‘Ustad Rashid Khan’s talent, humility are lessons for posterity’

An exemplary musical journey was cut short on January 9 when Padma Bhushan Ustad Rashid Khan breathed his last at a Kolkata hospital. The 56-year-old maestro, who represented the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana of Hindustani classical music, was battling cancer and under treatment at the hospital since November 22 last year. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced Khan’s demise at a news conference, his family by her side.

Bengal bid adieu to the genius singer on January 10 with a gun salute, which was preceded by fellow musicians, dignitaries and commoners paying their last respects to Khan at Kolkata’s Rabindra Sadan auditorium.

INDIA TODAY spoke to some of the Ustad’s friends, colleagues and well-wishers. Excerpts from their tributes to the legend:

Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty, classical music maestro

He was like my apprentice, one of my own. I had almost brought him up. We were at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata at the same time. I was a scholar and a teacher there, while he was learning. Though he was not directly under me, he would come for suggestions and I would happily reciprocate. Our relationship was very strong.

He was younger to me by 16 years; we were in the same fraternity and it was only natural that our bond would grow stronger. I knew him even before he became a family man. But it was unfortunate that I was not told about his ill-health. All I knew was that he was in Dubai performing in concerts. The news of his death came as a rude shock.

Pt. Bickram Ghosh, musician and composer

How do you process this grief, the knowledge that a friend, who is exactly my age, is no more? A friend with whom I had a relationship of mutually nourishing each other’s music. How do I quantify the void this has left in me? I have known Rashid since the two of us were in our teens. We grew up in the same musical environment, worked together, did concerts together. Our musical ethos connected us. We would talk to each other almost every day.

He was not a fellow musician I knew from a concert. He was my friend in the truest sense. We would fight, criticise each other and then again make up. We would do all the things brothers did. Our criticisms had only enriched our music. In between, time drifted us apart. But some years later, we prioritised our friendship and got back together. There are three songs he recorded for me, which are still unreleased. I will not be able to identify one single big memory with him because there are so many. He was a jewel.

Pt. Tanmoy Bose, tabla maestro

I met him first at my wife’s place. He was friends with my wife and they were around 17-18. I am about four years older to them. And many years later, his wedding was finalised at my residence. That was the kind of familial relationship we shared. Till 1996, I used to play with him and we had performed in so many concerts across the globe. I remember the times when we would come back to the hotel from a concert to find no food available. We would go out looking for food in the streets. All those mischievous things we had done together, the moments we shared are unforgettable. It is in a thousand years that a musician like Rashid is born. It is by God’s grace that these people can sing so well. It is supernatural.

Another thing I saw in Rashid is how he lived up to the occasion every time. I’ve seen him unwell, feverish, yet when he took the stage, he would transcend. Like Ustad Zakir Hussain. There are probably technically superior tabla players, but no one can perform like Zakir Sa’ab. No one can perform like Rashid either. The vacuum created by his demise will remain unfilled.

Pt. Debojyoti Bose, Sarod maestro

How can I pick a few memories of someone with whom I’ve spent an entire lifetime? My father and his maternal uncle Haeez Ahmad Khan, who was deputy director at All India Radio, were friends. I knew him since then as he came to our house with his uncle. We would play together and grew up together. When we were at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, we were known for our notoriety. We were a menace for the seniors, under encouragement from Pt. Vijay Kichlu.

Two incidents I will never forget is when the two of us and Kumar da (Pt. Kumar Bose) performed together at a Rabindra Sangeet event at Rabindra Sadan. He sang, I played the sarod and Kumar da was at the tabla. What a fantastic event it was. He celebrated my 60th birthday on a grand scale. He was a fantastic cook and cooked for us that day. In the evening, he sang Yaad Piya Ki Aayi while I played the sarod and Subhankar [Banerjee] played the tabla. I will remember that evening till I die.

It is my misfortune that my friends younger to me, Rashid now and Subhankar last year, expired. Our bond is loosening. But I tell you something: what Rashid has done in the 56 years of his life will be a lesson for posterity. He was an institution in himself.

Imtiaz Ali, film director

My memories with Rashid Khan are of when he came to Mumbai to record our song. It was the idea of my composer Sandesh Shandilya that we should approach him with the song Aaoge Jab Tum. But we were scared that he will refuse. So, with a beating heart, Sandesh went to Kolkata and approached Ustadji as a disciple of classical music. It is his blessing to us that he liked the song and agreed to lend his voice to it. When he came to the recording booth, he told us that we should treat him like a newcomer since he was new to film songs. He told us that he would do exactly we ask him to. It was a lesson in humility for us.

Many people told us not to shoot this song, not to keep it in the film. They thought that it would be a misfit in a young-age romantic film. But we were adamant and even after all these years, with all those funky and melodious numbers in the Jab We Met album, Aaoge Jab Tum remains one of the most listened to songs.

Interestingly, when he came, he looked much younger for all that he had already achieved by then. He was one of the finest proponents of classical music in India. It was no time for him to leave; there was so much yet to be done and discovered. After the film, I met him once afterwards fleetingly. He invited me to Kolkata when his son started his musical journey. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it. Probably I thought that I will have time later. But, then such is life.

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