161st birthday of Ustad Alauddin Khan today

The 161st birthday of Ustad Alauddin Khan, who is famous in the world of music as the ‘Emperor of Music’ is being observed today (October 8).

He was born in 1862 at Shibpur village under Nabinagar upazila in Brahmanbaria.

His father's name was Sudu Khan and mother's name was Sundari Begum.

He died on 6 September in 1972 at Madina Bhavan in Maihar, India.

Dua, milad mehfil, quran recitation and commemorative discussion meeting have been organized on this occasion.

Sur Samrat Alauddin Khan Mahavi¬dyalaya, Nabinagar Upazila Admini¬stration and Alauddin Khan Memorial Sangsad have jointly organized the events.

He left home when he was a teenager and started traveling from village to village with the Jatra Dal in search of music.

From here he became known with songs like Jari, Sari, Baul, Bhatiali, Kirtan etc. Then went to Kolkata to take initiation in music.

After 1918 he settled permanently in India. The British government awarded him the title of 'Khan Saheb'. Alauddin Khan received the Music Academy Award of India in 1952. He was elected ‘Fellow of the Academy’ in 1954. He was awarded with ‘Padma Bhushan’ in 1958, Desi 'Kottam' by Visva Bharati in 1961 and 'Padma Vibhushan' in 1971. University of Delhi in India and Dhaka University in Bangladesh gave him life membership.

He taught for some time as visiting professor at Shanti Niketan.