(b Delhi, 1880–86; d Liyapatabad, Pakistan, 1955). Indian sārangī player. His father was Ali Jan Khan, but Bundu received most of his early musical training from his mother’s father Abdul Ghani Khan, whose passion for the sārangī earned him the nickname of Sangi Khan. Bundu Khan’s devotion to the instrument was to become legendary. His most important teacher was probably his uncle Mamman Khan, and the relationship continued after Bundu Khan left Delhi and became a court musician to Maharaja Tukojirav of Indore, a position he held for more than 25 years. During this time he not only consolidated his reputation as the leading sārangī player of the first half of the century but also developed his aspirations as a musicologist. He published a short-lived journal and other writings on rāga and collaborated with the famous scholar V.N. Bhatkhande on his huge compilation of rāgas and compositions. He later returned to Delhi, where he was employed by All India Radio. In 1948, shortly after the partition of India, he followed other members of his family to Pakistan. He was equally famous as an accompanist to the leading singers of his age and as a soloist, and he developed a technique to imitate other instruments as well as the voice. Among his pupils were several other famous sārangī players including his son Umrao Khan, Abdul Majid Khan and Mohammad Sagiruddin Khan.
NEIL SORRELL