Google Doodle honours Shehnai Maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan's birth anniversary

Indian musician Ustad Bismillah Khan, the famous shehnai player, has been honoured by Google on his 102nd birth anniversary today. He died on August 21, 2006 at the age of 90 leaving a void, which cannot be filled, in the music industry. The Government of India declared a day of national mourning on his death.

The shehnai maestro was born as Qamaruddin Khan on March 21, 1916, in a family of traditional Muslim musicians in Bhirung Raut Ki Gali, Dumraon, (now Bihar). He was the second son to his parents – Paigambar Baksh Khan and Mitthan.

Ustad Bismillah Khan moved to Varanasi at the age of six. He started receiving shehnai training under his uncle, the late Ali Baksh ‘Vilayatu’ who himself was a shehnai player attached to Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.

Khan became the third classical musician after MS Subbulakshmi and Ravi Shankar to be honoured



with Bharat Ratna for his exemplary contribution in making shehnai, which he used to refer to as his begum (wife in Urdu),  a famous classical instrument.

He has had the honour of performing at Red Fort in Delhi on the eve of India’s first Independence Day in 1947. Khan has also performed raga Kafi from the Red Fort on the eve of the country’s first Republic Day ceremony on January 26, 1950. Since then, his recital has become a cultural part of the celebrations of India’s Independence Day.

The most recent use of Ustad Bismillah Khan’s shehai has been made in Bollywood blockbuster and Ranvir Kapoor-starrer ‘Rockstar’.

He is survived by five daughters, three sons and a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Noted director Goutam Ghose directed Sange Meel Se Mulaqat, a documentary on his life.