Born in 1928 in Gauripur, East Bengal, Vilayat Khan entered the world of music at an early age of four and gave his first performance when he was eight. He also made his first recording at the same age. Vilayat Khan hails from an impressive family of musicians. His great grand father Ustad Sahabdat Khan gave today’s surbahar, the bass version of the sitar and a very difficult instrument to master, its present tonal and structural form. At the early age of ten Vilayat Khan lost his first guru, his father Ustad Inayat Khan, a leading instrumentalist of his days. Thereafter he moved with his mother to the state of Nahan near Delhi to learn music from his maternal grand father Ustad Bande Hasan Khan, who was the court musician of the state. During 40’s and 50’s there still was Inayat Khan’s influence in Vilayat Khan’s playing. Tantrakari was still very prominent. The right hand which is considered as the main subject of instrumental playing for string instruments was still distintly dominant. Tantrakari had been taken to great heights by earlier generations but now was the time to give new direction to instrumental music. It is believed that human voice is the sublime epitome of expression and all other sounds are subordinates used only for enhancing and ornamenting the vocal music. In his quest to achieve vocal continuity in the sound of sitar, Vilayat Khan introduced the gayaki ang in instrumental music during the early 60’s.