Ustad Ashish Khan, the third generation stalwart from the lineage of musicians of the Maihar-Seniya gharana, will be performing in Bangalore on August 3, for the first time and will lead the launch of the music ensemble 'New Shanti', featuring Shiraz Ali Khan (Sarod), Avijit Sarkar (Drums), Bachospati Chakraborty (Bass Guitar), Dishari Chakraborty (Santoor and Keyboard), Arindam Bhattacharya and Subholina Sen (Harmony Vocal) and Arijit Tagore (Pakhawaj and Tabla).
The eldest son of legendary Padma Vibhushan Ali Akbar Khan and the grandson of Padma Vibhushan Baba Allauddin Khan, Ashish Khan was initiated to Hindustani instrumental music at a very young age by his grandfather.
A man with great flare for experiments, he was one of the first to collaborate with the western musicians as a member of music ensemble, 'Shanti', the first fusion Indo jazz ensemble which was launched by the maestro in 1969 with Neil Sidel, Frank Lupica, Steve Hael, Steve Leach, Zakir Hussain and Pranesh Khan.
Under Pandit Ravi Shankar, he has worked as a background artiste on musical products for both film and stage, including Oscar Winner Satyajit Ray's Apur Sansar, Parash Pathar, Jalsha Ghar and Sir Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi. He has also worked as a background artiste with Maurice Jarre on John Huston's film The Man Who Would be King, David Lean's A Passage to India, and composed the music for Tapan Sinha's films Joturgriha and Aadmi Aurat.
He has been awarded, among many, the Fellowship of the Illinois Arts Council, United States in 2002, and India's highest award for performing arts, i.e., the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2005. In 2006, he was nominated for a Grammy award in the 'Best World Music' category.