Hundred Great Muslims

BUNDOOKHAN
The spacious hall of the Muir Central College of Allahabad University
was packed to its capacity. Musicians as well as listeners from all parts of the
subcontinent had assembled to participate in the All-India Music Conference
held in 1935. The stage was occupied by a galaxy of outstanding musicians
(Ustads and Kavis) including Faiyyaz Khan, the Sun of Indian Music, Abdul
Karim Khan, Mushiaq Husain and Bare Ghulam Ali Khan, the star singers and
Alauddin Khan, the talented Sitar player. Ustad Faiyyaz Khan had finished a
solo recital of vocal music and the atmosphere in the Hall was tense with excitement.
Meanwhile, an unimpressive, frail-bodied musician with a small wooden
instrument hung across his shoulders, was seen climbing up the platform. He
squatted on the carpet and started tuning his small stringed instrument. Those
who did not know him, laughed at his coming after Faiyyaz Khan, the Star
musician of the subcontinent. He started playing on his Sarangi (a stringed
wooden instrument) in low tones, steadily raising it, till he reached the zenith of
his performance. His hand holding the bow moved with mechanical rapidity
and the instrument began to emit fire all around. The entire audience seemed to
be spell bound. The old enchantment hovered over the stage casting a mesmeric
spell over the listeners, who were brought to their senses only when the performance
carne to an end. This instrumentalist was Ustad Bundoo Khan, whose
solo performance of Sarangi thrilled the audience and according to Wordsworth:
"The music in my heart I bore
Long after it was heard no more."
It was Bundoo Khan's unique performance long remembered by the
listeners' as Shelley has righly observed:
"Music when soft voices die?
Vibrates in the Memory !
Among the luminaries in the realm of classical music in the subcontinent
during the present century who could draw and keep huge audiences spell bound
for hours together, Ustad Bundoo Khan occupies an eminent place. From a
gifted Sarangi player living in penury once, he became one of the most talented
instrumentalists of the subcontinent. Bundoo Khan's is a dramatic life story.
Endowed with many attributes essential for a successful musician, he combined
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