Ustad Bismillah Khan, who played the shehnai at the Red Fort on the eve of India’s independence and brought the instrument to prominence in Hindustani classical music, passed away today. He was 90 or 91 (reports vary). Born in Bihar, he came to Varanasi as a child and remained there the rest of his days, living a simple, impecunious life when others of his musical generation achieved fortune in India and overseas. He was a devout Shia Muslim who also took part in Hindu worship, believing in the unity of pathways to God and in the spiritual role of music. Although he had disciples and his sons all became musicians, he leaves — as far as I know — no single obvious musical successor.
An obituary from the BBC is here. The Indian papers covered Khansaheb’s illness and will presumably have tributes and recollections in the coming days. Here is a 2005 interview with Indian Express editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta that gives a sense of the character and his outlook.
Here is a link to two articles: the second one, which apparently ran in India Today in 1986, includes this description:
His house in Varanasi, in Sarai Harha, is an ample but decrepit structure. His living room which also serves as guest room, is sparsely furnished with creaky wooden benches and a large takht on which, at given time of the day, his children perform namaaz, oblivious of guests and visitors. Still in incessant demand as a player he travels by train regularly with his troupe, often by second class. He hates to fly. And when travel arrangements are being made, the house buzzes with activity as instruments are laid out, ancient steel trunks and torn British Airways flight-bags are packed with clothes and lunch boxes stuffed with rice and samosas. The shehnai player, whose name is familiar even to the international jet set as that of Ravi Shankar, travels by cycle rickshaw. And as he wheels down the city’s streets at the head of a caravan of rickshaws, smiling at well wishers, he looks as happy as a British Lord in a Rolls Royce.
It also includes this quotation:
“I am getting old now. Not in my heart. But in my body. The heart yearns to go on and on but this body sometimes tires and these wretched knees start aching after four hours of playing. And I now have that all-too-human worry. Thirty years ago, I used to think I had conquered or was about to conquer the world. What foolishness! Now I say, Bismillah, you haven’t reached anywhere. The world may know and listen to your ragas, but Bismillah, life will soon finish and your yearnings will still remain. This music is still an ocean. I want to cross it. But I have barely reached the shore. I haven’t yet even taken a dip in it.”
Wow. That is beautiful (as is the entire quote).
Bismillah Khan at Youtube.
This is the hallmark of most Hindustani classical (North Indian) musicians. I know of a show by one such classical musician in Dallas where he (I am missing the name, I think its Ustab Amjad Ali khan) even bowed to a picture of Saraswati godess before starting the show.
Ustad Bismillah khan sahed was synonymous with Shehnai in India. What a legendary personality!!!
Thanks for this Siddhartha and for the link Amardeep. He was one of the greatest musicians of his age. One of the first recordings I ever heard of his was an incredibly soulful rendition of raag Durga. I also admired his outlook on religion (fromt he BBC article):
A practising Muslim, he made the Hindu holy town of Varanasi (also known as Benares) his home and could often be seen playing by the banks of the holy river Ganges, offering prayers to the Hindu goddess of learning, Saraswati. Khan often played shehnai in the local temples too.
what’s sad is that a man of his stature and contribution to indian culture had to appeal to the government for aid. in this day and age, when every two-bit celebrity mediocrity makes money, we have people like this struggling because they choose to remain faithful to their own set of principles. i wonder if the government has some sort of corruption-free, zonal-bias free fund to help such luminaries and not-so-luminaries.
Sad news indeed, even more so since I had seen him perform in a very intimate setting many years ago. He had the sweetest smile, given that Hindustani Classical musicans are known to be notoriously tempermental. Also, MusicIndiaOnline has five albums of Ustad saab to listen to, as well as three albums of his “jugalbandis” (roughly jamming) with other musicians, notably V.G. Jog, whom I saw perform seperately.
A sad day indeed. Such a humble man and such amazing accomplishments in his life. That is so rare these days. I feel the shehnai is one of those instruments (along with sarangi) that plays the language of our souls. Hope that he has passed on the language of his gharana to able folks that can continue this tradition. A thoughtful photo for him at TOI today: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
My his soul find the eternal source, the Paramatma. His music is potent enough to survive another century, so the man has taken of legacy too.
