Rest in Peace Bismillah Khan

This makes me so sad. I am a big fan of his shehnai recordings. I am saddened by the fact i never saw him perform. My father saw him play live in Delhi years ago and spoke of a mesmerising, moving experience.
 
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Woebot

Well-known member
that's terrible!

just speaking with a friend about him this weekend.

how everyone in varanasi used to know where he lived.

how you could mail a letter to:

bismillah khan
varanasi

and it would get there.

http://www.varanasicity.com/

(sniffs)

*loads* of his records....
 

zhao

there are no accidents
by the way, the record I posted above is a duet with Vilayat Khan recorded in the early 70s for RCA, but was never released in the west. the friend who gave it to me says it is the most famous jugalbandi in indian history.

he was also telling me that Vilayat Khan was drunk beyond drunk during this session.

from our conversation on IM:

he was a notorious drunk until 1981
when he quit drinking his music changed also,
settled down.
he said he couldn't play at that level if he could think
so he had to get shitfaced just to play that fast
a huge majority of indian musicians have hardcore drug/alcohol problems
when ali akbar khan was 12 he was already considered best in the world,
but he later destroyed his playing from substance abuse.

vilayat khan was notroious though for giving shit to people
he cursed ravi shankar in public countless times
once threated to kill allha rakha
if he played a tabla solo during a session
"you aren't playing for george harrison"
that kind of shit.

this one i uploaded
by the end of the night he doesn't give a fuck
he's playing all over everyone
bismillah will start a line and vilayat will just play over him
and play this dark, scarey ugly angry shit too
vilayat was as angry and insane as he played
also had the most incredible melody and vocal style. never sloppy.
his nephew is best sitarist alive today - shahid parvez
really graceful and clear

i've got some vilayat khan from the sixties too
where he's trying to kill the tabla player
he's playing at insane speeds, fastest i've ever heard a human play
to where it actually becomes a drone as you can't even hear the notes anymore
i'm going to rip some old stuff of his next week, i'll send it to you
as the only shit you can buy of his is all from the early 90's
ten to twenty years after his peak.
it's still really good but no comparison to the earlier
 
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