“Bismillah Khan converted the shehnai into a classical instrument. It used to be played at weddings and ceremonies, but he added the singing bit to it, added elements of dhrupad and dhamar, worked on ‘sur’ and ‘taan’. He would observe classical singers and would replicate how they were singing through the shehnai,” Haidar said.Long years of practice and a keen ear led him to familiarise the shehnai with various classical music forms, including thumri, chaiti, kajri, sawani and khayal.A prominent figure of the Banaras Gharana, Khan performed in India and across the world with his contemporaries and stalwarts of Hindustani classical music, including Pandit Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan, Amjad Ali Khan, and Hariprasad Chaurasia.His renditions of “Vaishnav Jana To”, “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram”, and “Ganga Dware Badhaiyya Baje” established him as a musician par excellence.Khan died on August 21, 2006 at the age of 90, his entire life lived in the service of his music. He received multiple awards and recognition. He was the third classical musician after MS Subbalakshmi and Ravi Shankar to receive the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.He also received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1956), Padma Shri (1961), Padma Bhushan (1968), and Padma Vibhushan (1980).It has been many decades since he played. The road leading to his house, lined with shops of cosmetics and artificial jewellery, has been named after him. But the city now awaits a museum for one of its most celebrated sons.
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