Bismillah Khan hears an old Shehnai recording
naniwadekar
Bismillah Khan was in Mumbai last month. Suresh Chandvankar had
got hold of a shehnai record (78 rpm), cut early in the 20th century.
He met Bismillah and played the record for him.
He wrote an account of the meeting in English, and sent it to me. He had
also sent it to some newspapers. I was waiting for it to be published.
Now I hear that the article had appeared in Indian Express - [Mumbai
Newsline] late last month. However, 'due to
restructuring, these pages are off the net for time being'. SC also
wrote the same account in Marathi. Maharashtra Times was going to
publish it on the last Sunday of April, but published Abhijit Tamhane's
tribute to Bismillah, instead, that day. MT may have published the
article by SC by now.
With Shri Chandvankar's permission, I am posting his article here.
This is not a translation into English by me of his Marathi article.
He can be reached at : ssc...@tifr.res.in
- nani
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Shehnai-Nawaz - By Suresh Chandvankar
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As usual, I was looking into the heaps of old worn out 78 rpm shellac
gramophone records at Mumbai Chor Bazzar, an infamous place for
real old stuff. Suddenly I saw a Sonai (Shehanai) record by Ali Bakhsh.
Green colored Zonophone Company's record attracted my attention
because native place of the artist was not mentioned. I had some other
shahanai (or Indian bagpipe as mentioned on some labels) records titled -
Shaikh Munnah of Calcutta, Talim Hussein of Lucknow and so on.
However, this record was exceptional. On my way home, I was
thinking about the record and the name sounded quite familiar that
I have read this name somewhere recently. As I checked my notebook
of paper cuttings, I found that Ali Bakhsh was the maternal uncle
(Mamu) of Shahanai-Nawaz Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan.
Therefore, what I had collected was a real treasure
and "The Collector's Item"
To confirm what I have found, I contacted his disciple in Mumbai
and learnt that Khansaheb is coming to Mumbai for a program and
that he shall discuss this with him. He was also thrilled and told me to
take care of the record as it is a precious one.
So, Khansaheb came to Mumbai last week for a concert at
Shanmukhanand Hall and as he was performing after a gap of ten
years the booking was overfull. In addition, recent 'Bharat Ratna'
conferred on him kept him quite busy at the age of 86. Soon his
disciple spoke to him about the record that I found and Khansaheb
was so much thrilled that he wanted to meet me and listen to the
record of his Mamu immediately. However, due to his busy schedule
with press and TV channels we decided to meet on Monday
after his concert.
So, I arranged for old talking machine gramophone with big brass
horn and took trials of the speed, sound and pitch etc. I checked
up old discographical books including the one published by Popular
Prakashan in 1994. This book lists the Indian gramophone records
issued during 1899-1908, but I could not trace any record of Ali Bakhsh.
On Saturday, I received a copy of Michael Kinnear's new book from
Australia titled - Gramophone Company's Indian Recordings - 1908-10.
This was the long awaited book on scientific discography of Indian
gramophone records. As I was browsing through, I came across
the entry of the record that I was going to play to Khansaheb. It listed
two more records and the date of recording as October 1913 but the
artist name was Ali Bakhsh [alias of Talim Hussein]. I was puzzled
since the record label did not mention this. Talim Hussein had recorded
prolifically from 1904-05 recording expedition of Gramophone Company.
A fine artist from Lucknow, Talim Hussein had cut about 20 records of
Shahanai as well as Nafiri [a short Shehanai giving out high pitch sound].
What is then the reality?
Without disclosing my finding to anyone, I went to Hotel Sahil with
my friends, gramophone machine and the records. As expected,
several persons/parties were in queue waiting for their turn to meet
Khansaheb. We waited for quite some time in lounge till Khansaheb's
Namaz was over. When we entered his room, first he aksed for apology
for keeping us waiting. I quickly took out the records and showed him
the one, which was of his interest. With the help of a woman journalist,
Khansaheb read the label - Piloo Gat and Dadra - instrumental
record played by Ali Bakhsh. Khansaheb declared that this is
my Mamu's record. He asked me to play the record. As the sound
came out of brass metal horn, it filled the room and went out in the
corridors. Everybody in the room was nodding heads appreciating
what they were listening. I was watching Khansaheb's reactions. He
was listening with eyes closed and without any expression. When one
side was over, he opened his eyes and asked me to play other side
of the record that contained Dadra in raga Piloo. His disciples and
party members were listening something unusual.
We were all quite anxious to listen to his reaction. As soon as the
record was over, Khansaheb opened his eyes, stared at me for a
moment and turned his head violently in negation and said, "Ye Hamare
Mamuki Recard Nahi Hain. Ismen Jarabhi Unki Jagah Kahin Milti
To Main Manata. Ye Hamare Mamu Nahin Hain." [This is not the
music of my Maternal Uncle. I do not see even a glimpse of his
music anywhere in this rendering.] I was stunned with his comment
and got direct confirmation to what Michael Kinnear has researched
at Australia by referring to documents from EMI available in London
office only. Of course, such records in the name of famous artists
were cut in Gramophone Company in past too.
However, anyone who holds the record and simply believes what is
written on the record label of Zonophone N 661,662 and 663 will
say that this is the music of Bismillah Khan's Guru Ali Bakhsh.
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Warren Senders
>As usual, I was looking into the heaps of old worn out 78 rpm shellac
>gramophone records at Mumbai Chor Bazzar, an infamous place for
>real old stuff.
I know that tiny shop in Chor Bazaar well. It's a marvellous
experience to get my fingers grimed with little particles
of exceptional music from the early years.
>Suddenly I saw a Sonai (Shehanai) record by Ali Bakhsh.
>Green colored Zonophone Company's record attracted my attention
>because native place of the artist was not mentioned. I had some other
>shahanai (or Indian bagpipe as mentioned on some labels) records titled
>- Shaikh Munnah of Calcutta, Talim Hussein of Lucknow and so on.
There are, as Suresh C. says, lots of recordings of Talim Hussain.
Good player; I play those records on my gramophone every now and then.
WS