RMIM Archive Article "297".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
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# RMIM Archives..
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# Subject: Setting the recording straight - Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
# Author: Saeed Malik
# Source: The Nation Midweek (Pakistan)
# Contact: Khawaja Naveed Aslam (knaslam@paknet1.ptc.pk)
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A city with rich cultural traditions, Lahore has been known for
the grooming of a large number of melodists - classical
vocalists, instrumentalists popular singer and film composers.
Several areas within the Walled City earned fame because of the
ebullient creative activities of its residents. These included
Bhati Gate, Mochi Gate and Chowk Naugaza. Haveli Mian Khan,
inside Mochi Gate, was once inhabited by musicians of Sub-
continental fame. Included among them were Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali
Khan, Master Niaz Husain Shami and Bashir Ali Mahi, whose
contributions added a new tangent to the melodic culture of
Pakistan. In its neighbourhood also lived other melodists of the
calibre of Ustad Chhote Ghulam Ali Khan and Khurshid Anwar. This
piece is written about a classy classical vocalist, who had to
leave his country of his birth as a result of the neglect he
suffered both from society and the cultural bureaucracy of
Pakistan.
At times, even an apparently innocuous and casual remark, or an
insignificant incident, leads to an event of far-reaching
consequences, leaving indelible imprint on the annual of a
particular discipline. An unintentional jibe by a singing duo
aimed at a musician in the late 20s culminated in the birth of
one of the brightest stars on the melodic firmament of the Sub-
continent, whose glow spread all over the area. He commanded
ungrudging respect from professional musicians and also won the
hearts of millions of music buffs, both in Pakistan as well as
India and Bangladesh. He was the late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.
The late Qazi Zahurul Haq, in his book, Muallamul Naghmaat, has
written that the famous qawwals Mubarak Ali Khan-Fateh Ali Khan
Jallandhari were once invited to lunch by the late Bade Ghulam
Ali Khan. The qawwals, who were known for their melodic erudition
and skill in rendering classical asthai-antras (compositions),
declined the invitation with the insinuation that they could
break bread with a classical singer, but not with a sparda (an
accompanying musician with a female singer). Ghulam Ali Khan
then, was a sarangi accompanist of a well-known classical singer
of Lahore, Inayat Bai Dheroowali). The cutting edge of the remark
of the qawwals hurt young Ghulam Ali so much that there and then
he decided to give up sarangi-playing and resolved to practise
the art of classical vocalisation so that he could not be derided
by anyone any more.
That was how a great artiste was born. And what a classy singer
he ultimately turned out to be. Those who have heard him singing
(in person or through audio cassettes) will readily agree that he
was one of the most accomplished singers of Pakistan until he
migrated to India in the early 50s. His mellifluous renditions of
classical compositions, and the variety of effects his unique and
pliant voice could create, hypnotised his audiences for about 30
years during his life, and continue to cast hypnotic spells on
initiated listeners through his recorded music.
Born in Kasur in the year 1902 (some say in 1903) in a family of
professional musicians, that melodist of inimitable virtuosity
was initiated into instrumental music by his father, Ali Bakhsh.
For about 15 years, it is said, young Ghulam Ali Khan played
sarangi before he turned to classical singing. During his youth,
he had been trained by his uncle Ustad Kaley Khan, (a disciple of
the legendary Mian Taan Ras Khan) who along with his friend Fateh
Ali Khan, founded the famous Patiala gharana of kheyal singers.
Ghulam Ali Khan's family shifted from Kasur to Lahore, where they
lived in haveli Mian Khan. By 1930, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan had
already made his mark on the melodic ethos of the Punjab.
A number of Indian music critics have claimed that Ustad Bade
Ghulam Ali Khan was an Indian national at the time of partition
and went to Lahore after August 14, 1947, and that he came back
to India a few years later. This is factually incorrect. Ustad
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan was a Pakistani national at the time of the
emergence of Pakistan on the political map of the world. He
stayed in the country of his birth for several years and migrated
to India in the early 50s when he did not find cultural
environment in Pakistan congenial and conducive to the flowering
of his talent.
Before partition, he used to visit the princely states, like
other melodists of that era, to present his music in the darbars
of the Nawabs and Rajas, but he was not attached with any
princely state such as Patiala, as claimed by Manjri Sinha in his
book Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (Lotus Collection, Roli Books).
In Patiala darbar, Ustad Akhter Husain Khan (the father of Amanat
Ali Khan-Fateh Ali Khan duo was employed who, along with his
singing sons, migrated to Pakistan in September 1947.
Also, it has been claimed by many that a distinct Kasur gharana
existed in the Punjab to which Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
belonged. If the gharana is taken to mean a family tree, a family
or a khandaan, then the claim is justified. But musical gharanas
are recognised only for their stylish contribution to kheyal
singing; their different aesthetic approaches to this genre of
classical vocalisation; their innovative additions to kheyal
singing; their peculiar methods of voice production and taking
taans (flights), and their known endeavours to preserve kheyal's
serenity, beauty of its form with their creative fancy. The
mentors of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan were the followers of
Patiala gharana kheyal traditions. And he himself, at one time,
received training from Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan of Patiala. It is,
therefore, not correct to assert that a Kasur gharana of
musicians as such had existed.
Parenthetically, like several among Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's
contemporaries he, too, participated in theatrical activities.
Because of his robust physique and dark skin, he was once given
the role of kala deo (black giant) in a play entitled Inder
Sabha, which he performed well. After the advent of motion
pictures, he also composed music for a movie, which did not fare
well at the box office. His younger brothers - Barkat Ali Khan
and Mubarak Ali Khan - also created names for themselves, the
former for his stylish rendition of thumris, dadras and ghazals,
and the later (less) for his classical singing and (more) for
acting in successful Punjabi films as a hero.
Those of us from Lahore, who have had the good fortune of
listening to Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's music live, vividly
remember his almost daily impromptu concerts at a place known as
Jhuggiaan, near the two converging walls of the Lahore Fort
inside Roshnai Gate, and his weekly concerts at the tombs of Asif
Jah and Nur Jehan, across the Ravi, during the early 1940s. Takia
Meeraasian, outside Mochi Gate, Lahore, was yet another place
where the late maestro used to practise his art occasionally.
Dark-complexioned, with long thick moustaches, the burly vocalist
was quite at ease at singing almost all genres of music - Kheyal,
Thumri, Dadra, Kafi and folk, and thus represented a cross-
section of today's many-faceted and fascinating music world. But
his forte was kheyal and thumri, which always sounded fresh, and
brimmed with his strong individual traits and talents. Unlike
his contemporaries, who did not think much of it, he also had a
special liking for folk songs. Those who remained close to him
remember that he knew many Punjabi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Purabi,
Bengali, and even Nepali, folk songs, which he sang with much
gusto. Quite appropriately, he adopted the pen-name of subrang
(representing all tonal colours), for his self-composed asthais
and antras. He collected rung (colours) from everywhere and used
these on his musical canvas. He could also render taans (flights)
and sing sargam (solfeggio) with equal ease and confidence.
As fate would have it, such a talented musician as Ustad Bade
Ghulam Ali Khan was forced to leave his native land during the
early 1950s. Prior to migrating to India, he shifted to Karachi,
where he got annoyed with the behaviour and superciliousness of a
radio boss. After one year's stay there, he left for Bombay,
never to settle in Pakistan thereafter. One of the compelling
reasons for Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's departure (for good) for India
was the behaviour of a highly self-opinionated radio boss, who
used to unnecessarily brag about his melodic wisdom. The fact,
however, was that he only had a smattering of the theory of
classical music, but his performing ability was almost zero.
Using his high position in Radio Pakistan, he allegedly forced a
number of practising musicians to accept him as their Ustad. The
late Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, who disclosed his unhappy relationship
with the radio official at a social gathering in Lahore where
senior government officials, including the then Pakistan High
Commissioner in India, intellectuals, journalists and musicians
were present. This scribe was also present at that get-together
and remembers Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan requesting Khan Saheb to
return to his native land. (Before he got Indian citizenship,
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan used to visit Lahore once or twice a year).
The Khan Sahib replied in Punjabi saying that he too had a
stomach to fill. As if to add punch to his statement, he pointed
to his tummy and sarcastically added: "Unfortunately, my tummy
(pait) is unusually larger than others."
Predictably, he was warmly welcomed in India where, after some
time he was honoured with the highest civil awards which are
given to individuals for their artistic excellence. (The late
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan told several persons, including this scribe,
that the then Indian Prime Minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru,
had personally persuaded him to settle in India permanently,
instead of staying there for nine months in a year and going back
to Pakistan to qualify for yet another Indian visa). It is a pity
that Pakistan had to lose such a great artist as a result of the
alleged high-handedness of just one haughty radio bureaucrat.
In a system of music, the main characteristics of which is
improvisation within a given scalic framework, consistency of
quality in repeated recitals is an unusual virtue, bordering on
genius. The late Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, with his extremely
melodious voice and superb skill in improvisation, maintained the
quality of his music until he breathed his last. Even after
having been inflicted by a stroke, which partially paralysed him
in the early 1960s, he succeed in staging a comeback to the world
of showbiz. The phenomenon was attributed to the courage,
determination and strong will power of the late maestro, which
enabled him to sing again after suffering from a crippling
disease.
Gifted with abundant natural talent, and with the help of regular
practice, the great vocalist could sing any form of music and
keep the level of his performance at a sustained level. Paying
tribute to his virtuosity, Manjri Sinha has observed:
"With his music, he illustrated what the Patiala gayaki actually
represented. He retained the traditional flavour of the style,
but ornamented it with his creative genius, to create a style he
christened as the Kasoor gayaki. diligently studying voice
culture, he emphasised the need to cultivate a natural and
expressive voice, devoid of any false mannerisms. Absolute
accuracy of swara was to be maintained painstakingly, even in the
fastest of taan passages. A beautiful, flawless aakar came to
characterise his style, besides the above features".
V N Despande, a noted Indian musicologist, has praised Bade
Ghulam Ali Khan, in the following words:
"His voice was flawless from the point of view of the modern
science of voice culture. Compared to Kirana (gayiki), Ghulam Ali
Khan allowed greater scope to rhythm-play in which he had a
considerable virtuosity. Bole-element was relatively abundant in
his music.
In very slow tempo, he could produce very fast revolutions and in
fast tempo, extremely slow revolutions. A voice which easily
moved in any tempo was a special gift of the Creater to Ghulam
Ali Khan."
The late Khan Sahib was particularly adept at singing difficult
and obscure ragas. His marvellous rendition of Kamod, Darbari and
several other ragas, which are now available in the form of
cassettes, bear eloquent testimony to his musical prowess and
agility. Because of his laxity with rigid formulae in classical
compositions, he was sometimes accused of being a non-conformist,
an accusation that in fact served as a tribute to his virtuosity
in presenting swinging versions of a particular composition, when
he was at his creative best. Quite naturally, he refused to sing
just the grammar of music. His vocalisation was a fine specimen
of a fusion of traditions and innovations, which musicologists
and practitioners of this fine art regard as the life-blood of
progressive refinement in music.
All artists, to varying degrees, are emotional and acutely
sensitive to human sufferings, joys, yearnings and hopes. The
late Khan Sahib, however, was a class by himself. His sensitivity
was sharper and the scope of his emotional universe wider than
that of any other of his contemporaries. Even a minor event of
emotional distress left a deep impression on his mind - the dig
which the qawwals had at him, and which radically transformed his
life, is a clear pointer to this trait of his personality.
Did Bade Ghulam Ali Khan leave Pakistan of his own volition? Did
he become enamoured of money, grandeur and a luxurious lifestyle?
Or, was he a victim of societal neglect and callous indifference?
Or, did he succumb to the over-bearing attitude and behaviour of
a senior cultural bureaucrat? Perhaps, a combination of all
these factors forced him to leave his homeland, which constantly
bugged him in dreams, especially during the evening of his life.
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian