The Sound of Music - Part 2 - Ustaad Bismillah Khan - CBSE IX English

The lesson is about Ustaad Bismillah Khan. He was a renowned shehnai player in India. He is a legend because he did something which has historical significance. He played the shehnai on the day India got independence i.e. 15th August 1947. At the Red Fort, before the Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru gave his speech. Before that Bismillah Khan played the shehnai in order to signify something auspicious. Something auspicious for the whole country was about to happen - India was about to get freedom. And so, on that occasion, Bismillah Khan played the shehnai and so, he is a legend.

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Introduction:
The lesson is about Ustaad Bismillah Khan. He was a renowned
shehnai player in India. He is a legend because he did something which
has historical significance. He played the shehnai on the day India got
independence i.e. 15
th
August 1947. At the Red Fort, before the Prime
Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru gave his speech. Before
that Bismillah Khan played the shehnai in order to signify something
auspicious. Something auspicious for the whole country was about to
happen - India was about to get freedom. And so, on that occasion,
Bismillah Khan played the shehnai and so, he is a legend.

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SUMMARY
Bismillah Khan made a valuable contribution to the world of music
through the ‘shehnai’. For this, he was honoured with India’s highest
civilian honour – the Bharat Ratna in 2001. He hailed from a family of
musicians. He improvised many new ragas with the shehnai and thus,
placed it among other classical musical instruments. He won accolades
on the international level too.
The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb banned the playing of the pungi in his
royal court. He disliked the sound and so, the pungi was termed to be
a noisemaker. A barber tried to improve the pungi’s tone. He got a
hollow stem, wider and longer than the pungi, made seven holes on it
and blew into it, closing and opening the holes. It produced soft,
melodious music. As this instrument had been developed by a barber
called ‘nai’ in India and was played in the king’s court called ‘shah’, the
instrument was named ‘shehnai’. The shehnai became a part of
auspicious occasions. It was a part of the group of nine musical
instruments that were played at the royal court.
Bismillah Khan was born in Dumraon, Bihar in 1916 into a family of
musicians. His grandfather Rasool Bux Khan played the shehnai at the
court of the king of Bhojpur. His father, Paigambar Bux and his
paternal, as well as maternal uncles, were shehnai players. As a child,
Bismillah Khan would visit the Bihariji temple to sing the Bhojpuri
Chaita for which the king rewarded him with a laddu weighing 1.25kg.
At the age of three, Bismillah Khan visited his maternal uncle, Ali Bux

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at Benaras. He saw him playing the shehnai and was fascinated by it.
At the age of five, he started learning to play it. He would spend hours
practicing, at the temple of Balaji and Mangala Maiya, by the banks of
the holy river Ganga. The flowing waters of the river inspired him to
improvise and Bismillah Khan invented ragas which were considered
to be beyond the range of the shehnai.
At the age of fourteen, he performed at the Allahabad Music
Conference and his talent was appreciated by Ustaad Faiyaz Khan. In
1938, he started performing from the Lucknow station of the All India
Radio. The day India gained independence, on 15
th
August 1947,
Bismillah Khan performed from the Red Fort and greeted the country
through his shehnai. He recited raag kafi which was followed by
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech.
Bismillah Khan performed all around the world. His first foreign
performance was in Afghanistan where the king was so impressed that
he gifted him many souvenirs. Bismillah Khan composed music for two
films – Hindi film titled – ‘Goonj Uthi Shehnai’ directed by Vijay Bhatt
and Kannada film titled – ‘Sanadhi Apanna’ by Vikram Srinivas.
He was the first Indian to perform at the Lincoln Centre Hall in the
United States of America. He also performed at Montreal, Cannes and
Tokyo. In Teheran, an auditorium was named after him – Tahar
Mosiquee Ustaad Bismillah Khan.

