Before the curtain calls...
GAUTAM CHATTERJEE
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Ustad Bismillah Khan on life beyond music and the notes in life.
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Let death come, I don't care. For I have told Him, and I have faith He has accepted me.
Photo: V. Sudershan
A CENTURY TO LOOK BACK Ustad Bismillah Khan says it's ridiculous to mix music and religion.
He is 90 now, and waiting probably for one last concert at the death-celebrating city Benaras. Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan expresses himself in quotable quotes as "Kisi ko acchhi soorat aur seerat mil sakti hai, acchha guru, riyaz aur manch mil sakta hai, lekin uske kaam ki taseer tab tak nahin ho sakti jab tak ki Khuda ki marzi na ho." (One can get beautiful looks and luck, a good teacher, practice and stage but the effect depends on the grace of God.)
His melodious playing of Madhuvanti and Yaman Kalyan in detail, still receives thunderous applause while he passes most of his time on the terrace of his house, set in Sarai Haraha. Be it summer or winter, he never leaves this place and delivers his statements gazing at the sky, into nothingness. In this tête-à-tête, he was more concerned with the life hereafter, musically. He remembers his ustad, Manu Ali Baksh, and calls for imbibing his virtues.
The influence
This Bharat Ratna is still deeply influenced by stalwarts like Abdul Karim Khan, the pioneer of the Kirana gharana, and Ustad Waheed Khan. Their cumulative influence along with his own prodigious genius led him to float his own unique style of performing, in which he used to recite in `ati' or extreme slow pace and made use of beautifully patterned and intricate tanas.
He remembers his marvellous attachment to Ustad Abdul Karim Khan's music.
"Once I was participating in a function on the occasion of the ustad's death anniversary. My turn came at six in the morning. I tried to start Todi, but somehow I began to play Malkauns. The ustad's disciples related to his gharana were present in the audience. I felt that Abdul Karim Khan was also sitting amidst the crowd." The maestro's eyes turn moist. "After a pause, I tried to play it again but failed. I knew the departed soul came to acknowledge my respect for him and then I realised that I was playing a midnight raga in the morning, oblivious of what I was doing."
Man and nature seem to have forged a happy collaboration to set up a miracle like him. No more than a pack of bones and wrinkles, he seems to shed 70 years, the moment he lets out his burly voice, which leaves the listener wondering about the source of its prodigious energy.
There is an old world charm in his smile and musical presence. His health is all right, but he is not happy with the civic facilities of Benaras and some homely matters.
A strict disciplinarian, he asks, "Why is discipline not made a part of the education for this upcoming music generation?"
Music and religion
He continues, "Mausiqui main bhi mazhab ki baat karte hain ve! Arey sangeet ke mazhab se judne ke baad aur koi mazhab nahin bachta." (They bring religion into music. It's ridiculous. For, I think, no religion remains, once one is devoted to the religion of music.)
He exemplifies, "Ghaur kijiye to Lata ki awaz main, kudrat bolti hai." (If you notice, nature sings in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar.)
At this stage of life, Khan says God is his only concern. "I touch my shehnai at least once a day in the morning - even if I am sick - after my first prayer. For the young artistes, he advises that first devotion and then tenacity, is important if they want to stay long in the discipline.
"They must also face the constant sufferings of life and pay respect to the seniors. "Pehle sanskar phir sansar." (First get lessons for the world and then achieve.)
He might be far from the world of the Internet, but still he seems very close to space and pace of death to transcend musically. "Woh ayega to aye, parwah nahin. Lekin jisse kehna tha keh diya aur mujhe yaqeen hai usne sun li hai. (Let death come, I don't care. For I have told Him, and I have faith He has accepted me.)
As he gets ready for another concert, which people say could be his final one, Khan sighs, "I have cultivated all and got all. Now I am tired of all, but want to see the smile on the face of God like an innocent child. Nature is cooperating, health is not."
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