Cinemaazi remembers Ustad Bismillah Khan on his birth anniversary
21 Mar 1916
Bharat Ratna and ‘Czar of the Shehnai’, Ustad Bismillah Khan was born this day, 21 March in 1916. Khan played the shehnai, which was primarily a traditional folk instrument, with such brilliance that he became a leading Indian classical music artist, and also raised the shehnai’s status to one worthy of concert stature. Born into a family of court musicians in Bihar, he started off accompanying his uncle in playing the shehnai at Hindu religious functions, as well as weddings. Learning various ragas and improvising with patterns, he won attention with his concert performance at the All-India Music Conference in Calcutta in 1937. It was the start of a lifetime of concerts, performances, and recordings. Selected to perform at the Red Fort on the occasion of India’s Independence on 15 August, 1947, his popularity also grew in the West. In his association with films, he played the shehnai for Rajkumar's role in the Kannada blockbuster Sanaadi Appanna, and also acted in Satyajit Ray’s Jalsaghar, also playing the shehnai for Vijay Bhatt's Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959). Known to have lived an austere life, the only material object that mattered to him was his shehnai, which he lovingly called ‘begum’ after the passing of his wife.