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Ustaad Bismillah Khan said that music was India’s richest heritage and
had to be taught to the children. Although he had travelled all over
the world, he was attached to Dumraon and Benaras. Once a student
asked him to set up a shehnai school in the USA and promised to
recreate the temples of Benaras there. Bismillah Khan asked him
whether he would transport the river Ganga also, as he was attached
to it as well.
Bismillah Khan is a true example of a secular Indian as being a Muslim,
he played the shehnai at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. For him, music
was above religious barriers.

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Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow in
one or two lines each.
(I)
Few had thought that it would one day be revived. A barber of a
family of professional musicians, who had access to the royal palace,
decided to improve the tonal quality of the pungi.
(a) What does ‘it’ refer to?
It refers to a reeded musical instrument called the pungi.
(b) Why did ‘it’ need to be revived?
The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had banned the pungi in the royal
residence as he found its sound to be shrill and unpleasant. Therefore,
it needed to be revived.
(c) Why did the barber probably have interest in ‘it’?
The barber hailed from a family of professional musicians. That is why
he probably had an interest in the reeded musical instrument, the
pungi.
(d) Did he succeed in improving ‘it’? If yes, how?
Yes, he succeeded in improving the tonal quality of the pungi. He took
a reed or a pipe with the natural hollow stem which was wider and
longer than the pungi. He made seven holes in it. When played, it

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produced soft and melodious music instead of the shrill, unpleasant
sound of the earlier pungi.
(II)
Till recently it was used only in temples and weddings. The credit for
bringing this instrument onto the classical stage goes to Ustad
Bismillah Khan.
(a) Which instrument is being referred to in the extract?
The instrument is referred to in the extract is ‘shehnai’.
(b) Why, do you think, it was used only in temples and weddings?
The sounds of shehnai were so melodious that they were considered
to be auspicious. As the temple is a holy place and wedding, is an
auspicious occasion, shehnai came to be played there.
( c) Who was Ustad Bismillah Khan?
Ustad Bismillah Khan was a renowned shehnai player who contributed
in a major way to the promotion of shehnai as a significant musical
instrument.
(d)How did Bismillah Khan bring the shehnai to the classical stage?
Bismillah Khan did a great service to shehnai as it came to be regarded
as an instrument of classical music because of the new melodies
produced by him.

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Textbook Questions
Answer these questions in 30–40 words.
Q1.Why did Aurangzeb ban the playing of the pungi?
A. Aurangzeb disliked the sound produced by the pungi. It was
considered to be a reeded noisemaker as it was loud, shrill and
unpleasant. So, he banned the playing of pungi in his royal court.
2. How is a shehnai different from a pungi?
A. Although the shehnai is also a reeded musical instrument like the
pungi, it differs in shape, size and the quality of sound produced by it.
It was made with a hollow stem that was longer and broader than the
pungi and had seven holes on it. The sound produced by the shehnai
was soft and melodious in contrast to the shrill noise made by the
pungi.
3. Where was the shehnai played traditionally? How did Bismillah
Khan change this?
A. Traditionally, the shehnai was played at the royal court as part of
the traditional collection of musical instruments called ‘naubat’, in the
temples and at weddings. Bismillah Khan invented new ragas with the
shehnai and thus, brought it on the stage among other classical
musical instruments.
4. When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break?
A. Bismillah Khan got his big break when in 1938 the All India Radio
opened its Radio Station at Lucknow. He played shehnai from the
radio station regularly and his music became popular through it.

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5. Where did Bismillah Khan play the shehnai on 15 August 1947? Why
was the event historic?
A. On 15
th
August 1947, Bismillah Khan played the shehnai from the
Red Fort and greeted the entire country. The event was historic as it
was the day when India gained independence from the British rule.
Bismillah’s performance was followed by the historic speech – ‘Tryst
with Destiny’ given by India’s first Prime Minister – Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru.
6. Why did Bismillah Khan refuse to start a shehnai school in the
U.S.A.?
A. Bismillah Khan was attached to the temples of Benaras and the river
Ganga. He could not leave them and so, refused to set up a shehnai
school in the USA.
7. Find at least two instances in the text which tell you that Bismillah
Khan loves India and Benaras.
A.Bismillah’s love for India and Benaras is shown by the fact that he
refused to set up a shehnai school in the USA as he could not leave
Benaras and river Ganga. Secondly, when he was honoured with the
Bharat Ratna, he declared that Indian Classical music was India’s
richest heritage.

