Shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan mesmerised the people of Karnataka back in 1977 when he played for the Rajkumar-starrer Sanaadi Appanna .
The State has got lucky again, as Bangalore will soon acquire and display the Ustad’s shehnai — which he often referred to as his ‘Begum’.
The permanent showcase venue of the priceless instrument will be the Centre for Indian Music Experience (IME) at J.P. Nagar, the first of its kind Music Experiential Museum building that was inaugurated in October, 2013. The late maestro’s trademark cap and the original script of a composition by him will also be in the museum.
Senior veena artiste Suma Sudhindra, Director, Outreach, IME, told The Hindu that it would be part of the 300-piece instrument gallery. The idea of displaying something precious that belonged to five Bharat Ratna winners in music came up. “To start with, we approached the Ustad’s family in Varanasi and they graciously agreed to part with one of his shehnais. One of the maestro’s caps and an original script of a composition that he often played in a ragamalika would be formally handed over by the maestro’s son Ustad Zamin Hussain Khan on September 7,” said Ms. Suma.
Vocalist Manasi Prasad, Project Director, IME, said they had already approached Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Ravi Shankar’s wife Sukanya, Bhimsen Joshi’s family and M.S. Subbulakshmi’s grandson V. Srinivasan with similar requests. “The shimmering ‘MS Blue’ that the queen of Carnatic music popularised would be the sari that our museum would cherish. We wait to hear from the family,” she said.
The centre is a 40-crore project of the IME Trust, supported by the Brigade Group and the State government.
