Hundred Great Muslims

286 Hundred Great Muslims
Bundoo Khan attached to the princely Court of Indore and remained
there for 27 years. He studied Sanskrit in order to have access to classical music
of ancient India. His devotion to music had impaired his health. The only
thought which haunted him consistently was-How to attain perfection in his
art. He had lost his sleep. Whenever he passed through the streets of Delhi, he
had his Sarangi hung across his shoulders hidden under a sheet worn by him.
In the way he continuously moved his thin fingers over the strings of the little
instrument.
Bundoo Khan was a maestro, universally respected by all classes of musicians.
He accompanied all the great singers of his time, including Aladiya Khan,
Allabande Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, Bare Ghulam Ali Khan and Faiyyaz Khan.
They considered it a privilege to be accompanied by him. He would never let
a soloist down. It' was a pleasure to watch him playing on his instrument. A
stream of music seeming to emanate from his little instrument flowed into the
hearts of the listeners, transporting them to a state of ecstasy in which they lost
all sense of time and space. He seemed to be so much absorbed in his art that
in moments of deep exultation, he partially closed his eyes and instinctively
sung with the instrument. His dreamy eyes together with the enchanting music
cast a spell over the listeners.
Music demonstrates diverse mooda-sorrow or delight, fury of serenity,
exultation or ecstasy. An experienced musician demonstrates these diversities
to his advantage at different moments. Bundoo Khan knew this secret of success,
hence his demonstration was never boring. Every time he played the same tune
in a different way, which gave freshness to his art. Once questioned about the
secret of his success, he said: "Each rag mirrors a different feeling. If it is a good
piece of music, do not expect it to mean the same thing to you each time
you listen to it". The change of his tunes was at times deceptive, involving
among other intricacies the sudden switching from slow ones to incredibly fast
ones.
He introduced many musical innovations. He introduced what is known
as 'Meendh soot ki Sargam', in which the musician in the midst of recurring
moledy shifts from one note to another with bewildering alacrity.
Bundoo Khan was a mobile encyclopaedia of music. He had mastered
more than 500 rags (tunes), with their intricacies and differences, while hardly
any oriental musician could master more than 50 rags. Bundoo Khan's achievement
in this sphere of musical art looks extraordinary. He possessed a brilliant
memory and explained the differences of the rags in special musical demonstrations.
But the greatest achievement of the maestro lay in his making an insignificant
instrument like Sarangi into Sau-rangi (hundred tuned instrument) a powerful
musical instrument which could produce diverse tunes. This wonderful
instrument in which he combined different musical instruments and could