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EXTRA QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICE
Q1. Why did the pungi become a generic name for “reeded
noisemakers”?
Ans. The pungi produced loud, unpleasant and jarring music. Because
of this shrill music, Aurangzeb banned it in the royal house. As it was
made from a reed and produced noisy sounds, it became a generic
name for “reeded noisemakers”.
Q2. Who revived the pungi and what shape did it take?
Ans. When Aurangzeb banned the playing of the pungi in the royal
residence, a barber who belonged to a family of professional
musicians revived it by taking a wider and longer hollow stem and
making seven holes in it. The improved pungi produced soft and sweet
sounds.
Q3. How did the ‘shehnai’ get its name?
Ans. It is believed that the barber (nai) who improved the pungi,
played his instrument in the chamber of the emperor (shah). The c
combination of the two words ‘shah’ and ‘nai’ formed the name
‘shehnai’.
Q4. Why was the shehnai played in temples and weddings?
Ans. The music of the shehnai was melodious and soft. It came to be
believed that it was auspicious. Therefore, in the holy temples and on
the happy auspicious occasions of weddings, the shehnai was played.

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Q5. Where did Bismillah Khan usually sing at the age of five? How
was he rewarded and by whom?
Ans. At the age of five, Bismillah Khan usually sang the Bhojpuri ‘chaita
a’ in the Bihariji temple in his native town Dumraon in Bihar. At the
end of the song, he earned a big laddu weighing 1.25 kg which was
given by the local Maharaja as a prize.
Q6. Who was Ali Bux? Where was he employed and what was his
influence on Bismillah Khan?
Ans. Ali Bux was the maternal uncle of Bismillah Khan and may be
regarded as his mentor and trainer. He was a great shehnai player and
was employed to play the shehnai in the Vishnu temple of Benaras. At
a very young age, Bismillah Khan started accompanying him and got
lessons in playing the shehnai from him. The young boy would sit for
hours listening to his uncle and later practise throughout the day.
Q7. Which places were young Bismillah Khan’s favourite haunts for
practising music? Why?
Ans. The temple of Balaji and Mangala Maiya, as well as the banks of
the Ganga, were young Bismillah Khan’s favourite haunts because he
could practice his music there in solitude. The flowing waters of Ganga
inspired him to improvise and invent raagas which were earlier
considered beyond the range of the shehnai.

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Q8. How was Bismillah Khan’s music appreciated and recognised on
the international level?
Ans. Bismillah Khan’s music was so much appreciated on the
international level that he became the first Indian to be invited to
perform in the prestigious Lincoln Central Hall, USA. He participated
in the World Exposition in Montreal, the Cannes Art Festival and the
Osaka Trade Fair. In Teheran, an auditorium was named after him.
Q9. How did India honour and reward the great musician, Bismillah
Khan?
Ans. India honoured Bismillah Khan by conferring on him the greatest
national awards – the Padmashri, the Padma Bhushan and the Padma
Vibhushan. He was also awarded the Bharat Rama in 2001, the highest
civilian award in India.
Q10. Why does the author believe that Bismillah Khan’s life is “a
perfect example of the rich, cultural heritage of India”?
Ans. India has always shown a liberal attitude to all communities and
religions. Its cultural heritage is a blend of various castes and creeds.
Bismillah Khan’s life perfectly represents this blend. Although a devout
Muslim, Khansaab played the shehnai in the Kashi Vishwanath temple
every morning.