Legendary classical musician Mustafa Khan passes away

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, January 17

Renowned Indian classical musician Ustad Mustafa Khan of Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana breathed his last at his Mumbai residence on Sunday. He was 89.

Born on March 3, 1931, in Badaun of Uttar Pradesh, Khan was the eldest son in a family of four brothers and three sisters. His father, Ustad Waris Hussain Khan, was the son of celebrated musician Ustad Murred Baksh, while his mother, Sabri Begum, was the daughter of Ustad Inayat Husain Khan, credited as the founder of the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana of music.

Khan received his basic classical music training from his father and later studied music under his cousin, Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan.

He gave his first public performance at the age of eight.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, followed by Padma Bhushan in 2006 and Padma Vibhushan in 2018.

In 2003, he was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi award, the highest Indian recognition given to practising artistes.

Ustad Mustafa Khan has sung for Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi films and has given his voice to over 70 documentary films by Films Division, many of which received national and international awards.

He taught music to AR Rahman, Shaan, Hariharan, Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle, Sonu Nigam, Alisha Chinoy and many others. He even taught Lata Mangeshkar for a while.

Khan had suffered a brain stroke in 2019 that paralysed the left side of his body.

Mourning Khan’s death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the musician’s passing away has left “our cultural world poorer”.

Various social media platforms have been flooded with tributes to the maestro by his fans, associates in the music industry and Bollywood celebrities. Lata said she was “deeply saddened” by the news of Khan’s death.

Rahman remembered Khan as the “sweetest teacher”. “May the Ghafoor-ur-Rahim give you a special place in the next world,” he wrote.

(With inputs from PTI)