Indian classical musicians and singers have played a great role in
popularizing Indian music all across the world. They have enriched the
world of music and enthralled the audiences with their masterful
artistry. Their soulful rendition has brought solace to many a hearts.
Here is a brief profile of Famous Indian classical musicians.
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was one of the most accomplished Indian classical musicians, admired all over the world for his brilliant compositions and his mastery of the sarode.
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was born at Gwalior Madhya Pradesh in 1945. He belongs to the illustrious Bangash lineage rooted in the Senia Bangash School of music and is the sixth generation sarod player in his family.
Hariprasad Chaurasia
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, is a world-renowned exponent of the bansuri or bamboo flute. He is one of those rare classical musicians who expanded the peripheries of classical music by taking it to the common masses.
MS Subbulakshmi
MS Subbulakshmi was a legendary Carnatic musician. She was popularly known as Nightingale of India. Her rendering of bhajans (devotional songs) was divine and used to enthrall and transfix listeners, and transport them into a different world
Bismillah Khan
The legendary shehnai player, Ustad Bismillah Khan was one of India's most celebrated classical musicians. Bismillah Khan has been credited with taking the shehnai from the marriage mandap to the concert hall.
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar is a legendary sitar player and one of India's most esteemed classical musicians. Pandit Ravi Shankar has made a major contribution in popularizing Indian classical music in the West through his association with The Beatles (especially George Harrison).
Shiv Kumar Sharma
Shiv Kumar Sharma's name is synonymous with santoor, Indian classical music instrument. Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma is credited with single-handedly making the santoor a popular classical instrument.
Zakir Hussain
Zakir Hussain is a classical tabla virtuoso and the most famous tabla player in India today. His contribution in the field of percussion and in the music world at large is highly appreciated.
Ananda Shankar
Ananda Shankar was a popular musician of India, who excelled in fluxing the western into the eastern music styles. He was born on 11 December 1942 at Almora in the Uttar Pradesh state to eminent classical dancers, Amala and Uday Shankar. He also happened to be the nephew of the world famous Sitarist, Ravi Shankar.
AR Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman, who is better known as AR Rahman, is a world-class musician of India. Born as A. S. Dileep Kumar on 6 January 1967 at Chennai in Tamil Nadu, AR Rahman holds the credit for totally overhauling the style in which music was being made in India.
Beghum Akhtar
Though Beghum Akhtar had acted in several Hindi movies, it was her fabulous rendition of ghazals that won her laurels from all round. Born on 7 October 1914 in the small town of Faizabad in the Uttar Pradesh state, Beghum Akhtar was more popularly known as Akhtaribai Faizabadi.
Pandit Debu Chaudhuri
Pandit Debu Chaudhuri also known as Debu, is the leading Sitar exponent and a prominent personality in the field of Indian classical music in India. In order to highlight his contribution to the field of music, the Indian government presented him with the coveted Padma Bhushan award, which is among its highest civilian honor in the country.
Sri Lalgudi Jayarama Iyer
When it comes to rendering Carnatic music on a Violin, none measure up to the legendary Sri Lalgudi Jayarama Iyer. His mastery over this instrument and the consequent development of his own individual style has unfailingly had a spell bounding effect on those who have had the opportunity to listen to him.
L. Subramaniam
L. Subramaniam is a very highly talented senior Indian violinist, composer and conductor. He is skilled in Carnatic music, which is the classical music tradition of south India as well as Western classical. L. Subramaniam is famous for his music and compositions in orchestral fusion.
Muthuswami Dikshitar
Born in the year 1775 as the eldest son of Ramaswami Dikshitar and Subbamma at Tiruvarur in the Tamil Nadu state, Muthuswami Dikshitar happens to be the youngest of the Carnatic music composer trinity.
RD Burman
Rahul Dev Burman, who is more famous by the name of R.D. Burman, is considered the greatest of all music composers the Indian film industry's ever had. His entry into Bollywood saw the revolutionization of the way music was being composed here.
Swathi Thirunal
Sri Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma was the Rajah of the ancient princely state of Travancore, which he ruled from 1829 till 1846 when he passed away. At the same time, he was also a great patron of music and a musician himself.
Miyan Tansen
Miyan Tansen, who was one of the nine jewels or navaratnas in the court of Emperor Akbar, is regarded as the greatest of all musicians India has ever produced till date. Normally referred to as just Tansen, he is said to have played a pivotal role in crating the classical genre of north Indian music we know today.
Tyagaraja
A discussion on Carnatic music, perhaps, can never be complete without the mention of Tyagaraja, who along with his contemporaries Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri comprise the trinity of Carnatic music composers.
Allauddin Khan
Though famous mainly as a Sarod expert, Allauddin Khan was, infact, a multi-instrumentalist and among the greatest musicians India's ever had. Fondly also called Baba Allauddin Khan, he was father to Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi and guru to many Indian musical stalwarts like Ravi Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee
Annapurna Devi
Annapurna Devi, who was born as Roshanara Khan in 1926 at Maihar in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, was a secluded maestro of Surbahar or the bass Sitar in the classical music genre. Her father Ustad Alauddin Khan, who also happened to be her guru
