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