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Gramophone Celebrities – 41
Musician of musicians – Prof. Vilayat Hussain Khan (1895-1962)
Vilayat Hussain Khan was the son of Ustad Natthan Khan of Agra gharana.
Although born in Agra, young Vilayat spent most of his childhood in Mysore,
since his father was in the services of Mysore State court. Ustad Natthan Khan
passed away in 1901. His uncle Mohammad Khan adopted him and they moved
to Jaipur. He learnt music till 1920-22 from number of teachers and gurus. He
has given a list of forty-two gurus in his book ‘Sangeetagyonke Sansmaran’
published by Sangeet Natak Academy, New Delhi in 1956. Due to such a wide
choice of gurus he imbibed almost all gharanas in his gayaki. He was learning
and giving concerts until his elder brother was alive. After his sudden death, he
had to shoulder the family responsibilities. This was the period when radio
broadcast had just begun. He began to broadcast regularly, teach music and also
perform in public concerts and conferences. He also performed on National
programs of All India Radio until about 1955. In 1931, he was invited to
Allahabad music conference and was awarded with the title ‘Sangeet Ratnakar’.
He was in the services of Mysore State during 1935-40. Around 1935, Ruby
record company of Bombay cut over thirty songs and issued them on ten and
twelve-inch diameter double-sided shellac discs under ‘Odeon’ label. Later on
some of them were reissued on Columbia label records. He has composed many
bandishes in ragas such as Raysa Kanada, Kaushi Kanada and Kukubh Bilawal.
He composed with pen name ‘Pranapiya’. Many musicians used to consult him in
the matter of uncommon ragas. Hence he was often called as ‘Musician of
Musicians’. Around 1950, All India Radio, Delhi introduced audition test policy for
all the musicians. Some of the provisions were unjust and unreasonable. Vilayat
Hussain Khan formed a forum of musicians and fought against this policy.
Finally, AIR authorities had to withdraw the policy. He was engaged in music
performance and teaching till his untimely death. He passed away on 18 th May
1962 in Delhi, in an accident when he was traveling in a taxi.
List of his disciples is long and is given in his book ‘Sangeetagyonke
Sansmaran’. Some of them are: Shreemati Narvekar, Moghubai Kurdikar, Indira
Wadkar, Ram Marathe, Jagannathboa Purohit (Gunidas), Saraswatibai
Phatarfekar, Ramakant Ramnathkar, Batuk Diwanji, Khadim Hussain Khan,
Gajananrao Joshi, Anwar Hussain, Latafat Hussain, Sharafat Hussain and his
two sons Yusuf and Yunus Hussain Khan.
Around 1995, All India Radio reissued some of his national programs on five
audiotapes, now available on CD’s. These contain very rare recordings when he
was at the peak of his career. In 1994, The Gramophone Company reissued
some of his old 78-rpm records of early 40’s. These recordings contain ragas –
Shivmat Bhairav, Bageshree, Asavari, Bilawal, Bahar, Barwa, Sohoni, Sarang,
Deskar, Basant, Paraj, Malkauns, Ramkali and Chayanat. In 1960, he recorded
two Extended Play [E.P.] records in which he sang – Sohoni Pancham, Paraj,
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