Renowned Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan’s application for a British visa has been rejected, the musician tweeted today.

Khan, 70, expressed his displeasure in a series of tweets and said he had been performing abroad almost every year since the early 1970s, and that the rejection of his British visa application had “upset” him.

He was to perform next month at the Royal festival Hall in London and had applied for a permit to visit the country

Tagging his message to the External Affairs Ministry and EAM minster Sushma Swaraj, the High Commission of India in London and the British High Commission in India, Khan said, “Extremely sad for artists who are spreading the message of love & peace…”.

The news came a day after Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was detained for two hours at the Los Angeles airport.

The US ambassador to India, Richard Verma, tweeted an apology to the star, who had said in exasperated tweets: “Every damn time!”