This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
This article is my small tribute to Ustad Amir Khan (15/08/1912 – 13/02/1974) on the occasion of his 40th death anniversary which falls on February 13, 2014. He was the founder of the Indore Gharana though personally he did not like to be associated with any gharanas. He maintained that he belonged to the Hindustani gharana and other gharanas were like its sub-branches. But his disciples gave the name of Indore gharana for his unique style of rendition. After watching him on a Film Division’s documentary (1970), I sometimes wonder if Ustad Amir Khan had ever realised how great a person he was. The name and fame did not affect him as for him, the singing was more a pursuit of spirituality than a means of livelihood for him. He was one of those Hindustani classical vocalists who refused many offers of concerts during his life time mainly because this would have affected his riyaaz (practice).
I first become aware of Ustad Amir Khan sometime in the 1960s when my maternal uncle brought to my notice a song aaj gaawat man mero jhoom ke from the film “˜Baiju Baawra”(1952). The song was sung by Ustad Amir Khan and Pandit D V Paluskar, two of the great Hindustani classical vocalists. I had heard on AIR, the bhajans rendered by Pandit D V Paluskar but never heard of Ustad Amir Khan. This was my first experience of listening to Hindustani classical vocalists rendering a song for a Hindi film. In a way, my interest in the Hindustani classical music was created by this ‘jugalbandi’ song of ‘Baiju Baawra’.
Ustad Amir Khan was born in Akola (Maharashtra) but originally belonged to a place in undivided Punjab (now in Haryana). However, most of his ancestors had settled in Indore under the patronage of Holkar rulers. His father, Shah Amir (also written as Shahmir) was a sarangi player. Much of Amir Khan’s childhood was spent in Indore. At the age of 9, his mother died after which his father took the responsibility of bringing up his siblings. Ustad Amir Khan had to struggle a lot in his life. After the death of his father in 1937, he had the responsibility of looking after his family and it was hard for him to fend for his family as it was difficult to make a living from music. During this period, he shuffled between Bombay (Mumbai), Culcutta (Kolkata), Delhi and Indore to earn his livelihood mainly through music tuitions.
Ustad Amir Khan did not get a formal training in Hindustani classical music though his father was his first guide in shaping his interest in classical music. He may probably be one of the very few exponents of Hindustani classical music who participated in concerts without having any formal training (i.e., ganda bandan, a ceremony of tying strings signifying acceptance of the disciple by the master). His start-up musical concerts were uneventful and he did not get any recognition as a vocalist. Realising that it was important to polish his singing style, he got trained under Ustad Rajab Ali Khan of Indore and Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhendi Bazar gharana in Bombay (Mumbai). He was also influenced by the style of the singing of Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan of Khirana gharana. With the guidance of his ustads and by creating his own style of classical singing, he established himself as one of the topmost vocalists of Hindustani classical music by the end of 1947. The connoisseurs of Hindustani classical music believe that Ustad Amir Khan developed his own style of singing based on the amalgam of three gharanas which later came to be known as Indore gharana.
Ustad Amir Khan was instrumental in reviving the tarana style of singing which was first invented by Amir Khusrow. He did a lot of research on this genre of singing during his life time. He improvised a tarana in raag Hamsadhwani which was originally attempted by his teacher Ustad Aman Ali Khan, also an admirer of Carnatic music. Incidentally, Raag Hamsadhwani was originally invented by one of the pillars of the Carnatic music, Muthuswami Dikshitar some time in the 19th century. He composed the Sanskrit prayer, vatapi ganpatim bhaje in this raag. (This one is sung by Pandit Ajay Chakraborty). Ustad Amir Khan assimilated this Carnatic raag into a tarana in Hindustani classical music. His rendition of the tarana in Raag Hamsadhwani is nothing short of a trance music. In this audio clip of the tarana, Ustad Amir Khan often repeats a Persian couplet:
etihaadest miyaan e man o tu
(There is a unity between ‘me’ and ‘You’)
man o tu neist miyaan e man o tu
(There is no ‘me’ and ‘You’ between me and you)
[Note :Both the sher and its translation are courtesy one of the comments on YT audio clip]
In other words, there is a one to one relationship between a man and the God. It was believed that repetition of words in the guise of tarana singing was necessary in reaching the God. This is a Sufiana way of prayer to be with the God, like a trance music as I had said earlier. It is said that in most of his concerts, Ustad Amir Khan would end with singing one of his taranas explaining to the audience meaning of each Persian words in his taranas.
