USTAD GHULAM MUSTAFA KHAN

THE  STREAM  OF  MUSICAL CONSCIOUSNESS

 BY INDU RAMAN

     ‘Music  begins with silence. When the turbulence inside us subsides, we will hear the voice of god. That is music.’ Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan Saheb, last in the line of luminaries of yesteryears speaks like a seer in a spiritual trance.

When Khan Saheb welcomed the new millennium, he could look back with pride on seventy autumns overflowing with musical joy. Sixty of those years have been as a performer, a torch –bearer of the famed Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana of north Indian music. He was only eight years old when he was pushed onto the stage to fill up for a musician who failed to arrive in time during a music festival in his native Badayun. His father knew he could hold the fort for about twenty minutes, but the youngster sang Bhairavi for over an hour. It was no wonder that the grandson of the legendary Inayat Hussain Khan and son of Waris Hussain Khan could pull off such a feat.  Born into this family where music flowed like milk and honey, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan Saheb has many singular achievements unparalleled by any other musician of today. 

The Rampur –Sahaswan Gharana  is the fountainhead from which a hundred  talents have sprung in the last one hundred years.  Baba Allaudin Khan of Maihar was a student Mohammed Hussain Khan,( brother of Inayat Hussain Khan) who gave this world Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Annapurna Devi, and Pt. Ravi Shankar.  Inayat Khan’s disciples Chajju Khan and Nazir Khan established the Bhendi Bazar Gharana. Another student, Bhaiya Ganapat Rao was the pioneer who introduced the harmonium as accompaniment. V.N. Bhatkande, yet another student, pioneered the institutionalization of music education.

This phenomenally successful growth of talent through a single family is reflected in Khansaheb’s career. India’s most famous voices have honed their skills under the strict tutelage of Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan Saheb. Internationally renowned Hindi film playback artistes, Manna Dey, Asha Bhonsle, late Geeta Dutt, Kamal Barot, king of Indi-Pop Hariharan, television heart-throb Sonu Nigam and popstar Anaida are some of those who have benefited from the intensive training under Khan saheb. Among classical singers are Lakshmi Nayampalli, brother Aftab Ahmed Khan, Geeta Prem, and his sons, Ghulam Murtuza and Ghulam Qadir.

‘As a teacher I demand total commitment from my students. Special attention has to be given to the training of voice. I have been lucky to have wonderful students who respect me and come up to my expectations. I have received support, love and loyalty from them.

       His dream is to gather his students around him and have a month long workshop on the pattern of a Gurukul where everyone will live together and music will be the only agenda.  Through his institution Sarang he hopes he will be able to create a fund to help youngsters and give financial aid to deserving   musicians. Time and experience has given his golden voice has a rich timbre which can still traverse the octaves with ease.  ‘I was trained to adapt my voice and attitude to cover the entire range of musical forms. My passion for musical knowledge led me to explore the ancient Indian music treatises like Natya Sastra, Brihat –Deshi and Sarangdev’s Sangeet Ratnakara. I recreated compositions based on Jati Gayan. Their structure is intricate and no one had attempted them for 700 years.  Over three hours of my rendition have been recorded for our national archives. ’

      Khansaheb’s skill as a composer have been immortalized in several award winning documentaries and films, besides the bandishes for classical music. His compositions are pithy, succinct and lyrical. For instance, a ‘chota khyal in Raga Marvah   goes,

Un bin maika chain nahin avey-

jiya bechain din rain sajni-

rovatu rovatu beetatu Rasrang-

tum bin chin din rajni

(My heart is restless without him, oh friend, night and day my tears flow. Every moment of the day and night is worthless without you, Oh Rasrang .) Rasrang is the composer's  signature.

In a bada khyal in Raga Asaveri   he says, 

ley ja sandes ley ja piya ke paas

ley ja kaaga un son jaye kahiyo

tumre milan ki aas

baant takat akhiyan pathraayi

rasrang jaaye base ho kavan des.

(Take this message to my beloved, oh raven! Tell him I yearn for our meeting. My eyes are dry and hard looking out for him. Who knows where he is?)

Sujat nahi kachu dhyan gyan

Tori Krupa bin gat hai prakat

Tu sabhi mein ek saman

Akal budhi, sakal siddhi , Shakti Bhakti maya Mukti

(Knowledge and meditation will not bring me closer to you without your grace. Knowledge, discipline, strength, faith, and salvation are all illusions. Only you are the truth.)

Note: This article was first published in Swagat the Indian Airlines magazine. Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2006.