RMIM Archive Article "108".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM/C Archives..
# Subject: Great Master's series
# Great Masters 14a: Yogician Amir Khansaheb
#
# Posted by: Rajan Parrikar (parrikar@spot.colorado.edu)
# Sources: "Great masters of Hindustani Music" by Smt. Susheela Misra
#
Namashkar!
The music of Khansaheb was pansophic in its conception, manna for
the soul, an afflatus to purification of the self. In sum, the
distillate of the most sublime in the Bharatiya tradition. To
borrow a bit from a sentiment expressed in a similar context by
Shri Bertrand Russell: it is artistry of men like Amir Khan that
makes the human race worth preserving!
The charming Susheela Misra once again, on this Yogi of a musi-
cian.
Rajan Parrikar
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Ustad Amir Khan
by
Susheela Misra
"Great masters of Hindustani Music" by Smt. Susheela Misra
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Fourteenth February 1974 was an ill-fated day for Hindustani
music because it lost two great stalwarts on the same day. Pt.
Srikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar succumbed to protracted illness.
Ustad Amir Khan in the height of his form and fame, was tragical-
ly killed in a car accident. Although in his early sixties the
Ustad was still a force to reckon with in North Indian music, and
had it not been for that grievous accident, he might have easily
gone on dominating the music world for another decade or so. The
world of Indian music went into mourning on l3th February 1974,
and there were public condolence-meetings in numerous cities.
Programmes of tributes to the two departed maestros were broad-
cast from all the important Stations of All India Radio.
Born in April 1912 in Kalanaur, Amir Khan began his musical
training as a Sarangi-disciple of his own father Ustad Shahmir
Khan, a noted Sarangi player who had learnt his art from Chajju
Khan and Nazir Khan of the Bhindibazar gharana. Amir Khan's early
grooming in Sarangi was only the foundation of his musical edi-
fice. He had a vision and imagination of his own for higher
artistic flights. Being a reputed artiste and a warm friendly
person, Shahmir Khan's hospitable home was a veritable rendezvous
of many great contemporary maestros like Ustads Allabande Khan,
Jafruddin, Nasiruddin Khan, Beenkar Wahid Khan, Rajab Ali Khan,
Hafeez Khan, Sarangi- nawaz Bundu Khan, Beenkar Murad Khan and
several others. Thus, although Amir Khans's early musical train-
ing commenced with Sarangi, the impressionable and intelligent
youngster was constantly exposed to the various vocal gharanas of
the times. Gradually, Shahmir Khan himself began to devote more
time to Amir Khan's vocal training in which merukhand (or Khand-
meru) practice and sargam-singing were specially emphasised.
Moulded by the styles of three great giants of his younger days,
namely, Ustads Bahre Wahid Khan , Rajab Ali Khan and Aman Ali
Khan, Amir Khan evolved his own stylistic school which came to be
known as "the Indore Gharana."
In fact, Amir Khan was a self-taught musician. He assimilated the
distinctive features of the gayakis that appealed to his aesthet-
ic sense and were in perfect accord with his voice. The style
that he evolved was a unique fusion of intellect and emotion, of
technique and temperament, of talent and imagination. His style
was a synthesis of three different styles. He assimilated the
colour and spirit of Wahid Khan's style, (with its chastity of
swara intonation and a richly soporific effect of melodic ela-
boration) so well that Ustad Wahid Khan blessed him. "Long shall
my music live in you after I am gone". The slow Khayal is ren-
dered in such a slow tempo that it has "the langour of unfinished
sleep." This style originated in the Merukhand style of the
Bhindibazar-gharana. This generally strove to produce the permu-
tations and combinations of a given set of notes. These are like
mathematical exercises with little artistic effect in a concert.
The development of the Vilambit Khayal was marked by deep sereni-
ty. The concept of an extra slow tempo with a slow and meticulous
unfolding of the raga and the "cheez" was taken from Ustad Bahere
Wahid Khan. His taans were clearly influenced by the eloquent
ones of Ustad Rajab Ali Khan. In sargam-singing, he revealed his
admiration for Ustad Aman Ali Khan.
During his early sojourn in Bombay, Amir Khan had be come a close
friend of Late Aman Ali Khan. Amir Khan always maintained that
had Aman Ali Khan lived longer he would have been the former's
"confrere in the world of music". This newly amalgamated "Indore"
style of Ustad Amir Khan captivated and influenced a whole gen-
eration of younger musicians of all categories through the con-
templative and reposeful beauty of his slow, leisurely Badhat
(elaboration) enlivened by the "exuberance of his proliferating
sargams" and rushing taans. So tremendous has been the impact of
his distinctive "gayaki" on the rising generation of young Hin-
dustani vocalists that Amir Khan commanded a large following
among the younger aspirants. He no longer remained as an isolated
individual. For years, he remained one of the most sought after
classical vocalists of his times. What set him apart from his
contemporary artistes was the fact that he never made any conces-
sions to popular tastes, but always stuck to his pure, almost
puritanical, highbrow style. "His music combined the massive dig-
nity of Dhruvpad with the ornate vividness of Khayal". There are
some musicians of the Kirana school who argue that the words of
the Khayals are of no importance ! But Amir Khan held different
views. He used to say: "The poetic element in Khayal is as vital
as its melodic element. An artiste has to have a poet's imagina-
tion to be a good musician". Amir Khan has proved that "chaste
refined music does not lack listener-response", for, he strictly
remained uncontaminated by the present craze for showiness. The
tall, handsome Ustad had a dignified concert presence. His digni-
ty of bearing and his posture of Yogic calm on the stage struck
a perfect accord with the serene grandeur of his music. It was as
though his musical thought was in tune with some ideal of beauty
and he was striving to communicate it to his charmed audience".
As Prof Sushil Kumar Saxena wrote (in the Sangeet Natak Akademy
Journal 31) "An Amir Khan swara was at once a tuning of the self,
a calm that spreads while Ghulam Ali's glows with a pulpy lumi-
nosity."
Amir Khan's forte was the exaggeratedly slow or ati vilambit
Khayal which he developed in a most leisurely mood with deep
serenity and contemplativeness. While his ardent admirers found
this part of his concert absolutely engrossing, there were others
who found it "excruciatingly slow" or even "insipid"! He always
avoided Sarangi accompaniment, and wanted nothing more than a
steady, plain Theka from his Tabla accompanist. His favourite
slow talas were Jhoomra and Tilwada. Words were subservient to
the "absolute music" that he sang, and naturally, "bol-alaps" and
"Bol taans" were conspicuously absent in his singing. In the
course of his prolonged unfoldment of the vilambit Khayal
asthayi, Amir Khan would sometimes render flashing "meteoric
taans". His "taans" were marked by many graces like elegant
gamaks, lahak and clear "daanas" (clarity of each note). It was
natural that the Ustad always chose highly serious, expansive,
traditional ragas like Todi, Bhairav, Lalit, Marwa, Puriya, Mal-
kauns, Kedara, Darbari, Multani, Poorvi, Abhogi, Chandrakauns and
so on. Even the lighter ragas like Hamsadhwani acquired a serious
expansive mood when rendered by Amir Khan. His rich, mellow voice
was at its best in the deep, dignified "mandra" notes (lower
notes). His voice had some inherent limitations, but he shrewdly
evolved a style to suit his voice.
Summing up the essence of his father's vocal style, Ekram Ahmad
Khan (the eldest son of the Ustad) wrote :
"Amongst the elder maestros of music, Khan Saheb was intensely
devoted to Rajab Ali Khan of Dewas, and Aman Ali Khan of Bhindi-
bazar. He also studied the styles of Bahere Wahid Khan and Abdul
Karim Khan and amalgamated the essence of the styles of these
four maestros with his own intellectual approach to music, and
conceived what is now known as the Indore gharana of music".
During the first 25 years of his life, Amir Khan devoted consid-
erable time to sargam-singing, what is known as "Merukhand prac-
tice" consisting of varied permutations and combinations of
kaleidoscopic swara-pattenns. These complicated "Khandameru" sar-
gams, and flashing meteoric taans brightened his reposeful vilam-
bit Khayals now and then. The"Merukhand" style of singing is men-
tioned in the l4th century Sanskrit classic Sangeeta-ratnakara of
Sarangdeva.
Another significant aspect of Amir Khan's art imparting it a
unique quality, was his refined voice and the way he moulded it
to suit his chosen style. Endowed with the face of an intellectu-
al, his temperament, like his music, was serene, unruffled. He
never lost his temper. He extended the same courtesy to all, big
and small, and listened attentively to even lesser artistes.
Humility was native to him, his judgements were generous, and he
was above petty jealousies.
Although Amir Khan never rendered Thumris in his concerts, his
disciples speak of the exquisite way in which he rendered Thumris
for them in his intimate home-circle. His "cultured" voice was
suited for the melodious Thumri style also. Amir Khan's sole con-
cession to the speed-loving contemporary listeners was the Tarana
in which he did considerable research. According to him, the
Tarana-syllables have a mystical significance. Although his voice
was at its best in the lower notes, it could also soar and sweep
across far-off swaras with nimble grace. Such was the influence
of his music that in an era of impatient listeners, Ustad Amir
Khan was able to instil, by the example of his own art, a genuine
and widespread love for serious, contemplative music into the
hearts of young music lovers all over the country. He was strong-
ly against the idea of any short-cuts to success in music.
Even when Amir Khan did playback singing for some films, he re-
fused to cut adrift from his classical moorings. The songs he
rendered were always in highly classical style and in ragas like
Darbari, Adana, Megh, Desi, Puriya Dhanasri etc. In his tribute
the Ustad, Prof S.K. Saxena writes in the Sangeet Natak Akademi
Journal :
"Amir Khan was different and solitary because of his absolute in-
difference to the reactions of his audience while he was singing.
He never seemed to make a conscious endeavour to please the audi-
ence. He faced them majestically, with his music alone, and with
pure classicality--- Often his music seemed strangely disembodied
from raga-tala distinctions into a kind of musical incense borne
aloft on the very wings of devotion-- His music, at its best, was
rarely a dazzle. It would be rather an influence, an atmosphere
which would just be with us till long after the recital".
There was a time when Amir Khan was a rage in Calcutta and no
music conference there was complete without his recital. The
Films Division of the Government of India has brought out a docu-
mentary film on his life in recognition of his great contribution
to Hindustani music. For his eminence as a performing artiste and
for his significant contributions to classical music, he was
crowned with many honours such as the Fellowship of the Sangeet
Natak Akademi, the Presidential Award, Padma Bhushan (1971) and
the Swar Vilas from Sur Singar Samsad (1971). But these honours
and his large following in the music world left him untouched.
Amir Khan continued to be a very simple individual "accessible to
all and sundry", and he never assumed any airs like some of his
contemporaries. Though not educated in the formal sense, he was a
highly sophisticated person who moved with dignity in the highest
society where he was genuinely revered. It was considered a
privilege to be his friend. Through his own efforts, he learnt
Hindi, Urdu, Persian and a bit of Sanskrit, and he studied the
writings of Guru Nanak, Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and
others. Khan Saheb's son Ekram Ahmad Khan writes that it was
these studies and his close friendship with Narayan Swami (of
Calcutta) that led to his unique blend of Sufism. "Khan Saheb",
writes his son, "was a Sufi in the true sense of the word--- a
man without any specific religious ties, a man totally devoted to
the oneness of mankind, a true citizen of the World". Amir Khan
was a good composer and some of his compositions reflect these
religious convictions of his. One instance is "Laaj rakh lijyo
mori, Saheb, Sattar, Nirankar, Jai ke Daata, Tu Raheem Ram Teri
maaya aparampar, Mohe tore karam pe aadhar Jag ke daata---."
Whenever I heard Amir Khan singing the Khayal in Bairagi begin-
ning with the words-- "Man sumirat nis din tumharo naam", I felt
that the words and the spirit of the raga were most aptly suited
for Amir Khan's musical temperament.
Since 1968, Khan Saheb used to go to U.S.A in alternate years to
spend the summer with his son Ekram Ahmad Khan, a graduate in
chemical engineering from McGill University who has settled down
in U.S.A as an Engineering Manager in Canada. [Sounds odd,
doesn't it? Maybe he lives in Buffalo and drives to Toronto for
work:-). I wonder where Ekram is today and if he has any private
unissued recordings of the Khansaheb - RP]
Amir Khan also used to go as a visiting professor of music at the
State University of New York at New Paltz where "he planted not
only the seeds of his music among the students, but also left
behind the legacy of his Sufi philosophy".
Unassuming in his ways, Amir Khan had the capacity to adjust him-
self perfectly to his environments. He seemed equally at home
among the humble as well as among the highly sophisticated. What
a pity that this great artiste was snatched away in the peak of
his career! Here was a rare classicist who sustained his art by
pure devotion, and yet enjoyed wide popularity.
Even now, more than 7 years after his untimely death, Amir Khan's
music is still a living force because his voice is being fre-
quently heard over AIR through his recordings in the Archives and
his Long Playing Records. The Indore gharana of Amir Khan contin-
ues to live on through his pupils like Amarnath, Kanan, Srikant
Bakre, Singh Brothers, Kankana Banerji, Poorabi Mukherji and oth-
ers. There are many others whose singing has been obviously
coloured by the style of Amir Khan. The singer is gone, but his
music is still with us.
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Rajan Parrikar
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian