by JAWED NAQVI
In Satyajit Ray’s Jalsaghar (music room), the tired and lonely zamindar is played by the redoubtable Bengali actor, Chhabi Biswas. In a scene in the movie, the protagonist requests the caretaker of his mansion to summon a particular ‘Musalman’ singer for the evening concert.
The film flaunts a medley of Muslim musicians performing in the music room, including a remarkable live performance by Begum Akhtar and an off-screen recital by Ustad Salamat Ali. The music for Jalsaghar was composed by sitar wizard Ustad Vilayat Khan.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’s morning concert in Abu Dhabi in the 1980s boosted the point Ray touched on about Muslim singers. A fan requested Panditji to perform the morning melody, Raag Lalit. “The singer of Lalit is no more, sadly.” Bhimsen Joshi found himself paying a spontaneous tribute to Ustad Amir Khan, the pre-eminent Muslim vocalist who died prematurely in a car accident in Kolkata.
It’s not often that eminent singers praise other eminent singers publicly. Joshi sang Miyan ki Todi instead that morning. It didn’t end there. Asked elsewhere about the future of classical music after him, he picked an unknown name at the time, a young Muslim singer from the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana, who had been trained at a respected music academy in Kolkata.
It showed his belief in the young Rashid Khan that Bhimsen Joshi would go on to perform a duet with the little-known star of the musical firmament. It’s difficult to say if Panditji ever sang a classical duet with another singer. Joshi’s indulgence of Rashid Khan was that of a gemologist.
Ustad Rashid Khan was indeed among the more accomplished musicians from India’s current crop of classical vocalists. His death from prostate cancer at the peak of a critically applauded career at 54 last week spurred some to describe him as the last of the legends of a riveting form of north Indian music, the khayal.
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