Early Life and Background
Khan was born in Kasur, then in the Punjab province in British India; after partition, Kasur became a part of Pakistan. His father was a famous singer, Ali Baksh Khan, in a West Punjabi family of musical heritage.
At the age of seven, he learned sarangi and vocal from his paternal uncle Kale Khan, who was also a singer and composer of repute, and after his death he picked up a few compositions from his father who had re-married by this time. This tenure lasted for almost three years. It was at this juncture that he improvised the musical instrument "Kanoon" to the present "Swaramandal" which became his trademark. When he was about 21 years old, he moved to Benaras where he accompanied a courtesan named Zarabai on the sarangi and started to perform in public.
Read more about this topic: Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
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