Tuesday, August 13, 2013
USTAD BISMILLAH KHAN (March 21, 1913 – August
21, 2006), often referred to by the honorific title Ustad, was an Indian musician
credited with popularising the shehnai, a subcontinental wind
instrument of the oboe class. While the shehnai had long held
importance as a folk instrument played primarily during traditional ceremonies,
Khan is credited with elevating its status and bringing it to the concert
stage.
He was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat
Ratna, in 2001, becoming the third classical musician after M. S.
Subbulakshmi and Ravi Shankar to be accorded this distinction.
Bismillah Khan was born on 21 March 1913 in Dumraon, Bihar in
northern India. He was the second son of Paigambar Khan and Mitthan. His
parents had initially named him Qamaruddin to rhyme with their first-born son
Shamshuddin. However, his grandfather, Rasool Bux Khan, the shehnai master of
the court of Bhojpur, exclaimed "Bismillah!" ("In the name
of Allah!") at the sight of him and thereafter he came to be known by this
name.
His ancestors were court musicians and used to play in Naqqar
khana in the princely states of Bhojpur, now in Bihar. His
father was a shehnai player in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh
of Dumraon Estate, Bihar.
At the age of six, he moved to Varanasi. He received his
training under his uncle, the late Ali Baksh 'Vilayatu', a shehnai player
attached to Varanasi's Vishwanath Temple.
Bismillah Khan was perhaps single-handedly responsible for making
the shehnai a famous classical instrument. He brought the shehnai to
the center stage of Indian music with his concert in the Calcutta All
India Music Conference in 1937. He was credited with having almost monopoly
over the instrument as he and the shehnai are almost synonyms.
Khan 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 audience across the world. He was known to be so devoted to
his art form that he referred to shehnai as his begum (wife in Urdu)
after his wife died. On his death, as an honour, his shehnai was buried with
him. He was known for his vision of spreading peace and love through music.
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