Dabir Khan learned veena from his grandfather,
Wazir Khan. He was employed at
All India Radio Calcutta. Dabir Khan is also considered as one of India's legendary musician
Miyan Tansen's last descendants and in 1969 was awarded a
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. Among the pupils of Dabir Khan were
K. C. Dey, the noted singer
Manna Dey, Asit De (head of the Theory Division of the
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics,
Kolkata), and Pandit Santosh Banerjee (formerly head of department of instrumental music,
Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta). Clem Alford was a student of Pandit S.N. Saha, who was himself a student of Ustad Muhammad Dabir Khan. Muhammad Dabir Khan was the external examiner of Clem Alford in 1969 at Midnapore Music College. ==Personal life==