Date:03/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/03/stories/2007120354941100.htm

National

Sitar maestro Bale Khan dead

Staff Correspondent

Belgaum: Renowned sitar maestro of Dharwad Ustad Bale Khan passed away here on Sunday.

He was 64, and is survived by wife, two sons and two daughters.

He was brought to the KLE Society’s Prabhakar Kore Hospital after he suffered a severe cardiac arrest in his hometown on Saturday.

As news of his death spread, many people, including artistes and music lovers, came to the hospital to have a last glimpse of the maestro.

“Khan Saheb,” as he was called by his well-wishers and admirers, belonged to a family of sitar players.

He was the torch-bearer of what could be described as the “gharana” of sitar players and represented the third generation of the legendary the late Ustad Rehmat Khan Saheb, a great “been” and sitar player and contemporary of the legendary Hindustani vocalist the late Ustad Abdul Kareem Khan Saheb.