Bismillah Khan
| Ustad Bismillah Khan | |
|---|---|
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Khan in concert (1964)
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Amiruddin Khan |
| Born |
21 March 1916 Dumraon, Buxar District, Bihar, British India |
| Origin | India |
| Died | 21 August 2006 (aged 90) Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Genres | Indian classical music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Shehnai |
Ustad Bismillah Khan (21 March 1916 – 21 August 2006) (born as Amiruddin Khan), often referred to by the honorific title Ustad, was an Indian musician credited with popularizing the shehnai, a subcontinental wind instrument of the oboe class. While the shehnai had long held importance as a folk instrument played primarily during traditional ceremonies, Khan is credited with elevating its status and bringing it to the concert stage.
He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2001, becoming the third classical musician after M. S. Subbulakshmi and Ravi Shankar to be accorded this distinction.
Khan was born on 21 March 1916 in a family of traditional Shia Muslim musicians in Bhirung Raut Ki Gali, Dumraon, in what is now the eastern Indian state of Bihar, as the second son of Paigambar Baksh Khan and Mitthan. While named Amiruddin at birth his grandfather Rasool Baksh Khan exclaimed "Bismillah" and thereafter he came to be known by this name. His father was a court musician employed in the Dumrao palace by the Raja of Bhojpur. His great grandfather Ustad Salar Hussain Khan and grandfather Rasool Baksh Khan were also musicians in the Dumrao palace.
His ancestors were court musicians and used to play in Naqqar khana in the princely states of Bhojpur, now in Bihar. His father was a shehnai player in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh of Dumraon Estate, Bihar.
At the age of six, he moved to Varanasi. He received his training under his uncle, the late Ali Baksh 'Vilayatu', a shehnai player attached to Varanasi's Vishwanath Temple.
The Government of Bihar has proposed setting up of a museum, a town hall-cum-library and installation of a life-size statue at his birthplace in Dumraon.
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