RMIM Archive Article "62".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM/C Archives..
# Subject: Great Master's series
# Great Masters 2: Ustad Bismillah Khan - The Shehnai Maestro!
#
# Posted by: Rajan Parrikar (parrikar@colorado.edu)
# Sources: "Down Melody Lane" (1984) by G.N. Joshi
#
#
The second installment of the Great Masters series follows. This
week's feature is on Ustad Bismillah Khan and it is taken from
G.N. Joshi's 1984 book "Down Melody Lane".
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Ustad Bismillah Khan
by
G.N.Joshi
pp 47-52
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The shehnai is perhaps the most popular of all the instruments in
Indian music, because it sounds extremely sweet. It is an an-
cient wind instrument played all over India. It is played morn-
ing and evening at the time of prayer in most big temples, during
holy festivals, and on all auspicious occasions. The sound of a
shehnai at once fills the atmosphere with a soothing sweetness
and sublime peace. This small instrument, hardly two feet long,
produces magic notes that hypnotize listeners.
Bismillah Khan, the most outstanding and world-famous shehnai
player, has attained astonishing mastery over the instrument. He
was born in a small village in Bihar about 60 years ago. He
spent his childhood in the holy city of Varanasi, on the banks of
the Ganga, where his uncle was the official shehnai player in the
famous Visvanath temple. It was due to this that Bismillah became
interested in playing the Shehnai. At an early age, he familiar-
ized himself with various forms of the music of UP, such as Thum-
ri, Chaiti, Kajri, Sawani etc. Later he studied Khayal music and
mastered a large number of ragas.
I met and heard Bismillah for the first time in 1941, when he
came to our studio for a recording. At that time his elder broth-
er also played with him. Both the brothers were expert players,
but the famous Urdu saying "Bade bhai so bade bhai, lekin chhote
bhai - Subhanallah!" perfectly described the brothers. When they
played together Bismillah Khan always played down his own part as
he did not wish to overshadow his brother. 'Even though I have
the ability, I must always remember that he is my elder brother'
he always said with humility and modesty. I ventured to question
him about this after the death of his elder brother. He said
again, 'He was my elder brother, hence it was not proper for me
to play better than him'.
Bismillah Khan's party included three or four accompanists, one
of whom gave him the main complementary support. Instead of a
tabla, a duggi player provided rhythm accompaniment. Nowadays,
Bismillah Khan has a tabla also. The duggi consists of two drums,
like a tabla and dugga, but smaller in size. The duggi has nei-
ther the resounding quality of the tabla nor the peculiarity that
the tabla has of sustaining the frequencies of a note (aas) but
since it is the traditional instrument in UP, Bismillah Khan
prefers to have it.
Ever since Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar introduced Indian
music to the West, a number of Indian musicians have been invited
to perform abroad. It was therefore hardly surprising that a
musician of Bismillah Khan's calibre should be one of them.
In 1964, when I visited London and Europe, I found that many
music lovers in UK, France, Germany and other countries had al-
ready come under the spell of Bismillah's LP records.
On my return I repeatedly urged Bismillah Khan to accept invita-
tions from those countries. But he was mortally afraid of air
travel and hence avoided going abroad. When in 1965, he received
an invitation to play in Europe, he made impossible demands just
to get out of it. The LP records which we used to release every
three or four months further increased the interest of western
listeners. In 1966 he again received through the Indian goverment
a flattering invitation from the UK to participate in the famous
Edinburgh festival. He resorted to his old tactic of making im-
possible demands such as, 'I won't go by plane, I want 10 people
to accompany me and I want so much remuneration besides...',etc
etc. This was done in the hope that the invitation would be with-
drawn. But he was pressurized into accepting the invitation by a
very senior official in the Indian government who offered him
fresh inducements. Bismillah Khan agreed to go to Edinburgh, but
on one condition. He demanded that he and his staff should be
first taken, at state expense, on a pilgrim- age to Mecca and
Medina. This wish was granted and, at last, Bismillah Khan board-
ed a plane. He completed the Haj pilgrimage at state expense and,
fortified by prayers and blessings received from Allah, reached
England safely. Bismillah Khan was the star attraction at the
Edinburgh festival that year. His shehnai, sometimes soft and
sweet, sometimes vibrantly alive with sonorously rich alapi,
filled the air and brought the vast audience under its magic
spell. The next day the papers were full of lavish praise for his
divine performance. The following year, he received an invitation
from the USA. Having realised how comfortable it is to travel by
air, he did not raise any objections. He toured all over America
regaling millions of people. He has since become a veteran air
traveller and is always willing to visit any country of the
world.
The Government of India bestowed on him the title "Padmashri";
later he was further honoured by the title "Padmabhusan", and now
the "Padmavibhusan" has been conferred on him. Inspite of being
glorified in this manner he remained as modest as ever. When in-
vited for a recording he always came withour demur. He once had a
program at seven in the evening, and had a reservation on a early
morning train the next day. At my request he came to our studio
at about midnight, after the concert. By early dawn had recorded
material sufficient for two records. After having breakfast in
our studio he went straight to the station to catch the train.
