplished Indian classical musicians. Late American violinist [a532086], who became one of his earliest champions in the West, said he considered Ali Akbar Khan "an absolute genius, the greatest musician in the world." Regarded as a "National Living Treasure" in India, he is admired by both Eastern and Western musicians for his brilliant compositions and his mastery of the sarod (a beautiful, 25-stringed Indian instrument). Khan was the husband of [a3723612] (his third wife) and the former husband of [a2702651] (his second wife). He was the father of [a904004], [a1173965], and [a404489], the brother of [a5621191], the uncle of [a866306], the cousin of [a3880989], the brother-in-law of [a5653839], and the former brother-in-law of [a299241] (due to Shankar's marriage to his first wife, Annapurna Devi).