Bismillah Khan: Play

Bismillah Khan was Indian musician. Explore interesting quotes on play.
Bismillah Khan: 30   quotes 13   likes

“After a year and half Mamu told me if you see anything don’t talk about it. One night I was playing deep in meditation. I smelled something. It was an indescribable scent, something like sandalwood and jasmine. I thought it was the aroma of Ganges but the scent got more powerful. When I opened my eyes, there was Balaji standing right next to me, exactly as he is pictured. My door was locked from inside; nobody was allowed to enter when I did riyaz.”

He said ‘play my son’ but I was sweating. I stopped playing.
Khan used to do riyaz (practice) before the temple of Balaji as advised by his mamu (maternal uncle) who had also told him not talk to any body about anything that might happen. But when he told his mamu about his seeing Balaji, mamu was annoyed and slapped him.
Quote, Power Profiles

“I wish I could hold a concert…. It is unfair that the Shehnai is not played at concerts. Why should not the Shehnai be played at the concerts?… Then let me do it now. Let me break tradition…. May Lord Balaji help me.”

When he was perturbed at not being invited to play in concerts when other instrumentalists held solo performances, and it is when Lord Balaji whispered in his ears “All good things begin with Shehnai”.
Quote, Encyclopedia of Bharat Ratnas

“An image can never be the real thing. Varanasi is where the Ganga flows, where I can play the Shehnai for Lord Balaji. I shall be at home, nowhere else but in India.”

Sukriya.
When he was asked to stay back in America following his concerts there, even with a promise that a Varanasi would be replicated for him there.
Quote, Encyclopedia of Bharat Ratnas