Bismillah Khan Biography and Works.

Ustad Bismillah Khan was born on March 21, 1916 in Dumraon, Bihar. He was the second son of Paigambar Khan and Mitthan. The shehnai maestro was a Bharat Ratna Awardee and has been also awarded other three top Civilian Awards – Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

He gained worldwide acclaim for playing the shehnai for more than eight decades. He was named Qamaruddin to sound like his elder brother’s name Shamsuddin. But, when his grandfather Rasool Baksh Khan saw him as a baby, he uttered the word ‘Bismillah’ and hence he came to be known as Bismillah Khan.

He moved to Varanasi at the age of six. He received his training under his uncle, late Ali Baksh ‘Vilayatu’, who was also a shehnai player. He mastered the art soon and is credited for making shehnai as one of the Indian classical instruments.

His concert in All India Music Conference in 1937 in Calcutta (Kolkata) brought shehnai into limelight and was hugely appreciated by music lovers.

Bismillah Khan had the rare honour of playing his shehnai on the eve of India’s independence in 1947 and has been performing at the Red Fort since that year on August 15. He has a huge fan following across the world.

Ustad Sahab Bismillah Khan died on August 21, 2006 at the age of 90 due to a cardiac arrest. His shehnai was buried with him in his grave.

Trivia

He started calling his Shehnai as ‘Begum’ after his wife died.