BEING BISMILLAH

Bismillah Khan was a symbol of Varanasi’s composite culture. The shehnai player would participate in the Ganga pujaiya, and perform riyaaz at Balaji temple on Panchganga Ghat. He would also lead the Muhurram procession, playing the shehnai He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, in 2001. Bismillah was the third classical musician to be accorded this distinction, and the second Banarasi after Pandit Ravi Shankar to be

granted this honour

Bismillah belonged to the Banaras gharana of classical Hindustani music, a genre mainly related to gayaki (vocals). Some well-known exponents of this gharana are Siddheshwari Devi, Girija Devi, Rajan Mishra and Sajan Mishra Mumtaz Khan, a shehnai player from Bismillah’s family, was the first Muslim artiste to participate in the Sangeet Samaroh festival at Sankat Mochan temple in the early 2000s