(fl mid-19th century). Indian sitār player and singer. He was a musician of the dhārī class, a hereditary professional musician. His father Natthu Khan alias Ghulam Ali Khan was a musician employed by Nawab Ahmad Ali Khan of Rampur (reigned 1822–40). Ghulam Raza Khan established himself as a leading musician in the court of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Lucknow (reigned 1847–56), but was banished from court in 1850. He ultimately settled in Patna with his son Ali Raza, also a renowned sitār player.
He gives his name to a type of instrumental composition, the razākhānī gat, and more generally to a style of playing, the razākhānī or Purab (eastern) bāj (see also Khan, Masit. Modern razākhānī gats are normally set in the 16-beat Tīntāl, played at medium-fast or fast tempo and based on stereotypical patterns of strokes (bols) (ex.1). This type is one of the staples of contemporary sitār and sarod technique in virtually all traditions. Earlier published razākhānī gats show a variety of stroke patterns, thus it is not clear at which point this type became dominant. Moreover, none is explicitly credited to Ghulam Raza Khan; some believe that this composition type and playing style was developed by his son Ali Raza, while others believe that it was created by Masit Khan.
A. Miner: Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries (Wilhelmshaven, 1993)
A.D. Sharma: Musicians of India Past and Present (Calcutta, 1993)
MARTIN CLAYTON