Sarangi maestro Sultan Khan (1940 - 2011) has been THE voice of the sarangi in the past few decades. For his services to music, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award twice and was awarded the third highest Indian civilian order Padma Bhushan in 2010.

He learnt sarangi from an early age with his father, Gulab Khan. Later on, he deepened his knowledge with the great singer Amir Khan. As accompanist he played, among others, with Amir Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Omkarnath Thakur, Salamat & Nazakat Ali Khan and Kishori Amonkar. A special friendship connected him with Zakir Hussain, with whom he shared many concerts and recordings - each one consisting of a tabla solo with sarangi accompaniment and a sarangi solo with tabla accompaniment. He also published numerous classical solo recordings in his own name.