End of a legend: Bismillah Khan passes away

Varanasi, Aug 21 (UNI) Shehnai legend Ustad Bismillah Khan, whose lilting strains enthralled generations of music lovers in India and abroad alike and who gave new content and meaning to classical music, died here this morning following cardiac failure.

The 90-year-old Bharat Ratna awardee breathed his last at around 0245 hrs at the coronary care unit (CCU)at the Heritage hospital here where he was admitted on August 17 for treatment of elctrolyte imbalance.

The shehnai maestro is survived by five sons, Mehtab Hussain being the eldest one(71), and three daughters.

Hospital Medical Superintendent Brigadier P S R Aiyar said Khan Sahib, admitted to the private intensive care unit (ICU), complained of heaviness in chest and chest pain at 0145 hrs following which he was shifted to the CCU. At the CCU, he was put on a ventilator and artificial pacemaker, but he turned clinically dead at around 0245 hrs, he added.

The music legend's death sent a wave of shock and sorrow across the nation with the President, Vice President and Prime Minister leading the people in deeply mourning the demise.

They stated that an era of a great musician ended but the shehnai maestro's legacy would continue to inspire generations to come.

In a message to the Ustad's son, President A P J Abdul Kalam said his passing away ''indeed marks the end of an era in Shehnai music.

He was a rare jewel and a musician who comes only once in a life time.'' Bismillah Khan -- the legendary maestro who transformed the shehnai from an instrument only used in marriage ceremonies to an honoured position in the classical pantheon -- exemplified a performer who believed musicians are supposed to be heard and not seen.

Born on March 21, 1916 in a family whose ancestors served as court musicians in the princely state of Dumraon in Bihar, Khan Saheb trained under his uncle Ali Bux, a shehnai player attached to the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple here.

MORE UNI TEAM RP AT KN1933