ABSTRACT
Bahadur Khan belongs to the last generation of freelance musicians who thrived in the North Indian region of princely states and courtesan culture. His family is part of the hereditary musician community of kalavant (artists) of Banda, a princely state south of Lucknow whose nawab (prince) invited these musicians to settle in the city at least as early as the 18th century. Banda’s thriving musical culture is evidenced in the earliest Western account of musical practice written in 1834 by Augustus Willard.
