Iliyas Khan

Iliyas Khan is a veteran singer from Lucknow who belongs to the Saini and Lucknow Gharana of Hindustani Classical Music. He came from a family of musicians and started learning at 3. His father was a singer and harmonium player in a theatre troupe. Iliyas Khan moved to Shahjahanpur first to study under the maestros’ Ustad Habib Ahmad and Ustad Masoom Ali Khan. Later, at the age of 11, he shifted to Lucknow and continued learning from Ustad Gulshan Bharati, whom he has been associated with since 1986.

He has performed in many music festivals across the country, including Lucknow Mahostsav, Taj Mahotsav, Awadh Mahotsav, Mahakumbh Mela, Ramayan Mela in Ayodhya, Badrinath, Kedarnath Mahotsav, Sharad Mahotsav and many more. He has even travelled abroad to Kenya, South Africa, and Bhutan and performed many times at the Nepal border. Aside from Classical music, he can perform in many other semi-classical genres and light music, like Dadra, Sufi, Thumri, Kajri, Bhajans and Ghazals. As an artist, he doesn’t believe in restricting himself to any one genre and has tried to acquire as many different singing styles as he could. He has about 30 years of experience as a musician.

He earned a Master’s in Music from Khairagarh University and presently teaches music at Bhatkande Sangeet University in Lucknow. He also serves as the director of the music institute, Gulshan-o-Gulab Sangeet Gram Sansthan. He is an approved artist of the Song and Drama division of the I&B Department of Govt. of India and is also associated with A.I.R. Cultural Affairs and U.P. Sangeet Natak Academy.

He has frequently performed as a musician in films. Some of his prominent films are Jaanisaar (2015), directed by Muzaffar Ali, and the Pankaj Kapur starrer, Sehar (2021). He has performed Qawwali and Sufi songs for the film The Knot (Uljhan) (2021), and he also appears as a Harmonium player in a Ghazal in the acclaimed web series by Mira Nair, A Suitable Boy (2020).