Ustad Ustād or ostād (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian ) is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages such as Persian, , Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Marat ...

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (2 April 1902 – 23 April 1968) was an Indian

Hindustani classical Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...

vocalist, from the Patiala gharana.Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
India Today (newspaper), Retrieved 19 October 2020(Papri Paul
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan: Remembering the legend
The Times of India (newspaper), Published 4 April 2017, Retrieved 19 October 2020

Early life and background

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan was born Kasur, of the erstwhile

Punjab Province, British India Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British co ...

in 1902. Following

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...

in 1947, Kasur Tehsil was allocated to Pakistan. At the age of five, Bade Ghulam began training in vocal music from his chacha Kale Khan, and later from his father. He had three younger brothers namely

Barkat Ali Khan Ustad Barkat Ali Khan (1908 – 19 June 1963) was a Pakistani classical singer, younger brother of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and elder brother of Mubarak Ali Khan, and belonged to the Patiala gharana of music. Early life and career Barkat Ali Khan ...

, Mubarak Ali Khan and Amanat Ali Khan.

Singing career

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan 2003 stamp of India

Though he started his career by singing a few compositions of his late father Ali Baksh Khan and uncle Kale Khan, Bade Ghulam amalgamated the best of three traditions into his own Patiala-Kasur style: * The Behram Khani elements of

Dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music, Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampraday and also related to the South I ...

* The gyrations of

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known a ...

and * The behlavas (embellishments) of

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

. Many of his raga expositions were brief, contrary to convention, and, while he agreed that the beauty of classical music lay in leisurely improvisation, he believed that the audience would not appreciate long

alap The Alap (; ) is the opening section of a typical North Indian classical performance. It is a form of melodic improvisation that introduces and develops a raga. In dhrupad singing the alap is unmetered, improvised (within the raga) and unaccompan ...

s, particularly considering his tendency towards singing for the masses. He, therefore, changed the music to what the audience wanted. He excelled at more light-hearted

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as ...

s such as: * Adana * Bhupali * Hameer * Jaijaiwanti and * Jaunpuri. Under the pen name of ''Sabrang'', he created many new

compositions Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

. Unlike his younger son, Munawar Ali Khan, who had an open-throated voice, Khan Sahib's voice was slurred. After the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...

in 1947, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan went to his hometown Kasur in Pakistan, but returned to India later to migrate to India permanently in 1957. With the help of the Bombay Chief Minister,

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

, he acquired Indian citizenship and moved to a bungalow at Malabar Hill in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

. He lived at various times in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

, and finally

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

. For a long time, he stayed away from singing in films, despite requests and persuasion from well-known producers and music directors. Finally, after much coaxing, he was convinced by the film producer, K Asif, to sing two songs based on the ragas Sohni and Rageshri for the 1960 film Mughal-e-Azam, with music directed by Naushad. He demanded and received an extremely high price, reportedly ₹ 25,000 per song, at a time when the rates of popular and star playback singers such as

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...

and

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

were below ₹ 500 per song.

Awards and recognition

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...

(1962) * Sangeet Natak Akademi fellow (1967) * Padma Bhushan Award (1962)

Death and legacy

He died in

Basheer Bagh Palace Basheer Bagh Palace or Bashir Bagh Palace was a palace located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was constructed by Sir Asman Jah, a Paigah noble and Prime Minister of Hyderabad state (1887–1894). History It was once a palace with grea ...

on 23 April 1968 after a prolonged illness that had left him partially paralyzed in the last few years of his life. He continued to sing and perform in public with the support of his son, Munawar Ali Khan, until his death. Indian film director

Harisadhan Dasgupta Harisadhan Dasgupta (1923–1996) was an Indian film director from Calcutta who was most prolific in the 1950s and 1960s. Dasgupta specialized in surveying subjects of fascination to the Bengali public. Dasgupta attended the University of So ...

made a documentary film about Khan in 1968, titled ''Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sahib''. In 2017, the ''Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Yaadgaar Sabha'' was founded by his disciple Malti Gilani. It helps to keep his music and memory alive even today.(Anjana Rajan
On ragas and riches
The Hindu (newspaper), 22 August 2008, Retrieved 19 October 2020 The main street at Basheerbagh is named ''Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Marg'' in his honour.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali 1902 births 1968 deaths Hindustani singers 20th-century Indian Muslims Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Patiala gharana Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Thumri Punjabi people 20th-century Indian male classical singers People from Kasur District People with acquired Indian citizenship People who lost Pakistani citizenship Pakistani emigrants to India 20th-century Khyal singers Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship