Mushtaq
Ali Khan was born in Banaras (20 June 1911 – 21 July 1989) and an
Indian sitar, surbahar (and pakhawaj) player. His father Ashiq Ali Khan
was a renowned sitar player. His musical ancestor tree includes Masit
Sen, the originator of Masitkhani Baaj (a slow tempo instrumental
composition). He was recognized as the foremost representative of the
Senia gharana (style, musical school) of sitar playing in the mid-20th
century.
At first a court musician at Jaunpur, he left the
court to pursue an independent career. He started playing for All India
Radio in 1929, and performed at the 1931 Sangeet Sammelan (conference)
in Allahabad. For all of the 1940s and most of the 1950s he was
considered the most prominent sitar player in India, following the
demise of Enayat Khan of the Etawah Gharana, and prior to the rise of
the young Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan in the mid-1950s.[1]. In 1968 he
won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
Being a purist,
Khan-Saheb refused to yield to shifting popular tastes and to adopt the
innovations introduced by Ravi Shankar on one hand and Vilayat Khan on
the other, which lead to a gradual decline in his popularity [2]. At the
time of his death he was known as a "musicians' musician". Many of
India's best known musicians expressed their appreciation of the purity
of his style and musicality in a book published in Delhi after his
death[3]
Training and Lineage
Khan started his
instruction at the age of 6. He learned from his father, Ashiq Ali Khan,
who had learned sitar from the renowned 19th century player Barkatullah
Khan, a descendant of Masit Sen of Delhi, the inventor of the
Masitkhani gat (the major style of slow musical composition in sitar
playing) [4] His name became synonymous with the Senia style [5]
although he may actually have practiced an even more austere style than
his predecessors in the gharana [6]. He eschewed much of the
ornamentation of modern sitar technique (such as murkhi and zamzama),
and embraced a clean, pure sound. His alap was constructed along the
lines of a dhrupad alap, and his jod and jhalla derived a lot from been
(rudra vina) technique. Oddly enough, in spite of being a musical
descendant of Masit Sen, he rarely played Masitkhani gats in public, and
none of the commercially available examples of his music includes one.
He opted to play the faster Rezakhani gats instead, feeling that playing
Masitkhani gats to an undiscerning audience would cause them to be
devalued.[7]
Instruments
Mushtaq Ali Khan was an
eminent Sitar player of Senia Gharana. He was the only surbahar player
of India who used to play the been-ang with three mizrabs and that too,
with the pakhawaj as an accompanying instrument only in pure dhrupad
style.
In a rare exclusive interview in the Daily Telegraph on
the 13 July 1985, Khan Sahab narrated the history of this instrument
with historical references in which he has cleared the myth of this
instrument . Khan Sahab had his lineage with fifth vani, called
Dhandvani named after one of the forefathers. The famous dhrupadiya of
Shah Jahans Court, Nayak Dhundhu. It is also called Rasal Vani for its
beauty. He said, "… two of my ancestors, Jaggu Khan and Makku Khan.
Since Makku Khan was childless, he adopted Waras Ali Khan a great name
who learnt the art of playing Been from Bade Mohammed Khan. When my
father Ashiq Ali Khan was six years old, my grand father Sadaq Ali Khan,
son of Jaggu Khan died so his uncle Waras Ali Khan taught him all
inticacies of Beena on the surbahar. That is why we play Surbahar with
three Mezrabs. The Surbahar was originally designed to felicitate the
playing of Alap . Those days Alap was the exclusive prerogative of the
Beenkar. Ghulam Muhammed Khan and his son Sajjad Mohammed Khan the great
SurBahar players used to stay at Calcutta in the earliest part of the
20th Century and taught many renowned players including Imdad Khan and
Jnanoda Mukherjee. In this instrument two angas played are alap and
talparan and that is why the knowledge of pakhawaj is essential to play
the Talparan …".
His 2nd Instrument: Pakhawaj
Mustaq
Ali Khan also had to learn the art of pakhawaj playing in order to
achieve perfection in the art of playing the surbahar with Pakhawaj.
[edit] Indian Music Conferences, Awards, Recognitions
Mushtaq Ali Khan was awarded the Sangeet Natak Academy award in 1968
(equivalent to a National Academy Award). In 1973/74 he received the
title of D.Litt from Rabindra Bharti University. The Indian government
appointed him as the Professor Emeritus in Education and the Cultural
Ministry and gave fellowship.
Some of the other musical awards
were Sitar Sudhakar – 1932, Tantri Vilas – 1973, Sangeet Ratnakar –
1974, State Academy Award – 1974, Senior fellowship and Emeritus – 1986,
Bhuwalka Award – 1987, Tansen Award – 1987, Special Honour University
of Delhi – 1987.
[edit] Pupils and Followers
His foremost
disciples are Nirmal Guha Thakurta, Netai Bose, Shipra Chaudhury, Steven
Landsberg and Dr. Debu Chaudhuri. Latter is now the only living and/or
active amongst this quartet. He has started a cultural Centre in New
Delhi under the name of "UMAK ( acronym of Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan )
CENTRE FOR CULTURE", with a view to have UMAK's music and his ideas
alive, for the future generation those who will have regards for purity
and tradition . Such great Masters are not understood well during their
own time which is a sad story and reflection on our knowledge and
understanding . Steven Landsberg is Khansahib's only student to have
studied the Surbahar, the technique with three mizrabas, and tarparan.
[edit] KHAN’s (late) activities
A follower of rasal vani, Khan Sahab was the only surbahar player who
not only maintained the purity of the Rasdal Vani but also kept its
purity alive till his last days and never diluted to please the masses
and that is why his music was not understood by the masses but respected
by the contemporary Great Masters. On 1953 had a Subahar recital in
Raga Purya, in the First National Programme of the All India Radio New
Delhi. It may be recalled that in the year 1953 Pandit Ravi Shankar was
instrumental of instituting this National Programme of All India Radio
and was present on this memorable occasion (live Concert) and praised
Kahn Sahab profusely for his superb exposition of Raga Purya in a pure
Dhrupad style with three Mezrabs.
He was a musicians musician
and that is why he always shied away from the commercial attention.
Instead Mushtag Ali Khan organised conferences where old masters and new
artists were introduced to the cognoscenti and the novice. Among the
well known names, Pandit Ravi Shankar was first presented by him to the
public in Calcutta. Ustad had his undisputed popularity and demand
during the early thirties to late forties.
Even in the evening
of his illustrious career, he and his wife Begum Kaneez Khatoon were
actively involved in variety of projects for promotion of art and
culture in our country. He died on 21 July 1989.
A setarist in Jaipur Senia Setar style,disciple of Pandit Netai Bose (Disciple of Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan Sahab,Setar Sudhakar)