Soma to fulfil last wish of Bismillah Khan
New Delhi July 25 (UNI) The unfulfilled last wish of Shehnai Maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan to pour his heart out into his tunes from the historic India Gate has been taken up by his adopted daughter and renowned vocalist of Benaras Gharana Dr Soma Ghosh who plans to satiate the legend's wish by holding the first death anniversary tribute to him here in his beloved city of Delhi.
"Music is not a game of one crore" said Dr Ghosh while addressing a press conference here today adding that music is a divine worship and an auspicious relation between Guru-shisya where the guru cares for his disciple more than his own kids.
As a tribute to her beloved 'baba', Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan, Dr Ghosh has produced and directed a 40 minute live docu drama film on life of the music maestro depicting "Guru Shishya Parampara' of Ustad Bismillah and his Guru Ustad Ali Baux. The film traces the dramatic course of the legend's life starting from acquiring the divine skill of playing shehnai, colourful facets of his life and the glorious end. The film "Yaad-e-Bismillah' is scripted by National Award winning director Subhankar Ghosh, narrated by Harish Bhimani and edited by Rajendra mahapatra .
"This is not an interview based documentary where one can't actually visualise the life of a legend. This is a docu-drama enacted by real life theatre actors from Benaras at the picturesque locations of baba's home town. " said Dr Ghosh. The best part of the film, she added, is at the end where all the living legends like Dr Balmurlikrishnan, Dr girija devi, Pandit Jasraj Parveen Sultan pay tribute to the maestro by singing his favourite song 'Raghu pati Raghav Raja Ram'.
Sons of Ustad khan, Nayyad Hussain, Nazim hussain and kins like Mumtaaz hussain and Zamin Hussain would accompany Dr Ghosh to pay the holy tribute to the shehnai wizard.
The first death anniversary of Ustad Bismillah Khan will bring to light some of the endangered classical instruments of India kept in oblivion for ages. "The use of synthesizers have killed the use of original instruments in the film industry which not only made today's film songs numb but also rendered artistes of different gharanas jobless," said Dr Ghosh who runs an NGO Madhu Murchhana committed to the promotion of art, culture and specially Indian Classical music.
"Instruments like Dilruba, tar shehnai, khol, Jaal tarang are at the verge of extinction and the kins of such talented musicians are leaving music in search of greener pastures, which is indeed worrisome for a country like India where music and spiritualism form the foundation," asserted Dr Ghosh who also plans to train a few artists of the endangered instruments of India and promote them.
UNI