Sarangi legend Ustad Bundu Khan (1880–1955)
Ustad Bundu Khan, probably the most outstanding sarangi player during the first half of the 20th century, was born in Delhi, in a family of musicians. He received his early training in sarangi from his father Ali Jan Khan and later from his uncle Mamman Khan, who was attached to the Maharaja of Patiala.
Bundu Khan was a prodigiously talented artiste and also a very sincere and hard-working student of music. His complete mastery over his delicate and difficult instrument not only placed him on the top rung of the subcontinents sarangi players but also made him one of the most proficient Hindustani instrumentalists of the 20th century. He had a flair for singing and writing poetry as well. His sons, Umrao Bundu Khan and Buland Iqbal, also inherited his talents.
He played the sarangi from the Delhi Radio Station, when its broadcast was started in 1935. He became court-musician to Maharaja Tukaji Rao Holkar of Indore and was also in the Rampur court of a brief period. He was highly influenced by Pandit Bhatkhande whom he met in Indore. He devoted himself to the study of musicology, and wrote a book Sangeet Vivek Darpan wherein the ragas Bhairabi and Malkauns were elaborately discussed.
After migrating to Pakistan after the partition in 1947, Ustad Bundu Khan continued to play the sarangi from all the radio stations of Pakistan till his death in 1955. Both his sons gained prominence and became immediately known to the music circles of Pakistan. In addition to his descendants, he trained Amir Muhammad Albi, Durkhu Singh, Majid Khan, Muhammad Sagiruddin Khan and P. N. Nigam. He was posthumously awarded the Pride of Performance by the Government of Pakistan in 1985.
Early Life of Ustad Bundu Khan
Bundu Khan was born in Delhi in 1880 as a worthy inheritor of the musical traditions of the Delhi gharana. He was trained by his grandfather Saungi Khan and his maternal uncle, Mamman Khan, one of the highly respected singers of his time. Born with a deep-rooted passion for music, it seemed evident that little else besides music interested him from a very early age. All his relatives and dear ones were closely involved with music. Being from an essentially sarangi gharana, it comes as no surprise that Bundu Khan took to the instrument at an early age.
Life in Music
Bundu Khan was an exceedingly engrossed man of riyaz and went ahead to make numerous innovations in the instrument, such that it became the eloquent companion of his soul. Needless to say, he soon rose to fame in his youth and manhood and was appointed court musician in the princely states of Rampur and Indore, where he served for several years. Soon, he returned to his beloved Delhi as a staff artist in All India Radioand remained there until the time he left for Pakistan.
A highly sensitive and otherworldly soul, music was his sole obsession. Most of Bundu Khan’s life and time was spent practicing, improvising or exchanging mores with contemporary musicians and maestros. His intense passion for this instrument and music drove him to extreme measures, owing his family being quite unhappy with him. As a result he became an addict of opium and ganja for relief. Though an addict, he always forbade his students and young musicians from so much as touching it.
During the pre-Independence times, it was a common sight to see the engrossed Bundu Khan walking along the streets of Old Delhi, clutching his dear sarangi, oblivious to the goings-on around him. If anyone requested him to play, he would sit on the footpath and blissfully play the instrument. He had absolutely no qualms about accompanying wayside singers or playing during the Ramlila celebrations in Delhi. No musical opportunity, he felt, was to be missed, for there was always something to be learnt and be delighted by, from the plenteous musical resources in this country. Such was his frenzy for his beloved sarangi, that he used to never let go of it, and umpteen legendary stories abound in the Old Delhi area about this soulful and child-like man and his other half — the sarangi.
The Partition and its aftermath proved traumatic for Bundu Khan. This guileless man, ever lost in the abstract world of music and melody, was suddenly hurled into the glaring light of reality and time. He had hoped to continue in this country, but owning to his family migrating to the new country (Pakistan) in search of hope, he was obliged to comply. As a result he left for Pakistan after three years of the Partition. The Delhi AIR tried much to intervene to bring him back here, but travel restrictions made the job even tougher. Distressed and dejected, he died in 1955, a broken man, a tragically alienated artist. AIR apparently has a rich storehouse of Bundu Khan’s recordings. It is hoped that they would release these recordings for the benefit of music lovers and the younger generation of sarangi players.
Listen to some of his great renditions.
Originally from Oriental Traditional Music & indianetzone.com
