Shehnai Badushah Bismillah Khan is no more

The great Bismillah Khan, after days of illness, finally breathed his last today.



The Government today declared a one-day national mourning in view of the death of shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan saying that his demise was a national loss.

Expressing condolence at Khan's death, who has been credited with taking the shehnai from the marriage mandap to the concert hall, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the legendary musician would be given a state funeral.

Flags would be flown at half mast in all the government buildings as part of the mourning.

"We will observe a national mourning. His death is shocking for us. It is a national loss and we will not be able to replace him soon," Patil told reporters here.

In Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh Government also declared a one-day mourning on the death and ordered closure of all government schools, colleges and offices, officials said here.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also declared a day's mourning in the state on account of Khan's death.

Khan, one of India's most celebrated classical musicians, who had been ailing for quite some time, died of cardiac arrest at the Heritage hospital in Varanasi in the wee hours today.

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly was adjourned for the day after lunch while Andhra Pradesh Assembly observed two minutes silence to pay homage to shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan who died in Varanasi this morning following cardiac arrest.

As soon as the Himachal Pradesh House reassembled after the lunch break, the chief minister Vir Bhadra Singh informed that the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had adjourned after paying tribute to "Bharat Ratna" and suggested the House be adjourned as mark of respect to the departed soul.

The Speaker adjourned the House after the chief minister made his suggestion and said the business listed for today would be taken up tomorrow.

The chief minister also declared three days state mourning.

In Andhra Pradesh Assembly, the condolence resolution was moved by Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy who described Khan as a musical genius with high moral standards.

Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu condoling the death recalled his association with the sehnai maestro who gave a few performances during the TDP rule.

A suggestion was also made to rename one of the musical colleges after Bismillah Khan.

Later, the House adopted a resolution conveying deep sense of sorrow over the death of Khan.


MSV used the services of Bismillah Khan for the famous Karnan movie .

His soulful music will remain forever in our hearts

Ustad Bismillah Khan was born on March 21, 1916, in a small village in Bihar. Born as the second son of his parents, Paigambar Khan and Mitthan, he was christened as Qamaruddin initially, before his grandfather uttered Bismillah after looking at the newborn.He spent his childhood in the holy city of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganga, where his uncle was the official shehnai player in the famous Visvanath temple. It was due to this that Bismillah became interested in playing the Shehnai. At an early age, he familiarized himself with various forms of the music of UP, such as Thumri, Chaiti, Kajri, Sawani etc. Later he studied Khayal music and mastered a large number of ragas.

Although he became highly accomplished in playing the Shehnai at a young age, he was always modest. There was a time when his elder brother used to play with him. Both were expert players, but Bismillah Khan was definetly the better at it.

However, When they played together Bismillah Khan always played down his own part as he did not wish to overshadow his brother. 'Even though I have the ability, I must always remember that he is my elder brother' he always said with humility and modesty. When questioned about this after the death of his elder brother, he said, "He was my elder brother, hence it was not proper for me to play better than him'.


In 1966 he received through the Indian goverment a flattering invitation from the UK to participate in the famous Edinburgh festival. Mortally afraid of flying, he resorted to his old tactic of making impossible demands such as, 'I won't go by plane, I want 10 people to accompany me and I want so much remuneration besides...',etc etc. This was done in the hope that the invitation would be withdrawn. But he was pressurized into accepting the invitation by a very senior official in the Indian government who offered him fresh inducements. Bismillah Khan agreed to go to Edinburgh, but on one condition. He demanded that he and his staff should be first taken, at state expense, on a pilgrim- age to Mecca and Medina. This wish was granted and, at last, Bismillah Khan boarded a plane. He completed the Haj pilgrimage at state expense and, fortified by prayers and blessings received from Allah, reached England safely.

Needless to say, Bismillah Khan was the star attraction at the Edinburgh festival that year. The following year, he received an invitation from the USA. Having realised how comfortable it is to travel by air, he did not raise any objections. He toured all over America regaling millions of people and since then, travelled widely.


The Government of India bestowed on him the title "Padmashri"; later he was further honoured by the title "Padmabhusan", and now the "Padmavibhusan" has been conferred on him. Inspite of being glorified in this manner he remained as modest as ever.

Awards
* Bharat Ratna (2001)
* Padma Vibhushan (1980)
* Padma Bhushan (1968)
* Padma Shri (1961)
* Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1956)
* Tansen Award by Govt. of Madhya Pradesh.
* Talar Mausiquee from Republic of Iran, 1992.
* Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1994.

Sourced variously from the Web

Let his soul rest in peace !

May his soul rest in peace!

To honour his memory I thought it would be appropriate to listen to him playing shivaranjani:

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/5/s/raag.180/

Well im a little embarrassed to say that I know nothing of this music or this respected musician...thank you Rajraj for that beautiful example..so i may atleast understand how the music sounded...what kind of instrument is used? is it like a veenai or is it a wind instrument? Is it used for religious purposes or just entertainment? The music certainly sounds familiar but I cannot picture it in my mind so would like some kind explanation please.

Q: Bismillah Kahn played shehnai a reed wind instrument similar to the nadaswaram of the south. It is shorter than the nadaswaram. Both are considered auspicious and are played in temples and weddings. If you see a wedding scene in a movie you are likely to hear one of these. Shehnai is also used for background music in movies and the raga played depends on the situation.

Querida: His music is usually (and sadly) known to south indian folk thru radio as the music played if any politician/celebrity dies. I don't think his madhuvanti is available online (it's not in MIO). This raga sounds at its best on shenai (IMO). So sweet that you may get inspired to write a few lines..

I came across this small collection of Ustad Bismillah Khan's music, the others I found were more depressing than i could handle:

http://www.dishant.com/album/Ustad-Bismillah-Khan.html

RR how did you know?