Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan - Excerpt of an interview

The golden voice of India: Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, excerpt of an interview found on www.sarangi.org/ Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali, one of the greatest singers of all times, was capable of weaving a magic spell with his swaras and taans. He had once said: "My throat is like a paint brush and I paint on the waves of wind with my voice. The swaras -- thenotes of the raga -- are my colours. It is like a painting created in the air, which is mycanvas." He inherited the formidable musical parampara (tradition) of Punjab that encompassed the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh religions. Saint Hazrat Bulleh Shah, whoseSufiana Kalam (Sufi song) is sung even today, was buried in Kasur, Ghulam Ali's birth place. The shepherds, wandering in the hills, sang in praise of Hazrath Ali andHussain -- grandsons of Prophet Muhammad -- in melodies akin to classical Indianragas. The shabads and qawwalis of the Sikhs were often based on ancient Dhrupads and Khayals, again Indian classical ragas. In the biography of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, authors Malti Gulani and Quratulain Haider have paid a rich tribute to the maestro.Ghulam Ali's uncle and guru, Ustad Kale Khan, was himself trained in the Patiala school of music (Patiala gharana); he taught the young Ustad simple compositions. In 1911, Ghulam Ali accompanied Kale Khan to Delhi, at the age of 9, andwatched him perform at the 'Dilli Darbar'. Thus began the grooming and development of the musicalpersonality of the young disciple, alongside rigorous taleem (training) under his uncle's baton. Later after a brief acquaintance with Lucknow and its highly refined soirees, Ghulam Ali returned to Lahorewith his father and resumed his nightly riyaaz (practice) on the banks of the river Ravi. Singing all night not only developed his stamina, but also gave him the rare sensitivity to gauge the externalresponse. In 1932, he lost his wife Allah Jiwai. His grief, poured into melody, gave birth to the immortalthumri: Yaad piya ki aye, reflecting the very trauma of his heart. On arrival in Mumbai in 1940, Ghulam Ali thrived under the benign patronage of the noted singerGanga Bai. A Sufi at heart, he was once greatly moved by the poem Hari Om Tat Sat, and rendered it musically in the haunting raga Pahari. Years later, he explained, "God, Truth and Haq is one. I've Allah in my mind when I sing these words...Different people in the world have different names for theSupreme Being who is 'One'. In 1947, he visited Afghanistan at the invitation of King Zahir Shah and re-established the splendidrapport in music between the Afghans and Indians, where the Afghan string instruments like Rabab and Santoor were part of the Hindustani ensemble. Many Indian musical instruments still retain their Persian roots, such as Tabla, derived from Persian tabl; Sitar meaning seven strings and Dilruba being a longer version of Sarangi. The Partition in 1947 dealt a severe blow to the composite culture of the Indian subcontinent. But Ghulam Ali at a concert organized by Radio Lahore sang his owncomposition in raga Mian ki Todi: Ab Mori Raam / Raam ri Daiyyan (Ram is my only solace). In 1951, he was invited by Morarji desai to have Indian citizenship and sing at concerts all over thecountry. According to the cognoscenti, earlier the Ustad's singing was like the sound of the waterfallstriking against the mountainside and rushing with great force to mingle with the ocean; now itresembled the vast ocean itself whose might and depth was unfathomable!In 1963, Ghulam Ali shifted to Kolkata where he was frequently invited to sing before highly appreciativeaudiences. He would say: Maharashtrians are great connoisseurs of classical music, with their approachbeing technical and academic. The exuberance, which the people of Kolkata show, is characteristic oftheir emotional and artistic nature! It is in Kolkata that he took young Malti Gilani (singer and later hisbiographer) as his gunda-bund shagird (committed disciple). She has noted how the open house atmosphere prevailed at the Ghulam Ali residence - reminiscent of the Sufi Khanas and hospices of the Middle Ages. In such places -- as even in the Dargahs today -- a cauldron of rice was always being cooked for the traveller and food distributed to the rich and the poor alike! In this respect, theSufis of Islam, the Bhaktas of the Vaishnava cult and the Catholic mystics of the Medieval Europe - they all shared a similar spirit of tolerance and bonhomie.After having accomplished a lot, Ghulam Ali breathed his last in 1968 in Hyderabad - far away from the green wheat fields of Kasur on theeastern seaboard of India. That he always took his listeners onan inward journey of musical understanding and fulfilment remained true to his last day. This biographyprovides an insight not only into the music of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan but into the history ofIndian classical music at large. ***Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan -- His Life and Music by Malti Gilani & Qurantulain Hyder; Harman Publishing House, New Delhi;Price Rs. 1200/-.

Channel: Music
Uploaded: July 1, 2007 at 12:41 pm
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