* 2.

The Sound of Music

Part I
Evelyn Glennie Listens to Sound
without Hearing It
BEFORE You READ
"God may have taken her hearing bu he has gen her back
something extraordinary. What ue hear. she feels far more
deeply than any of us. That is hy she expresses miusic so
beautifully."
Read the follouing account of a person who fought agairnst a
physical dísablity and made her life a success story.

1. RusH hour crowds jostle for position on the jostle push roughily
underground train platform. A slight girl, looking slght: small and
younger than her seventeen years, was nervous yet thn
excited as she felt the vibrations of the approaching
train. It was her first day at the prestigious Royal
Academy of Music in London and daunting enough dusting fnghtering
for any teenager fresh from a Scottish farm. But
this aspiring musician faced a bigger challenge than CspiruË ruusKat a

most: she was profoundly deal. persan who wants

to be a musscian
2. Evelyn Glennie's loss of hearing had been gradual.
Her mother remembers noticing somnething was
wrOng when the eight-year-old Evelym was waiting
to play the piano. They called her name and she
didn't move. I suddenly realised she hadn't heard."
says Isabel Glennie. For quite a while Evelyn
managed to conceal her growing deafness from
friends and teachers. But by the time she was
eleven her marks had deteriorated and her
headmistress urged her parents to take her to a
 2/15

hearing
specialist. It was then discovered that her impaired: weakened
gradual nerve
was severely impaired as a result ofshould be fitted
damage. They were advised that she deaf.
with hearing aids and sent to a school for the
"Everything suddenly looked black." says Evelyn.
3. But Evelyn was not going to give up.pursue She was
determined to lead a normal life and her
interest in music. One day she noticed a girl playingit xylophone: a musical
she wanted to play
a xylophone and decided thatdiscouraged her but instrument with a
too. Most of the teachers row of wooden bars
potential. He of different lengths
percussionist Ron Forbes spotted herdifferent notes. percussionist: a
began by tuning two large drums to
"Don't listen through your ears," he would say. "try person who plays the
Evelyn, "Suddenly drum, the tabla. etc.
to sense it some other way." Says
Irealised I could feel the higher drum Irom the potentiat quality or
ability that can be
waist up and the lower one from the waist down. developed
Evelyn
Forbes repeated the exercise, and soon in
discovered that she could sense certain notes
my
different parts of her body. "I had learnt to open rest
The
mind and body to sounds and vibrations.1
work.
was sheer determination and hard
onwards.
4. She never looked back from that pofnt
She toured the United Kingdom with a youth
orchestra and by the time she was sixteen, she had auditioned: gave a
decided to make music her life. She auditioned for short performance so
scored one of the
the Royal Academy of Music and that the director
highest marks in the history of the academy. She could decide whether
øradually moved from orchestral work to solo she was good enough
performances. At the end of her three-year course,
she had captured nost of the top awards.
5. And for all this, Evelyn won't accept any hint of
heroic achievement. "If you work hard and know
where you are going, you'll get there." And she got
right to the top, the world's most sought-after multi
percussionist with a mastery of some thousand
instruments, and hectic international schedule. inuriguing. fascinating
function so
6. It is intriguing to watch Evelyn two-hour and curious
effortlessly without hearing. In our
"Men with
discussion she never missed a word.
"It is
bushy beards give me trouble," she laughed.
18/ Beehlve

2024-25
 i s h e d

Itis intriguing to watch Evelyn furnctton

so elfortlessly without heartng

not just watching the lips, it's the whole face,

especially the eyes." She speaks flawlessly with a lawlessly: without a
Scottish lilt. "My speech is clear because I could fault or mistake
hear till Iwas eleven," she says. But that doesn't ilt: a way of
explain how she managed to learn French and speaking
master basic Japanese.
7. As for music, she explains, "It pours in through
every part of my body. It tingles in the skin, my tingles: causes a
cheekbones and even in my hair." When she plays slight pricking or
stinging sensation
the xylophone, she can sense the sound passing up
the stick into her fingertips. By leaning against the
drums, she can feel the resonances flowing into her resonances: echoes
body. On a wooden platform she removes her shoes of sounds
so that the vibrations pass through her bare feet
and up her legs.
The Sound of Music / 19

2024-25
 Part II
The Shehnai of Bismillah Khan

BEFORE YOu READ

Do you know these people? What instruments do they play?

Think of the shehnai and the frst thing you'l probably imagine
is a wedding or a similar occasion or function. The next would
probably be Ustad Bismillah Khan, the shehnat maestro,
playing this instrument.

1. EMPEROR Aurangzeb banned the playing of a musical

instrument called pungl in the royal residence for
had a shrill unpleasant sound. Pungi became the
generic name for reeded noisemakers. Few had generic name: a name
given to a class or
thought that tt would one day be revived. A barber roup as a whole
access
of a famlly of professional musicians, who had tonal reeded: wind
to the royal palace, decided to improve the instruments which
quality of the pungi. He choseand
a pipe with a natural have reeds lkethe
broader than the lute. the clarinet, etc.
hollow stem that was longer
pungt, and made seven holes on the body of the
pipe. When he played on it, closing and opening
some of these holes, soft and melodious sounds were
The Sound of Music / 21

2024-25
 produced. He played the instrument before royalty
and everyone was impressed. The instrument so
different from the pungi had to be given a new name.
As the story goes, since it was first played in the
Shah's chambers and was played by a nat (barber).
the instrument was named the 'shehnai'.

