Ustad Nishat Khan comes from a very musical family that plays an important role in Indian classical music. His father, Ustad Imrat Khan, was the innovator of the family. He passed the musical knowledge down through his four sons. Ustad Imrad Khan is a master of the surbahar. A surbahar is a deep-toned, sitar-like stringed instrument that was developed by his great-grandfather, Ustad Sahabdad Khan. It has a four-octave range and plays an extremely large role in Indian classical music. Imrat was taught at an early age before his father died then guided his four sons into the style of Indian classical music. Nishat Khan took up the sitar while his brothers played
             Indian classical music is an unbroken tradition that has been around for centuries. Indian classical music has evolved into two definite branches. One is the North Indian called Hindustani and the South Indian called Carnatic. Hindustani tradition is found in Kashmir, Punjab, and Bengal. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, the tradition has weakened in the last half a century in those countries. Carnatic is primarily found in the four southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Hindustani and Carantic are very similar to each other in terms of form and specific sections such as for improvisation, or a compositional section. Slight terms are different in Carantic music but the overall outline is basically the same. Some important terms used in the music are Raga. This is a melodic structure which is used to build a mood. Each raga has its own feeling and distinct mood to itself. Through meditation, the performer would visualize the personality of the raga, allowing them to perform it with more success. Tala is another important term which refers to rhythmic cycles. These cycles range from 3 to 108 beats. Talas which share the same number of beats may have stressed on different beats. For example, a bar of 10 could be divided into 3-4-3. This allows for the p...