USTAD BISMILLAH KHAN
Sri Ustad Bismillah Khan was indeed a great musician, whose wind instrument Shennai came to life when he placed his lips on it. As i was growing up, i have heard his music, especially few jugalbandhi with other great musicians. When i got an email from one of many friends, thought i will just compile and have it on my blog about this wonderful soul. Its heart rendering to see how he spent his latter years. Very Humble Very Moving....Read on.
Its Common knowledge that this great musician was equally at home in the Balaji temple where he practised his music, as he was on his prayer mat, practicing his faith. And while he was serious about both, he was never dogmatic about either. It allowed him a certain good-natured irreverence, an example of which is recounted in the film. A group of musicians were sitting in a hall, people like Shankar Rao sahab of Gwalior, Hirabai, and Bhimsen Joshi.Khan sahab turned to Shankar Rao and asked him, 'What in Hinduism is considered the pinnacle of learning?' Music, he answered. It is even above the Gita and Ramayana.
To this, Khan sahab said, "Among Muslims, music is condemned and maulvis forbid it. " The group didn't know how to react, seeing that Khan sahab himself was Muslim. Unfazed, he continued, "What do you think of musicians like Fayyaz Khan sahab and Abdul KarimKhansahab?"
They're great musicians came the consensus. "Now, " retorted Bismillah Khan, "if, despite the strictures on music, Muslim musicians are so good, imagine how far we'd have progressed had music actually been encouraged among us!" And they all fell in laughing.
TRULY, MUSIC KNOWS NO RELIGIOUS BOUNDARIES...........
Hindustani maestro Gangubai Hanagal, who turned 95 on Monday, captured in a confluence with the synonym for the shehnai, Ustad Bismillah Khan, at the Sri Rama Navami music festival at the Fort High School grounds in Bangalore in 1993.
This picture by Karnataka Photo News editor Saggere Ramaswamy (then with the Indian Express) has gone on to win many laurels, depicting as it does the warmth between two artistes who know only one language: the language of lyrical genius cutting across region and religion, caste and creed, vocal and instrumental.
Why did Khan Saheb not migrate to Pakistan with Partition? “Arre, will I ever leave myBenares?” he asked. “I went to Pakistan for a few hours,” he said, “just to be able to say I’ve been there. I knew I would never last there.” And what is so special about Benares, his glorified slum of a haveli in a grandly named Bharat Ratna UstadBismillah Khan Street that had more potholes than footholds, and more heaps of chicken entrails from nearby meat shops, than garbage heaps from homes? “My temples are here,” he said, “Balaji and Mangala Gauri.” Without them, he asked, how would he make any music? As a Muslim he could not go inside the temples. But, so what? “I would just go behind the temples and touch the wall from outside. You bring gangajal, you can go inside to offer it, but I can just as well touch the stone from outside. It’s the same. I just have to put my hand to them.”
Here is something that someone sent me via email. And i'm sharing it with you. Written by P.P.Ramachandran.
The author of this book is a renowned film-maker and writer. She has presented several programmes on Doordarshan. Her last book “Beyond the Dunes ..” dealt with Rajasthan. The volume under review is the transformation of her film “Bismillah and Benaras ” into a book. And what a fascinating and lovely book !.
When Sinha met Bismillah Khan for the first time he was ninety years old but his memory was sharp, his anecdotes crisp and his words painted a vivid picture of Benaras and its people, its unique celebration of music, dance, festivals and a deeply ingrained sense of the joi-de-vivre that was the hallmark of Benaras culture .
Bismillah Khan was born in Dumraon, Bihar . Dumraon is famous not only for BismillahKhan but also for being the place where a special kind of reed, the narkhat , grows wild. These reed frets are transformed into shehnai—even today. His ancestors were court musicians and used to play in the princely state of Bhojpur in Bihar . His father was a shehnai player in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh.
