When he joined All-India-Radio in Jaipur in 1955, he had already completed his first tour to Afghanistan with the legendary singer Siddheshwari Devi. In 1958 he moved to Delhi and joined AIR there. He worked there as a staff artist until 1993.


As an accompanist as well as a soloist, he has travelled the world extensively, from participating in the festival of Shiraz, Iran, to a solo recital at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in 1971 and performances in Australia, the USA and Europe.


Faiyyaz Khan is one of the rare Tabla-players who has accompanied three generations of musicians: from the great masters of yesteryear, such as Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Hafiz Ali Khan, Siddheshwari Devi, Begum Akhtar, Amir Khan, Pannalal Ghosh, Mallikarjun Mansur, to name a few; to the masters of today like Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, the late Nikhil Banerjee, Vilayat Khan, Sharan Rani, Parween Sultana, Amjad Ali Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasia as well as numerous young talented musicians like Biswajit Roy Chowdhury etc.


In 1985 he spent one year teaching at Washington University and since 1992 he has been teaching regularly at the Rotterdam Conservatory.

Ustad Faiyyaz KHAN, Tabla player

Ustad Faiyyaz Khan was born in Sikar, Rajasthan, into a family of musicians. His Father Nazir Khan was a sarangi and tabla-player at the court of the Maharaja of Karoli. His elder brother Munir Khan is a well-known sarangi player. Young Faiyyaz Khan was first taught sarangi and vocal music. When his father discovered his talent for the tabla, he put him under the tutelage of Ustad Hidayat Khan. Faiyyaz Khan also studied with the late Ustad Inam Ali Khan, the former Khalifa of the Delhi gharana of Tabla. Unlike most other tabla players, Ustad Faiyyaz Khan also received additional training from a master of the South-Indian mridangam, Ramnad Ishwaran, who taught him the technique and mathematics of South-Indian rhythms.