S h e d

Pungi Shehnat

2. The sound of the shehnai began to be considered

auspicious. And for this reason it is still played in auspicious:
temples and is an indispensable component of any promising to bring
North Indian wedding. In the past, the shehnai was good fortune
part of the naubat or traditional ensemble of nine indispensable:
without which a
instruments found at royal courts. Till recently it piece of work cannot
was used only in temples and weddings. The credit be done
for bringing this instrument onto the
goes to Ustad Bismillah Khan.
classical stage ensembles
(pronounced
3. As a five-year old, Bismillah Khan played gilli-danda onsomble): things
near a pond in the ancient estate of Dumraon in here, instruments)
Bihar. He would regularly go to the nearby Bihariii considered as agroup
temple to sing the Bhojpuri 'Chaita', at the end of
which he would earn a big laddu weighing 1.25 kg,
a prize given by the local Maharaja. This happened
80years ago, and the little boy has travelled far to
earn the highest civilian award in India the
Bharat Ratna.
4. Born on 21 March l916, Bismillah belongs to a
well-known family of musicians from Bihar. His
grandfather, Rasool Bux Khan, was the shehnat
nawaz of the Bhojpur king's court. His father,
Paigamnbar Bux, and other paternal ancestors were paterna rncestors:
ancestors of the
also great shehnai players. father
22/ Beehtve

2024-25
5. The young boy took to music early in life. At the age of
three when his mother took him to his
maternal
uncle's house in Benaras (now Varanasi), Bismillah
was fascinated watching his uncles practise the
shehnai. Soon Bismillah started accompanying his
uncle, Ali Bux, to the Vishnu temple of Benaras where
Bux was employed to play the shehnai. Ali Bux would
play the shehnai and Bismillah would sit captivated
for hours on end. Slowly, he started getting
lessons on end: for a very
in playing the instrument and would sit practising long time without
f i s h e d
throughout the day. For years to come the temple of stopping
Balaji and Mangala Maiya and the banks of the Ganga
became the young apprentice's favourite haunts where
he could practise in solitude. The lowing waters of
the Ganga inspired him to improvise and invent raagas
that were earlier considered to be beyond the range
of the shehnai.
6. At the age of 14, Bismillah accompanied his uncle
to the Allahabad Music Conference. At the end of
his recital, Ustad Faiyaz Khan patted the young
boy's back and said, "Work hard and you shall make
it." With the opening of the All India Radio in
Lucknow in 1938 came Bismillah's big break. He
soon became an often-heard shehnai player on radio.
7. When India gained fndependence on 15 August 1947,
Bismillah Khan became the first Indian to greet the
nation with his shehnai. He poured his heart out
into Raag Kafi from the Red Fort to an audience
which included Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who later
gave his famous Tryst with Destiny' speech.
8. Bismillah Khan has given many memorable
performances both in India and abroad. His first
trip abroad was to Afghanistan where King Zahir
Shah was so taken in by the maestro that he gifted
him priceless Persian carpets and other souvenirs.
The King of Afghanistan was not the only one to be taken in by: attracted
fascinated with Bismillah's music. Film director charmed by
Vijay Bhatt was so impressed after hearing souerúrs: things
Bismillah play at a festival that he named a film place.
gven in memory
person or of a
after the instrument called Gunj Uthi Shehnai. The event
The Sound of Music/23

2024-25
 film was a hit, and one of Bismillah Khan's
compositions, "Dil ka khilona hai toot gaya...." turned
out to be a nationwide chartbuster! Despite this chartbuster.record
huge success in the cellulotd world, Bismillah brealker
Khan's ventures in film music were limited to two: celluloid: old
Vijay Bhatt's Gunj Uthi Shehnai and Vikram fashioned way of
Srinivas's Kannada venture, Sanadhi Apanna. "I just referring to films
enture: project that
can't come to termns with the artificiality and often involves risk
glamour of the flm world," he says with emphasis.
9. Awards and recognition came thick and fast. e d

Bismillah Khan became the first Indian to be invited

to perform at the prestigious Lincoln Centre Hall in
the United States of America. He also took part in
the World Exposition in Montreal, in the Cannes
Art Festival and in the Osaka Trade Fair. So well
known did he become internationally th¡t an
auditorium in Teheran was named after him
Tahar Mosiquee Ustaad Bismillah Khan.
10. National awards like the Padmashri, the Padma
Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan were
conferred on him. conferred: given.
1. In 2001, Ustad Bismillah Khan was awarded India's usually an award or
highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. With the a degree
coveted award resting on his chest and his eyes coveted: much
glinting with rare happiness he said. "All Iwould destred
like to say is: Teach your children music, this is
Hindustan's richest tradition: even the West is now
coming to learn our music."
12. In spite of having travelled all over the world
Khansaab as he is fondly called - is exceedingly
fond of Benaras and Dumraon and they remain for
him the most wonderful towns of the world. A
student of his once wanted him to head a shehnai
school in the U.S.A., and the student promised to
recreate the atmosphere of Benaras by replicating
the teples there. But Khansaab asked him if he
would be able to transport River Ganga as well.
Later he is remembered to have said, That is why
whenever Iam in a foreign country, I keep yearning
to see Hindustan. While in Mumbal, I think of only
Benaras and the holy Ganga. And while in Benaras,
Imiss the unique mattha of Dumraon."
24 / Beehive

2024-25