The religion of music
JYOTI NAIR BELLIAPPA
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Bismillah Khan's last performance in Madras was for Amir Khusro Sangeet Academy on October 20, 2002.
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Ustad Bismillah Khan
The reverberations of the shehnai seem to convey "Maut se kisko rustagari hai, aaj voh, kal hamaari bari hai..." Who has deliverence from death? Today it is his and tomorrow its ours.
While this sentiment of Zaukh rings true in every sense of the word, Ustad Bismillah Khan's resounding echoes on the shehnai have immortalised him, the `naad' being eternal and everlasting.
Bismillah Khan's last performance in Madras was for Amir Khusro Sangeet Academy on October 20, 2002. His telephone conversation with Munna Shaukat was most heartening. Khan Sahib said, "Hum bahut barson ke baad Chennai aa rahe hain, aur hum Chennai iss liye aana chhate hai, kyonki Chennai sangeet ka markaz hai aur hum yahan do din pahle aana chhate hain" ("I am coming to Chennai after ages, and I am coming because Chennai is the centre of music and I'd like to come here two days in advance.")
To host an artist of Bismillah Khan Sahib's stature was in itself a formidable task. However, every word that he uttered spoke volumes of his musical tradition, his beliefs, his ideology and what is more, it brought out his splendid personality. As Sajjad Bukhari put it, "the best was his infectious hypnotic smile."
Having been blessed both on the paternal and maternal sides through chacha Ghazi Baksh and Mamu Rajab Ali, Ustad ji became natural heir to a tradition which had to be nurtured and sustained. ``We have embraced this religion, in music we are one."
Bismillah Khan was true to his words — the Vishwanath Temple in Benares would awaken to the sombre notes of Mian ki Todi. ``... if one can pray in any undefiled place, why can't I play the shehnai in the temple?" he often wondered.
The musician in him became a poet and a singer as Blake would say, "Hear the voice of the Bard, who, present, past and future sees." And likewise, the immemorial, everlasting rich musical tradition relentlessly, flowed through his mind. Though born in Dumrao in Bihar, Khan Sahib could never live away from Varanasi, his karam bhoomi, and declined the invitation of the Rock feller Foundation to live abroad, as his patriotic fervour far exceeded his desire to fame. This proved the point that the artist and the man were one and the same in him.
The deep sonorous shehnai set forth impulses, stirred emotions, stimulated a feeling which, in turn led to a chain of experiences, resulting in an integral response, an act of identity or communion between the Ustad and his listeners.
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