'Future of Indian classical music' falls silent at 55

Yaad EVERY TIME USTAD Rashid Khan sat down to performanywhere in the world, those present had one demand piya ki aaye, ye dukh saha na jaaye,haaye ram (The memories of my beloved haunt me, Alas, I cannot bear this grief) - the famed thumri by Kasur-Patiala gharana doyen Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan that remains the leitmotif to his mention.

- SUANSHU KHURANA

For years, many vocalists attempted to sing the lament that was created after Bade Ghulam Ali lost his wife. But if anyone managed to enter the vicinity of the pain and yearning in that iconic rendition and then executing it with a sense of ownership, it was perhaps only Ustad Rashid Khan, the torchbearer of Rampur Sehaswan gharana.

Every time, he sang this love song, one felt that he'd surrendered himself to the intrinsic sorrow of the piece the moment he began to unfurl it; colouring it with his own flourishes often, finding notes that one sometimes didn't think could even stick, merging gharanas and astounding people with a brilliance that is the stuff of lore. Somewhat like Pt Bhimsen Joshi, who had called him "an assurance for the future of Indian classical music", one of the only young musicians Joshi acknowledged and lauded in public.