Music maestro Ustad Rashid Khan passed away on January 9 at a hospital in Kolkata. He was reportedly battling with cancer. The classical singer was 55. He was laid to rest in his hometown of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh. His mortal remains were brought to Badaun from Kolkata where the district administration gave him state honours, as per a report in ANI. He was buried in Chote Sarkar graveyard, Badaun.
Rashid Khan's body was kept at Rabindra Sadan, Kolkata where his admirers can pay him last respects. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her cabinet ministers paid tribute to the maestro at Rabindra Sadan on Wednesday. He was accorded a gun salute by the West Bengal government as part of state honours in Kolkata on the same day.
The singer is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
Several celebs including Papon, Harshdeep Kaur, and Shekhar Ravjiani among others offered condolences to the late singer on social media.
For the unversed, Ustad Rashid Khan was the great-grandson of its founder, Inayat Hussain Khan and belonged to the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana. He was the nephew of Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan and received his initial training from his maternal grand-uncle Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan.
Khan was born in Sahaswan, Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, on July 1, 1968. In 2006, he was honoured with the Padma Shri and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. In 2022, he received the Padma Bhushan.
Apart from his contribution to Indian classical music, he also lent his voice to some of the soulful songs in Bollywood films. He crooned 'Aaoge Jab Tum O Saajana' for Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor's 'Jab We Met' and 'Allah Hi Reham' in Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol's 'My Name is Khan'.