Bismillah Khan was sent to Benaras when he was less than six years old. He grew up in the house of his maternal grandfather Rajat Ali in Benia Bagh. All his uncles were shehnai players and were attached to temples. His youngest uncle, Ali Bux played every morning at the holiest of holies—the Viswanath Temple. In addition all were proficient singers. Bismillah Khan himself had a mellifluous voice.
Bismillah Khan ’s recollections of his childhood were vivid--the sweets of Benaras and its people. He was given a shehnai to practice when he was seven or eight—the journey continued for the next eighty years. He began practising in a room in a temple near the Balaji temple. His grandfather in Dumraon taught him to roar like a lion and impressed on the boy the importance of lung power. The youth joined an akhada and strict adherence to exercise and diet control gave him power and strength so that his music poured forth into sonorous tones. Daily riyaz would last eight hours. His pristine classicism was more inclusive than usual. It included chaiti , kajri and jhoola, semi-classical forms noted for earthiness and sensuousness.
Even at a young age Bismillah Khan experienced the transcendental quality of music—where music is divine. He had mystic experiences. He had the vision of a “Baba”---who he believed was “Balaji Viswanath” himself.
His creativity was greatly influenced by mehfils --small audiences characterized by personalized response and appreciation. The singers of Dal Mandi too had influence on him . His first appearance was at the Allahabad Music Conference in 1930. His uncle who was the main artist gave him a chance and he gave the notes a style and quality all his own. At an early age he got a gold medal at the Akhil Bharatiya Sangeet Sammelan. Awards and acclaim followed in quick succession.
He got married at sixteen to his uncle’s daughter. The couple had five sons and four daughters.Bismillah had a large picture of Saraswathi to whom he would pay obeisance. Though a pious Shia Muslim, he was also, like many Indian musicians, regardless of religion, a devotee of Saraswati and often played at Hindu temples, including the famousViswanath Temple Varanasi , on the banks of the Ganges . He believed in tapasya-- to efface the self to music and the guru.
It was Bismillah Khan who transformed single- handed the humble shehnai—a common wind instrument into an instrument of stature, one whose music is celebratory, sublime and supreme. He is one of the finest musicians in post-independent Indian classical music and one of the best examples of Hindu-Muslim unity in India. He played shehnai to audiences across the world. He was known to be so devoted to his art form that he referred to shehnai as his begum after his wife died. On his death, as an honour, his shehnai was buried with him.
When India gained Independence Jawaharlal Nehru ensured that it was heralded by the strains of Bismillah Khan’s shehnai—which he played from the Red Fort on the eve of India'sIndependence in 1947. He also performed from the Red Fort on the eve of India’s first Republic Day ceremony, on January 26, 1950. His recital had become a cultural part ofIndia's Independence Day celebrations telecast on Doordarshan every year on August 15. After the prime minister's speech from Lal Quila, Doordarshan would broadcast a live performance by the shehnai maestro. Happily he played on the 50th Independence Day celebrations. He played the instrument for the film “Goonj Uthi Shehnai” and some years later for A.R.Rehman for the film “Swades”. Honorary Doctorates have been conferred on him by the Benaras HinduUniversity and the Viswabharati University. He bagged all the three Padma awards and the ultimate Bharat Ratna. Other awards included Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Tansen Award and three medals in All India Music Conference, Calcutta. At the age of 16 he got the award as the "Best Performer" in the Allahabad Music Conference .
The book gives an insightful look into the home and heart, muse and music of one of the greatest artists that India has ever produced. It traces Bismillah Khan’s journey from the small town ofDumraon to Benaras and to the world. It follows him as he grows from child to man, shagirdtoustad and pupil to legend. It lovingly portrays the whims and foibles of Bismillah Khan – an artist, whose stature as a musical legend could never quite overshadow the wit, humour and charisma of the man.. Juhi Sinha’s lavishly illustrated Coffee table book is well-crafted. No one who wants to learn of Bismillah Khan and Benaras can afford to miss this volume.