Indeed a great loss to Indian Classical Instrumental Music. Khansahib was a true gentleman and humble individual. I have seen him performing live many times. I would repeat these words of (Lata Mangeshkar who once said paying tribute to legendary Mohhamaad Rafi) “These kind of individual are not born everyday”. His Shehnai could easily play happy tunes, and in matter of seconds could churn out sad tunes. From “KHUSIAN” to “MAATAM” in a blink. It will be hard for anyone to match his talents.
OMG that brought on goose bumps. My earliest memories of Bismillah Khan goes back to childhood with my mom playing the wedding Shainai (played at almost all Maharashtrian weddings in my family) on Sunday mornings when she cooked. It was her favorite compliation, it became mine as well.
What’s most noteworthy about Bismillah Khan was that he single handedly raised the shahnai to classical status. An instrument long confined to weddings and other festive occasions, shahnai became in his hands an incredibly complex classical instrument and worthy of the same respect as sarod, sitar, violin. I count my nine hours of Bismillah’s music as one of my rare possessions and my teenage years listening to him in concerts as a personal accomplishment. Since this post will attract classical music afficianados, let me offer you a web site that my dad and uncle wrote and I put together – http://www.classicalmusicofindia.com. It is nothing commercial, just a modest attempt to explain the beauty and science of Hindustani classical music to anybody who is interested.
I once met Ustad Bismillah Khan after a SPICMACY concert. He was a very humble person..a true gem.
I read the headlines of Ustad Bismillah Khan’s passing this morning on BBC, and was immediately struck by the loss of a living musical legacy. Thanks Amardeep for the Youtube link, I had been listening to Charlie Parker’s flourishing bebop lines all morning (something I do while working), and to contrast that immediately with the Hindustani virtuoso was truly exhilirating. May his legacy live on.
Will it be possible for Indian classical music (and dance) to survive in the future? My understanding is, in order to excel at these particular arts, you need to devote your life to them, starting in childhood. It’s a whole culture and mentality, not just notes on an instrument. Considering that no one will allow their kids’ mainstream academic education to lag behind or be neglected, and that future practitioners will have to fit this stuff in as extra-curricular activity, will anyone be able to achieve the levels of mastery that people like Ustad Bismillah Khan did?
He supported something like 100 relatives for a long time. In the end he had very little money for himself, and had to make this appeal.
“Will it be possible for Indian classical music (and dance) to survive in the future?”
It has for centuries. What’s another 100 years going to do? And it is wrong to assume that the participants of classical art forms are disappearing. Classical arts have always been attracted a niche audience, even in the olden days.
so it wasn’t just my ipod acting up that bismillah-ji’s pieces kept coming up, one after another, while it was on shuffle yesterday. amazing. Khan-saheb WAS shehnai… no one else even came close in accomplishment on the instrument.
Thanks for the illuminating post; I regret that I only learnt about him and his musical legacy after his death.
My grandfather introduced me to Ustad Bismillah Khan’s music. I remember thinking of the Shehnai as “wedding music” until I actually heard the Ustad play. I regret that I never saw him perform.
I was lucky enough to see him play live, when he was invited to my high school as a guest and performed. I didn’t realize at the time that how much of a living legend this man was and how lucky i was to have seen him play live only a couple of feet away from me.
I cried the day Ustad Bismillah khan saheb died. I was lucky to meet him and see him with his group when I was a student at Doaba College Jullundhur City Panjab back in 1960 at Devi Talab which is famous for having Hariballabh Mela every year. Khan Sheb came to perform at that function. I remember Ashwani Kumar used to be IG of Police of Punjab at that time. He recorded all his performances on a tape recorder and I managed to sit infront of khan saheb. He was the real ” JEWEL OF INDIA” ( Bharat Ratna”.) The only other time I cried was when NAUSHAD, Music Director died as well. Both of them were “Great Sons of INDIA”.