• Ustaad Bismillah Khan, I am very grateful to you for agreeing to speak to us on our programme.
Let me tell you I have very little to say, if it’s to talk nonsense. I don’t know anything but music; if you ask about that, I can say many things.
• You must practice for hours on end.
Oh endlessly. These temples of ours in Benaras—Balaji and Mangala Gauri—Balaji is a little lower, you have to go down the stairs, but Mangala Gauri is at a height. I don’t visit them nowadays; but the stones are the same, aren’t they? You bring gangajal, you go inside to offer it—but the stones outside are just the same. All you need to do is put your hand to them.
• And where you place your hand, music and the heart become one.
Yes, yes—just put your hand there and what joy you’ll feel. You can’t see it though, I’m afraid, it’s not something to be seen.
• You have such power. If you sing just a few phrases from the Raag Malhar it begins to rain.
My forefathers used to perform at the Balaji temple. Do you know what they were paid? Rs 35 or 40 for a whole month. When my grandmother performed, do you know what the deal was fixed for? 14 annas.
• Khan saheb, you have never differentiated between religions, you believe all are one.
They are one, absolutely one. It’s impossible for there to be division. This voice you hear, it’s that that we call sur.
• I heard you once had an argument with a maulana from Iraq. He said music was blasphemy, and you made him understand that music is also a means to God.
Yes, I set him right.
• Tell us how you did it.
It was nothing. He said music is evil, a trap of the devil, and you mustn’t fall into it. I said to him: Maulana, all I ask is that you be fair. Then I started singing, and when I finished I asked if this was blasphemy.
• You reached out to Allah through music. What did the maulana say then?
He was speechless, he had nothing left to say. I told him not to fall into these errors. I asked him if taking Allah’s name in the raag was wrong—that was all I was saying, though it was in Raag Bhairav.
• So there is no difference between Hindu and Muslim in music—all music goes to one end?
Yes—that same Bhairav I sang—any number of Hindus would agree that it was Raag Bhairav.
• Khan saheb, among your contemporaries, you’re in a league of your own. When you got the Bharat Ratna, no one was in disagreement, everyone said it was long overdue.
Look, this is the tool I use (holds up shehnai)—it is very dear to me.
• You keep it with you always—you sleep with it near you.
Yes I do. This is such a thing that when I lift it, I start thinking from my heart. As I said, the stones are the same, both inside and out. People sprinkle gangajal inside, but they never make an offering outside. I put my hand on the stones outside.
• I heard that Lata Mangeshkar called to congratulate you when you received the Bharat Ratna. What did she say to you?
Lata was overjoyed. She called me and said: Khan saheb, you’ve got the Bharat Ratna. By that time, other people had also told me, so I said: Yes, it’s come to me too.
• Both of you had received it.
Yes, I congratulated her. Lata is very melodious, it must be said.
• Do you like listening to her?
Immensely. She has a magic in her voice that very few have. There was also Begum Akhtar...
• Yes, she used to sing ghazals and thumris.
She sang Deewana Bana De—it was a couplet. Many people have sung it, but when she sang, I would make it a point to go to the studio to hear her. And how she sang. I was asleep once—it must have been an hour or so after midnight. Somewhere, someone was playing one of the Begum’s records.
• Which one?
The same one—Deewana Bana De. There was a strong breeze—I awoke and sat up to hear her sing. I was enjoying myself so much, I woke my wife up—she was very annoyed and she said, What’s all this in the middle of the night? I told her to get lost.