Ustad Bismillah
Khan was born on March 21.1916 in Dumroan , Bihar .
He learned to play the Shehnai from his uncle Ali Baksh
Vilaytu of Varanasi
A renowned
Classical Indian Musical Instrumentalist of Shehnai, a sub continental wind
indument of oboe class. He gave numerous
performances all over India and the World over a span of seven decades
He died on
August 21 2006 at Varanasi at the age of 90
Shehnai
Instrumentalist
He gave his first his concert
performance at the All India Music Conference at Calcutta in 1937.
He had the rare honour of performing at
the Red Fort, Delhi on the eve of First Independence Day in August 15, 1947 and
the First Republic Day in January 26, 1950.
The first programme to be aired over Indian Television was Ustad Bismillah Khan's Shehnai recital on September 15, 1959.
A devout Muslim, He was a symbol of
communal harmony and preformed at social events and religious festivals of all
faiths.
He performed at the Edinburgh Music
Festival in 1966 and Cannes Music Festival in 1969, Festivals of India, World
Expos at Montreal and Osaka
He was an Senior artiste for Akashvani
& Doodarshan, Government of India.
He was the National Research Professor
of Music
Awards
The Government
of India honoured him with Padma Sri in 1961 ,Padma Bhushan in 1968 , Padma Vibhushan
in 1980 and Bharat Ratna in 2001
He is the
third musician to receive Bharat Ratna and the second Indian to receive all the
four civilian awards
He also
received the Rajiv Gandhi Award in 1994 and Tansen Award
Fellowships
He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 1956
and Fellowship in 1994
Doctorates
The
Universities of Benares, Vishwa Bharathi and Marathawada conferred Honorary
Doctorates on him for his life time contribution to Instrumental Music
Resources
Publications
Bismillah Khan and Banaras: The Seat of Shehnai, by Rita Ganguly Siddhi Books, 1994.
Albums
He recorded several solos and
duets of Shehani music albums for a variety of music labels including Chhanda
Dhara in Germany, Navras in Britain, HMV and TIPS in India.
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