Indian classical music doyen, Ustad Imrat Khan, known for promoting the sitar and the surbahar internationally, has passed away in the United States at the age of 83, his family said on Friday. Khan breathed his last in a hospital in St. Louis on Thursday after a stroke. He was unwell for quite some time and was hospitalised last week. He had been living in St. Louis for well over two decades.

"No words can express the loss… May Allah bless his soul," Khan's bereaved nephew, Hidayat Husain Khan, said confirming his death. The funeral is expected to take place on Saturday. He belonged to the Etawa Gharana, which traces its origins through an unbroken line of celebrated musicians to the 16th Century, where training was passed down from father to son for almost 400 years.