I was always trying to find new ways to increase the sales of our
records. When the jugalbandi record of Ravi Shankar's sitar and
Ali Akbar's sarod proved to be a hit, I decided to record a
jugalbandi of the shehnai with some other instrument. A jugalban-
di of the shehnai and the sitar was used in the film played by
Bismillah Khan and Sitar Nawaz Abdul Halim Jaffar Khan. When I
put my idea to Halim Jaffar he said to me candidly, in the pic-
ture'. Also the jugalbandi in the film lasted for only three
minutes. An LP record, 20 minutes long, would not according to
him, be able to hold the interest of the listeners. The sitar
sounds very soft and gentle compared to the vibrant and powerful
notes of the shehnai. The volume of a sitar can be electrically
magnified only upto a certain limit. Any further increase will
result in distortion (This is true of all musical instruments). I
therefore gave up the idea for the time being. But when Bismillah
Khan went abroad to perform in the Edinburgh festival where Ustad
Vilayat Khan also was giving a sitar recital, I grabbed the op-
portunity. Through our London office we were successful in bring-
ing an LP with these two star artists on the shehnai and the si-
tar.
After this successful experiment, the idea of making another of
the shehnai and some other instrument gripped me. The famous vio-
linist Pandit V.G. Jog was at that time a producer at AIR Bombay.
I made this proposal to him. Jog immediately favoured the idea
and in a few days a joint programme of shehnai and the violin
sponsored by All India Radio was held before a select audience.
The programme, in my opinion, was not a success and was not at
all what I had expected it to be. However, I still felt that it
could be done well and came up with an idea which I discussed
with my friend Pandit Jog. I suggested that the two instruments
having similar tonal qualities would sound well together if they
were played in different octaves. When, for instance, Bismillah
Khan played in the Taar Saptak, Pandit Jog could play in the Man-
dra and Madhya saptak, and when Khansaheb was in the lower sap-
tak, Pandit Jog could play in the Taar saptak. There would thus
be a striking contrast in tone, pitch and timbre. The artistry of
both the veteran players would be emphasized and there would be a
perfect blending of the two instruments. When we did this and is-
sued the record, true to my expectation, it was a thundering suc-
cess.
During my 7-month trip around the world, no fresh record of
Bismillah Khan was made. As soon as I resumed duty after my re-
turn in March 1971, I decided to record two fast selling artists
who had not been available during my absence. They were Bismillah
Khan and Bhimsen Joshi. The annual music festival of Sur Singar
Samshad usually takes place in Bombay in April every year and it
is usually inaugurated by Bismillah Khan. I therefore sent him a
telegram and a letter asking him to spare time for a recording
during his visit to the city.
As a member of the governing body of the Sur Singar Samshad I at-
tended a meeting at the residence of its director Mr. Brijnaray-
an. Bismillah Khan also dropped in at the time of the meeting
which was held on a Thursday. The sammelan was to open on Satur-
day and we therefore agreed to have a recording session the pre-
vious morning, that is, Friday.
Friday is the Muslim day of prayer, and devout Muslims take par-
ticular care not to miss their noon prayer. Khan Saheb therefore
agreed to do the recording from 8.30 in the morning so that he
would be able to attend the Jumma after the recording. Accord-
ingly I came to the studio at 8.30 on the dot. I was followed al-
most immediately by Bismillah Khan's accompanists. Soon after-
wards Khan Saheb came up in the lift. I went to greet him and was
surprised to see him in dark glasses and all the more perplexed
to see him wearing them so early in the morning. Bismillah gave
an explanation. Bombay at that time was in the grip of a partic-
ularly infectious eye epidemic-conjuntivitis-and Khan Saheb had
fallen victim to it. He said to me, 'I couldn't sleep at all
last night and I'm feeling very miserable'. I said, 'You
shouldn't have bothered to come then'. 'Oh no! I couldn't do
that,' he said, smiling. 'I gave you my word that I would come
at 8.30. I didn't want you to say that I don't keep my promises'.
I was touched to the core. A true artist is always careful to
preserve good relations with his friends. Khan Saheb really
looked as if he was in great pain. Seeing him thus I said, 'We
will cancel the recording'. He took his seat on the platform and
in two hours he recorded two ragas and a thumri for an LP. I was
standing right in front of him. He was holding the shehnai to his
lips and was completely engrossed in the haunting music that
poured out from the tiny instrument. He played on, completely ob-
livious of his discomfort and his streaming eyes. He finished the
magnificent recording and asked me if I wanted more!
What I miss most after my retirement from HMV is the pleasure I
used to get from Bismillah Khan's shehnai. I am sure that by
God's grace, he will continue to delight millions in our country
and abroad for many years to come.
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Rajan Parrikar
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian