Free Essays-Art and Culture-Ustad Bismillah Khan

Ustad Bismillah Khan

Shehnai Maestro, Ustad Bismillah Khan brought a rare vibrancy and resplendence to Indian classical music. An instrumentalist with gifted artistic genius, he enthralled his audiences across the globe and elevated the Shehnai to a position of pride and glory in Indian classical music.

 The world renowned Ustad Bismillah Khan Sahib gave shehnai its due status, among other Indian classical music instruments. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Shri, the Tansen Award, the Bharat Ratna and many more. His debut  was at the age of 14, after which there was no looking back.

Born in a house fully immersed in the tunes and rhythm of music, young Bismillah started even playing marbles to the tunes of shehnai. Though born in a family of traditional shehnai players, his relatives were astonished to witness the innate musical talent in young Bismillah.

Penchant For Perfection

Bismillah, with his penchant for perfection, often practiced in his room for 4-6 hours, at a stretch. Oblivious to the changes taking place outside the four walls he experimented and discovered new heights and depths of musical scales and melodies. Bismillah was so overtaken by the thirst to perfect his own music that he often missed the other pleasures in a young boy’s life.

Ustad Bismillah Khan  toured the world extensively and  brought soulful tunes of the shehnai to the hearts of millions. Edinburgh Festival, in UK in (1966), Montreal World Exposition in 1967, Cannes Art Festival, France (1969), Osaka World Exposition in 1970, are but some of the international performances which Khan Sahib adorned. Wherever he went, he received thundering applause from his inspired and touched audiences.

Bharat Ratna Award

First musician to play for Independent India at Red Fort on 15^th August, 1947, he played the opening tunes at the Red Fort, New Delhi on the 50^th year of Indian Independence in 1997. The President Shri K.R Narayanan conferred the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna Award upon Ustad Bismillah Khan on May 4, 2001.

His honorary doctorate from the Banaras Hindu University and Shantiniketan speaks of his fame.

Divine Unity

            Where others see conflict and contradiction between his music and his religion, Bismillah Khan sees only a divine unity.

“All my songs are to the devotion of Thee,
All my tunes are the shadowy images of Thee,
My dreams are visited by celestial fairies of music;
In my sleep I keep fluting shehnai to welcome Thee.”

The legendary shehnai maestro was a man of tenderness, a man who believe in remaining private and who believe that musicians were supposed to be heard and not seen.   

  

Ustad Bismillah Khan, whose name has become synonymous with Shehnai, symbolized the secular ethos of Indian Classical Music. The “Bharat Ratna” recipient enthralled audiences all over the world with his music. The country and the music world have suffered an irreparable loss by his demise. Though the Ustad is no more with us, the melodious voice of his Shehnai will eternally echo in the minds and hearts of humanity.