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Ali Akbar College of Music

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Ali Akbar College of Music

This is the official page of AACM. Welcome! The AACM was officialy open for classes in 1968 in Berkeley, California.

Today, in Marin County, we are still teaching the music of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, along with Tabla classes taught by Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.

02/17/2026

🙏🏽 17th Annual Birthday Tribute to Maestro Ali Akbar Khan 🙏🏽
🗓️ Saturday, April 11, 2026
⏰ 7:00 PM
📍The Freight, Berkeley, CA ()

We are so excited to invite you to the Tribute! This year’s celebration features two powerful ensembles honoring the late Maestro’s legacy.

Led by Alam Khan, the evening’s featured performance brings together a chamber ensemble of some of the Bay Area’s foremost exponents of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan’s legacy and the Maihar Gharana — his sons Alam and Manik Khan (Sarod) alongside disciple Arjun Verma (Sitar) — joined by Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri (Tabla), Khansahib’s trusted accompanist from 1981 until the end of his performance career.

The evening opens with the vibrant energy of the AACM Tabla Ensemble, composed and directed by Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri — one of the greatest Tabla masters in the world, whose knowledge and virtuosity have guided tabla students at the Ali Akbar College of Music for more than 44 years.

Please join us for a joyful evening of tradition, improvisation, and the living spirit of Khansahib’s music. Ticket link is in our bio 🙏🏽

05/22/2025

This year marks 58 years of the AACM in the Bay Area 🙌🏽 That’s a LOT of history, memories, and incredible music.

Along with our classes and concerts, we are also a school deeply rooted in the art of preservation. We don’t take our heritage lightly, and know that a huge aspect of our mission is to keep the history of this ancient tradition safe, secure, and accessible to all future generations.

A donation to the AACM, big or small, is another step towards this dream of our founder, Maestro Ali Akbar Khan. Please consider checking out our Ways to Support page (in bio) for our Spring Fundraiser, or sharing the link with your friends! It means the world to us.

Here’s to another 58 years 🙏🏽

02/24/2025

Join the AACM for an all-day musical celebration in honor of the life and work of our founder, legendary sarod Maestro Ali Akbar Khan. This year, our event will include special musical performances celebrating the lives of our dear friends, Ustad Aashish Khan & Ustad Zakir Hussain.

The afternoon performances will begin with honoring Maestro Khan’s oldest son, sarodiya Ustad Aashish Khan, and will feature musicians Mallar Bhattacharya on sarod, John Stephens on sarod, Dave Cipriani on slide guitar, Will Marsh on sitar, and William Rossel on tabla

After this will feature a tabla ensemble paying their respects to the world-renowned tabla artists and percussionist, Ustad Zakir Hussain. This will feature tabla players Salar Nader, Rohan Singh Bhogal, Karan Minhas, Kiran Morarji, Tejas Tope, and Vikas Yendluri, with harmonium accompaniment by Hardeep Chana.

After a break, we will return with an evening portion that will feature a performance by Maestro Khan’s two youngest sons, Alam and Manik Khan, both on sarod, with his long-time tabla accompanist, the esteemed Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.

We love this event each year and the feeling of community and joy it brings, and we hope to see you there!

Click the link in our bio for tickets and more information about these wonderful artists.

tabla

02/22/2025

AACM TEACHER SPOTLIGHT:
Alam Khan
(Director of Instrumental Music)

In celebration of our first week of the Winter Session completing, we are happy to present our second teacher spotlight at the AACM!

Alam Khan, son of our founder, Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, began teaching at the AACM in the wake of his father’s passing in 2009. Following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps, Alam has dedicated his life to preserving, performing and teaching this music to the world.

Alam is a light for our school, and brings with him a deep and profound knowledge and love for Indian classical music. Teaching our intermediate/advanced instrumental classes, as well as private lessons, Alam is currently leading our Raga & Composition course which gives an in-depth look into raga structure and the art of performing and composing on the spot.

Trained by his father, and performing internationally since 1996, Alam brings a breadth of experience to his role—but for those who have learned from him, you will know that his sensitivity to the Sarod is truly special. He has an innate understanding of his instrument and provides his students with unique insights into their own playing.

We are so grateful to have as a part of our teaching staff, and for all that he does for this music 🙏🏽

To learn from Alam, please contact us at [email protected] or register at the link in our bio.

02/07/2025

It’s our favorite time of year once again! Join the Ali Akbar College of Music for our 🌸16th Annual Tribute to Maestro Ali Akbar Khan🌸

Please keep your eyes peeled for a formal poster and announcement with more information in the near future, but for now, early access tickets are officially ✨on sale!✨

The afternoon performances will be from 3-5:30 PM (artists to be announced) and will be in memory of Maestro Khan’s oldest son, sarodiya Ustad Aashish Khan, and the world-renowned tabla artist and percussionist, Ustad Zakir Hussain.

After a break, we will return with an evening portion from 7:30-9:30 with a performance by Maestro Khan’s two youngest sons, Alam and Manik Khan, both on sarod, with his long-time tabla accompanist, the esteemed Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri 🙏🏽

For tickets, click the link in our bio! The performances will be held at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, CA. Please contact us at [email protected] for more information.

02/04/2025

Did you know that we have a free, public library located right on campus at the AACM?

The Ali Akbar Khan Library was 20 years in the making and currently houses over 40 years of Maestro Khan’s works in the form of classes, concerts, videos, audio, and much more 🙌🏽 The Library—currently housing over 8,000 hours of content—serves to preserve Khansahib’s teachings and music and will be an invaluable tool for generations of Indian classical music students to come. We are very proud of it and encourage all students and music lovers to come and enjoy it!

We also have an AAK Library website! On it you will find samples of many things we offer, right from the comfort of your phone or computer. Here is just a small glimpse into what we offer:

✨ Concert audio & video
✨ Class audio & video
✨ Historical photos
✨ News Articles
✨ An interactive intro to Indian Classical Music

… and so much more! 🙏🏽

Visit aliakbarkhanlibrary.com to dive in 🌸

Library visits are scheduled by appointment only, so please contact us at [email protected] to get started!

01/27/2025

Registration for our Winter Session is NOW OPEN!

AACM Winter Session:
🌸February 17th - April 9th🌸

We are proud to offer a great array of classes at our school with exceptional teachers. Almost all of our classes are offered both in-person and online, so if you aren’t local to us, don’t worry! We also offer private lessons for all levels.

Winter Session Group Classes:
🌱 Intermediate Tabla
🌱Advanced Tabla
🌱Raga and Composition II (Mixed Instruments)
🌱Instrumental I (Mixed Instruments)
🌱Beginning Sitar
🌱Guided Listening (Free to all AACM Students)

Not sure which class is the best fit for you? We are here to help. Please email us at [email protected] for any and all questions you may have 🙏🏽

We hope to see you in class!

01/21/2025

For those who are familiar with us, you’ll know that we at the AACM are very big on preservation. We have saved as many pieces of our history as we can, and tracked down even more. Because we practice, teach, learn, and perform an ancient Indian art form, we know that a huge aspect in keeping it alive is to preserve all history of it for future education and enjoyment 🌸

Over the years we have managed to save many posters, flyers, letters and pamphlets from the AACM archives, dating from 1967-present—and a few years ago we created a page on our website where you can view them! Here is a small sample of some of our favorites. Click the link in our bio for more ✨

(Were you present at any of these concerts and have stories or memories you can share?)

01/16/2025

AACM TEACHER SPOTLIGHT:
Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri
(Director of Percussion)

We are so grateful for our teaching staff at the AACM, and are absolutely blessed to have Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri at the helm.

Swapanji is the lifeblood of our school, and his unwavering dedication to teaching and performing tabla is unparalleled. He joined our teaching staff in California in 1981, and this May will celebrate a remarkable 44 years of teaching with us.

For any who have had the privilege of learning from him over the years, you will know that his thoughtfulness, kindness, humor, and his incredibly engaging and exciting lessons make studying under him a singular experience. He is world-renowned and an absolute master of his craft, and it is our deep privilege to continue learning from him year after year.

We love Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, and we are so proud to know him and to sit before him 🙏🏽

If you are a tabla player or are interested in starting on tabla with us, we would love to hear from you! Click the link in our bio for more information.

01/11/2025

Please join us for our first concert of the year at the AACM! 🙏🏽

We are excited to announce that this performance will feature three wonderful musicians who have been with our school for many years.

Tim White will begin the evening with a sitar solo. Following him will be Mallar Bhattacharya on sarod. Both performers will be accompanied by Sudhakar Vaidyanathan on tabla.

Please take a moment to enjoy these clips and get a taste of what a wonderful night we have ahead of us. We appreciate your support and hope to see you there!

Follow the link in our bio to purchase tickets 🌸

12/17/2024

It is with profound sadness that we say goodbye to our beloved Zakirji. He was a colossus, an icon, a genius. He was so many things to so many, and to us he was family. He will be missed until the end, and we are so fortunate to have been alive in the time of his magic.

These photos were taken in 1972 at the Ali Akbar College of Music in Marin County by Betsey Bruner when Zakirji was our teacher of Tabla.

We love you ❤️🙏🏽

11/15/2024

It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to the incredible Sarod player and khalifa of the Maihar Gharana Ustad Aashish Khan. Aashish ji was son of Maestro Ali Akbar Khansahib and grandson of Acharya Baba Allauddin Khansahib. His inspiring contributions to Sarod and the world of music will never be forgotten. He has been a beloved guru, father figure, and friend to so many and we will dearly miss him. We will be planning a celebration of his life at the Ali Akbar College of Music soon. More details to come 🙏🏽

Address

215 W End Avenue
San Rafael, CA
94901

Opening Hours

Monday	12pm - 9pm
Tuesday	12pm - 9pm
Wednesday	12pm - 9pm
Thursday	12pm - 9:30pm

Telephone

+14154546372

Website

http://www.aacm.org/

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