Ustad Amir Khan’s occasional tryst with Film industry as a singer was more for meeting the requirements of the song situations than on his own volition. He was associated with Hindi film “Baiju Baawra”™ (1952) as a music consultant for composing some songs based on Hindustani classical ragas. In the film, there was a situation for a jugalbandi (competition) between Tansen and Baiju. While Ustad Amir Khan was to sing for Tansen (Surendra), Naushad was not able decide as to which Hindustani classical singer would suit for Baiju (Bharat Bhushan) especially when Baiju was to be a winner in the competition. It was Amir Khan who suggested the name of Pandit D V Paluskar for his serene voice and suggested that he would not mind getting defeated from him. The 6 minute jugalbandi aaj gaawat man mero jhoom ke created a musical history as, for the first time in a Hindi film, two great vocalists of Hindustani classical music sang a jugalbandi. In addition, Amir Khan also sang two more classical raga based songs and one sargam in this film. For ‘Shabaab’(1954), Amir Khan sang a bhajan, daya kar hey girdhar gopal, again for Naushad. Later he sang one song each in “Jhanak Jhanak Paayal Baaje” (1955), “Raagini” (1958) and “˜Goonj Uthi Shehnaai” (1959). He also sang two songs in classical ragas in Bengali film “˜Khudito Pashan” (1960) composed by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
Ustad Amir Khan was an exponent of Khayal gayaki. He never sang thumri and ghazals in the concerts nor did he record private songs in this genres. However, he did make two exceptions. He sang a Ghalib ghazal “rahiye ab aisi jagah chalkar jahaan koi na ho” composed by Pandit Amarnath Chawla, his senior most disciple, for a documentary film “Mirza Ghalib”. The second exception was for a Bengali film ‘Khudito Pashan’ (1960) in which he sang a thumri under the music direction of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
In recognition of his contribution to the Hindustani classical music, Ustad Amir Khan was given Sangeet Natak Akademy award in 1969. He was also conferred Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 1971.
The life of Ustad Amir Khan was cut short in the peak of his musical career when he met with a car accident in Calcutta (Kolkata) in the night of February 13, 1974 and died within an hour of the accident. He left behind a daughter from his first wife (sister of Ustad Vilayat Khan), a son from his second wife and his third wife with a son from her, Haider Amir. None of his siblings had interest in Hindustani classical music. His daughter became a homeopath doctor; his first son graduated in mechanical engineering and settled in Canada. His second son, Haider Amir, better known as Shahbaz Khan, became famous for his role of Hyder Ali in a T V Serial “The Sword of Tipu Sultan” (1990). He has been working in many TV serials and doing character roles in Hindi films.
[Note : There is a well researched article written by Dr. Suresh Chandavarkar of the Society of Indian Record Collectors (SIRC) on Ustad Amir Khan especially about his taranas which is worth reading. Some of the information in this write up is based on his article which I gratefully acknowledge. A TV documentary produced by Doordarshan gives a brief insight into the musical carrier and the personality of Ustad Amir Khan].
On the occasion of the death anniversary of Ustad Amir Khan, I have “’. At first I thought that it was a traditional bandish. But as I started deciphering the lyrics, I felt that some of the verses in this song may have been written by Shakeel Badayuni because generally a short bandish would not have so many verses. Ustad Amir Khan made this bandish interesting even for the general listeners by shortening the ‘alaaps’ and making it akin to a ‘chhota khayal’.
I had heard this song on the radio on a few occasions during my younger days. But now each time I listen to this song, I virtually get a aura of rainy season. Rain or no rain, I am now completely “drenched” in Raag Megh in the divine voice of Ustad Amir Khan.
Song-Ghanan ghanan ghan garjo re (Baiju Baawra)(1952) Singer-Ustaad Amir Khan, Lyrics-Shakeel Badayuni, MD-Naushad
Lyrics
aa aaa
aa
aaa
aa aa aaaa
aa aaaa
aa aa aaa
aa aa aaa
megh raag ab gaaye mero mann
barsan laago badaraa
aa aa aa aaa
jhoom jhoom tum chhaao gagan pe
nainan jaise kajraa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aaa
ghanan ghanan ghan garjo re ae
chanan chanan chan barso
o barso
aa aa aaa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
ghanan ghanan ghan garjo re ae
chanan chanan chan barso
o san san chalat pawaniyaa
aa aa aaa
aa aa aaa
aa aa aaa
aa aa aaa
lo cham cham chamkat maniyaa
lo cham cham chamkat maniyaa
lo umad ke aayi ghataayen
lo barasan laagi boondaniyaan
aa aa aaa
aa aa aaa
aa aa aaa
aa aa aaa
barse jaay saari badarwaa
barse jaay saari badarwaa
nadiyaan sookhi bhar do
o barso
o barso re ee
ghanan ghanan ghan garjo re ae
chanan chanan chan barso
sab barso aaj sajaniyaa ??
aa aa aaa
aa aaa
aa aaa
aa aaa
tum aake latko(?) baadal
tum aake latko(?) baadal
jharnon ko banaa do nadiyaan
nadiyon ko banaa do saagar
aa aa aaa
aa aaa
aa aaa
aa aaa
dharti jhoome
baadal jhoome
dharti jhoome
baadal jhoome
baras baras tu barso
o barso
o barso re ae
ghanan ghanan ghan garjo re ae
chanan chanan chan barso
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
aa aa
ghanan ghanan ghan
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
aaa aaa aaa
ghanan ghanan ghan garjo re ae
chanan chanan chan barso
