Bismillah Khan

Bismillah Khan Sahib was born on 21st March 1916, in Bihar, India. He spent his childhood in the holy city of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganga, where his uncle was the official shehnai player in the famous Visvanath temple.

He is the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna (in 2001), the highest civilian honour in India. Bismillah Khan is perhaps single handedly responsible for making the Shehnai a famous classical instrument.

At an early age, he familiarized himself with various forms of the music of UP, such as Thumri, Chaiti, Kajri, Sawani etc. Later he studied Khayal music and mastered a large number of ragas.

It was Khan Sahib who poured his heart out into Raga Kafi from the Red Fort on the eve of India’s first Republic Day ceremony.

Khan has honorary doctorates from the Banaras Hindu University and Visva Bharti University, Santiniketan. He has been awarded the Sangeet Natak Academi Award, the Tansen Award of the Madhya Padesh government and also the prestigious Padma Vibhushan.

He is a pious Shiv Muslim and also, like many Indian musicians regardless of creed, a devotee of Mother Saraswati.