Hit right note in both traditional, experimental music

Nonika Singh

Once extolled as “assurance for the future of Indian vocal music”, Ustad Rashid Khan did rise and proved true to the adulatory words of maestro Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Alas, as the Padma Bhushan recipient Khan breathed his last on Tuesday after a prolonged battle with cancer, the future of Indian classical music stands bereft of a great voice steeped in melody.

One of the foremost classical vocalists of Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana, the illustrious singer’s training began early in life under the mentorship of his granduncle Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan. Interestingly, in more than one interview he confessed to not being particularly enamoured by music in his childhood years and found those arduous lessons which called for practising the same note endlessly rather boring. But once he was smitten by the world of ‘saat sur’, to which he lent new meanings and depths, more than one listener was enraptured. He made a mark at rather young age after he joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy at Kolkata and was soon hailed as a rare talent.

Both tradition and experimentation came naturally to him. If his classical renditions were marked by the hallmarks of his gharana, melodic elaboration and ‘taraana’, his film songs carried the same stamp of classical excellence. Movie buffs are unlikely to forget his sonorous song “Aaoge jab tum saajana” in Imtiaz Ali’s film “Jab We Met” and the impactful “Bol ke lab azad hain” in Nandita Das’ “Manto”. He composed for a couple of other films to, such as “Hate Story 2” and “Ishqeria”, and felt that his foray into the film music brought in a different set of listeners into the classical fold.

The singer who enjoyed ‘jugalbandis’ is probably striking one with the Almighty today. “Barsega Saawan…” right now heavens must be drenched with his melodic notes.