English: Sabir khan was born on the 4th of December 1959 in Rampur, U.P. As a child prodigy in a family of great musicians whose heritage goes back to the 11th century A.D of “MIR AKASA” lineage.

                   Sabir is the youngest amongst the renowned tabla players of our country, and at an age of 37 his incredible dexterity, richness, superb tonal quality and maturity surprise any listener or connoisseur of music of the same time. Father, late Ustad Karamatullah Khan Sahab and his grandfather, late Ustad Masit Khan Sahab were the celebrated tabla maestros of their times.

Sabir khan is the only living heir and the sole representative of the famous “Farukkhabad Gharana” which was confounded by Late Haji Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan Sahab, his son late Ustad Nessar Khan, who produced the student like Ustad Munir Khan, his students late Ustad Ahmedjan Thirakwa Khan Sahab and late Ustad Amir Hussain Khan Sahab. Sabir is the 33rd descendent of his family in an unbroken lineage.

                    Sabir’s Grand father late Ustad Masit Khan was the unparallel Tabla Maestro of his time and practically performed with all the top musicians like late Ustad Fayyaz Khan Sahab, Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan, Ustad Enayat Hussain Khan, Ustad Wazir Khan, to name a few.
                    Ustad Masit Khan was primarily responsible for popularizing the style of “Farukkhabad Gharana” in West Bengal through his disciples, like late Pdt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh, late Rai Chand Boral, late Montu Bannerjee, late Kanai Dutta, and last but not the least his son late Ustad Karamatullah Khan, who himself has given a new dimension of accompaniment, with Vocal, Instrument and Dance, and of course in Solo style of playing for which the musicians and the music lovers of the country will remember him for ever and ever.
                   Sabir Khan received intensive rigorous TALIM from his grand father and later from his father. At the age of 9 his first remarkable performance was a unforgettable one, in which he gave his solo performance with late Ustad Karamatullah Khan,  and late Ustad Masit Khan Sahab on 19 December 1968 at Banga Sanskriti {Calcutta} in front of ten thousand people. At that early age Sabir has accompanied practically all the top ranking celebrities of the time.

  Sitar: Pdt Ravi Shankar, Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan, late Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan, Ustad Halim Zafar Khan, Pdt Bimal Mukherjee, Ustad Imrat Khan, Ustad Rais Khan, Debu Chowdhury, Monilal Nag, Subrata Roy Chowdhury, Shujat Khan, Shahid Parvez, Nishat Khan, Budhaditya Mukherjee.

Sarode:Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pdt Buddhadev Das Gupta, Ustad Bahadur Khan, Smt Sharan Rani, Smt Zarin Sharma.

  Dance: Pdt Birju Maharaj, Begum Roshan Kumari, Smt Sitara Devi, Pdt Gopi Krishna, Pdt Vijay Shankar and others…

 Vocal:  Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan, Pdt Mallikarjun Mansoor, Pdt Bhimsen Joshi, Pdt Jasraj, Smt Kishori Amonkar, Begum Parveen Sultana, Smt Shobha Gurtu, Smt Nirmala Devi, Pdt Siyaram Tiwari, Smt Naina Devi, Pdt Vijay Kumar Kichlu, Smt Girja Devi, Late Ustad Sharafat Hussain Khan, Late Ustad Latafat Khan and many others…

Santoor: Pdt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Bhajanlal Sapoori, Dulal Roy, Himangshu Biswas, and others… 

Flute: Pdt Hariprasad Chaurasiya, Pdt Vijay Raghav Rao.

Shehnai: Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ali Ahmed Hussain, Daya Shankar.

Guitar: Brij Bhushan Kabra, Vishnu Mohan Bhatt.

Sabir Khan with his Vocal Tune

                                      Sabir khan also earned wide reputation as a composer and Singer of ghazals and has rendered a vast number if ghazals recitals all over India and in foreign countries i.e. Far East and U.K. He also received the title of Ghazal King and Composer in 1983 from (Djakarta Music Association Indonesia).
                                              Sabir’s Recital; both as a soloist and as an accompanist was granted praiseworthy not only in India, but also in many countries aboard. He was invited to perform in countries, like Japan, France, UK, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Yugoslavia, U.S.A, USSR, China, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Thailand, Honkong, Singapore, Taiwan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Middle East Countries.

H.M.V has released L.P Disc and cassette of ghazals composed and sung by Sabir khan and Aruna Kundanani

Achievements:

                                                   In 1984 he organized a seven day long Festival of Indian Classical Music and Dance. In which all the top ranking musician had taken part in memory of Late Ustad Karamatullah Khan and was highly praised and publicized by the press and Media.
                                                    In 1994 he organized a six day long festival of Indian Classical Music and Dance, with all the top ranking artistes, in which an award in the name of Ustad Karamatullah Khan was given to Pdt A.T. Kanan, the renowned vocalist and in 1995 to Late Pdt. Kishan Maharaj, the reputed Tabla Player. 2009 is the celebration of the silver jubilee of Ustad Karamatullah Khan Music Circle, which is one the biggest achievement as a tribute to the guru and father Ustad Karamatullah Khansaheb.
                                                    Sabir khan travelled extensively all over the world many a times but the work mentioning is he’s being invited as a cultural ambassador for the “Festival of India”  in USA, Germany, France, Sweden, with all top ranking musicians today.  

He is currently an Honorable member of the West Bengal State Music Academy appointed by the Chief Minister, Smt. Mamata Bannerjee .

Press Review a few:

Harvallabh Music Conference 27th Dec.1983:
 This whole night Music Conference has been stolen by young Sabir khan, where he accompanied Budhaditya Mukherjee. Pdt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. Ust Munawar Ali khan, Pdt Jasraj and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, with each artistes Sabir’s Stamina was getting stronger and stronger, and the last of his was worth praising the Sawal-Jawab and individual round brilliant and enjoyable.

Times of India (Bombay) 30.3.85:

The tabla accompanist Sabir khan is an extremely accomplished artist who competed well with the dancer in producing and reproducing the intricate rhythmic patterns with very fine percussion effects. He also provided interesting fillers by way of solo tabla recitals in between the dance sequence. 

The Times of India (Bombay) 13.12.92

St. Xavier’s College presented a three day festival of Indian Classical Music, where Ustad Amjad Ali Khan sarode recital excelled the evening and the tabla player Sabir khan was equally good.

Films in which Sabir Khan has directed music or assisted:- 1} Duratwa {Bengali} 2} Kaala Jal {Hindi} 3} Adavi Ramandu {Hindi version of Tamil} 4} Dhwani {Hindi} 5} Shruti {Tamil} 6} Shankar Lal {Hindi version of Tamil} 7} Every seventh Man is a Muslim {English}

Musical Releases {tabla} 1}105 records with almost every eminent artist in India 2}65 C.Ds and records in abroad. 3}4 solo C.Ds in abroad. 4} 1 Solo C.D in India (Drums of India)

Awards:

(1) The Best tabla player of 1981, from Indo American Society (Calcutta)

(2) The Best Tabla player of the country from Rotary Club (Calcutta) (3) The Best Talent from India (Darlington College of Music, London. UK, in 1980) (4) Aftab-E-Tabla (Rampur Music Conference). India 1990 (5) Talmani (twice) by (Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan) in 1976 and in 1991(Bombay) (6) Sangeet Natak Akademi award (2012) (7) Banga Samman Award (2013) (8) Bharat Nirman Award (2011)

Sabir has also been awarded the Top Grade in A.I.R & Doordarshan, From the Govt of India in 1995.