Today in Ahmedabad the immortal strains of the shehnai were reverberated. Performance of Padma Shri Dr Soma Ghosh and National Award-winning director Subhankar Ghosh, the “Yaad-E-Bismillah” concert, an initiative of the Ministry of Culture, government of India, were dedicated in the memory of the Shehnai Legend.
Dr. Ghosh has chosen the city of Ahmadabad for the centenary series as Ust. Bismillah Khan had himself expressed his desire to perform in the city. In fact, Dr. Ghosh was preparing a jugalbandi concert for Ahmedabad, when unfortunately Ustad Bismillah Khan fell sick and left for the heavenly abode.
Nearly two decades back in 2001, when Ustad Bismillah Khan heard Dr. Soma Ghosh sing at the ISKCON auditorium, Mumbai, he immediately invited her for a ‘jugalbandi’. Overwhelmed, Dr. Ghosh could never muster enough courage to call him up for the same. Six months later, Bismillah Khan Sahab called her again. This time, he invited her home in Benaras. Dr. Ghosh found herself performing before the entire Khan family of over 40 members.
Baba asked the family “Will she honor my name by doing a Jugalbandi with me?” Each member consented.
“Tere gale me purani Rasoolan mili mujhe,” he had said, referring to the legendary singer Rasoolan Bai.
“And I found the courage to have my first jugalbandi with Baba. To express his joy, he wore his black topi, 50 years after 1947 when he last wore it and performed with me on stage. I relive that moment every single day,” says manasputri, Dr. Soma Ghosh, a Padma Shri.
The ‘Yaad-E- Bismillah’ series of concerts, led by Union Cultural Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma, has already travelled to Lucknow, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Dr. Ghosh has mesmerized the audience, aptly accompanied by a shehnai, a violin and a sarangi, instruments that are fast fading into oblivion today.
Seven shehnai players from across the country including Ustad Nazim Bismillah Khan and Ustad Ali Abbas have performed on the occasion. Director Subhankar Ghosh’s ‘Yaad-E-Bismillah’, a docudrama on the life and the guru-shishya parampara of Ustad Bismillah Khan, showcased Khan Sahab’s belief in peace and music as being the universal religion.
Khan Sahab had once told Dr. Ghosh, “Tujhe maine beti isliye banaya ki tujhe Banaras Gharane ki parampara ko aage le jaana hai. Kashi Kokila ka khitab diya
hai tumhe. You are the torch bearer of today’s Banaras gharana and one of the most versatile singers of our country. Befikra sangeet ki seva karo”!
Ustad Bismillah Khan had expressed his conern about the dwindling number of artists on Indian musical instruments. Currently, Dr. Soma Ghosh is working on a project to save the endangered musical instruments and preserve the cultural heritage of India. Her efforts have been lauded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Encouraged by Dr Mahesh Sharma, Hon’ble Union Cultural Minister, she is now in the process of setting up the Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan Academy- ‘Sangeet Gram’— in Varanasi, for the preservation and propagation of endangered Indian Instruments and the heritage of the gharanas. The government of Uttar Pradesh has allocated an acre of land to her for this purpose.
“At our last concert in the presence of honourable Dr Abdul Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, I had asked Baba what he wanted at that stage in his life, when he had achieved it all. He simply said that all he wanted was more sur and more music.
“Today, I am merely striving to fulfill my Baba’s last wish,” says Dr. Ghosh.
