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Ustad Bade Ghulam
Ali Khan, musicologists say,
was the Tansen of the 20th
century. Universally
acknowledged as the greatest
interpreter of the Patiala
gayaki over the last 100
years, few artistes of the
past have been held in such
awe and reverence as he has
been, even today.
Bade Ghulam Ali’s family
came from Kasur, a village
in Punjab. Both his father
Ali Baksh Khan and uncle
Kale Khan were famous
singers in those days. The
two brothers were trained
for a brief period by Banne
Khan in Amritsar. Later they
went to Tonk and took
extensive talim from
Kalu
Mian, father of the
celebrated singing duo Aliya
Fattu, before finally
settling down at Lahore.
Ghulam Ali was initiated
into vocal music as well as
the sarangi at a very early
age, mainly by his uncle
Kale Khan. He also took
vocal lessons from Baba Shinde Khan. He initially
earned his living by playing
sarangi before becoming a
full-fledged singer.
Countrywide publicity came
to him soon after his debut
concert in Kolkata and by
the mid-40s he was a
much-reputed singer.
Bade Ghulam Ali had a unique
voice, a wide range spanning
three octaves, effortless
production, all-round
sweetness and unparalleled
flexibility and ease of
movement in all tempi. His
style possessed an
exceptional lucidity and
clarity in addition to
serenity and calmness. With
an extraordinary blend of
technique and appeal Bade Ghulam Ali
could render
fluent khayals, sprightly thumris, erotic ghazals and
soulful bhajans with an
artistry all his own.
Khansahib was obsessed with
his riyaz. He spent all his
free time practicing paltas
and taans to the
accompaniment of the
perfectly tuned swaramandal
held in his lap. He
formulated a very scientific
way of voice culture, which
gave him absolute command
over his voice and the rare
ability to encompass all
forms of singing from
regional folk to the purest
khayals with extraordinary
ease.
Ustad was fascinated by
nature. He would often
translate the flying birds,
the lashing waves of the
turbulent sea or the simple
gait of a young girl in his taan-sargams and in his
various thumris. He would
also give great importance
to the poetic content of a
song and elaborate them
during his recitals in an
exquisite manner. This
became more evident in his
renditions of thumris where
he stood almost unmatched.
His thumri was a perfect
blend of both the Purab ang
and the Punjab ang. He also
applied various folk
elements of northern India
in his thumris and dadras,
adding to these a special
colour. Bade Ghulam Ali
generally preferred known
ragas like Malkauns, Bhupali,
Bageshree, etc. to obscure
ragas. He composed several
bandishes under the pen name
Sabarang. His renditions
like the Hari Om Tatsat and
the Aai Na Balam are
world-renowned even now.
After the partition, Ustad
Bade Ghulam Ali used to
visit India from Lahore but
owing to his growing
popularity and the mass
adulation he enjoyed in
India, he became its citizen
in 1958. Unfortunately at
the peak of his career he
was stricken with paralysis
and was bedridden for about
two years. It was the Ustad’s extreme will power
that helped him make a
comeback around 1963 to the
sheer delight of his
innumerable fans. Though he
managed to continue with his
performances for another 5
years, his health took a
turn for the worse and he
died in 1968. Ustad Bade
Ghulam Ali Khan was awarded
the Padma Bhushan in 1962.
He was also a recipient of
the Sangeet Natak Akademi
award. It is our great
fortune that today a number
of his audio recordings in
the form of LPs, cassettes
and CDs are available in the
market. Noted among his
numerous disciples were his
son Munawar Ali Khan, Prasun
and Meera Banerjee, Irene
Roychowdhuri and Sandhya
Mukherjee.
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Maestros
of India
