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Ustad Salamat Ali Khan

By S.M. Shahid

I first saw him about 45 years ago at the All Pakistan Music Conference at Pucca Qila in Hyderabad (Sindh).

The Conference went on for four days and among its organizers were personalities like Pir Ali Mohammad Rashdi and Makhdoom Talibul Maula of Hala. I didn't know anything about classical music (I still do not!), but the performances of         Nazakat Ali Salamat Ali, Amanat Ali Fateh Ali, Roshanara Begum, Ummeed Ali Khan, Manzoor Ali Khan, Umrao Khan,     Zahoori Khan, Nathoo Khan and others caste a spell over me and I sat there listening to classical music like I had never     listened any other music in my life - through the night into morning, resting for a few hours, to return to the venue again to hear some more - the afternoon ragas! Such were the days and such was the cultural environment in the Republic of Pakistan.           No one was in doubt about the future of classical music in the country. I remember, as young Salamat was singing one      afternoon, Mr. Hameed Naseem of Radio Pakistan remarked to his Director General: "Bukhari Saheb, Tansen issi tarah         gata ho ga!"

At about this time (1956) Salamat Ali Khan, barely 22, was conferred the title of "Ustad" at the All India Music Conference in Calcutta. Later, he received the Pride of Performance Award from the Government of Pakistan in 1961. He was now quite well known in international music circles, having performed at music festivals in Russia, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Norway, UK, France, Afghanistan and Nepal. The Kings of Afghanistan, Nepal and Norway would come and listen to his song.

Ustad Salamat Ali Khan was born in 1934 in a small place called Sham Chaurasi in District Hoshiarpur of East Punjab. The    story goes that his ancestors, Chand Khan and Sooraj Khan, were granted the area of Sham Chaurasi by the Mughal king Akbar.

Salamat's father, Ustad Wilayat Ali Khan, had seven children - five sons and two daughters. The girls died in infancy but the     boys survived; they were named Nizakat, Salamat, Tassadduq, Akhtar and Zakir. The two elder boys were inducted into the puritanical discipline of classical music - with all the vigorous training that goes with it. Salamat, the younger one, was      extremely talented and started to sing when barely 4 year old. He was sent to school but his heart was not in books.                   He would run away to play in the fields or swim in the nearby canal.

He was seven when, along with his elder brother Nazakat, he made his first public appearance and performed at the                 har-ballub mela in Punjab in 1940. They sang the morning raga Mian Ki Tori for nearly one hour. Those listening to the two youngsters   were grand masters Ustad Abdul Aziz Khan beenkar, Pandit Krishnarao, Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Ustad Bare Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Tawakkal Husain Khan, Ustad Jamal Khan, Narayanrao Veyas, Mubarak Ali Khan and many others. They heartily
applauded the young singers and gave them their blessings.

There was no stopping for the duo now. They started to perform at major concerts all over India. In 1942 the father took the    boys to Lahore where, after audition taken by Pandit Jeevan Lal Mattoo and Feroze Nizami, they were invited to broadcast    from the All India Radio. Their name spread far and wide.

In 1944, at the time of the Dasehra festival, they were invited by the ruler of Champanagar state in Bihar to perform at his   palace. Their expert rendition of raag Malkaus brought them close to the royal host who would not allow them to leave Champanagar. The boys and their father stayed as guests of the Maharaj for nearly two months.

It was customary for the organizers of All India Music Conference to write to the princely states to send their court musicians to participate in conferences held in different cities. So, when the invitation arrived the Raja dispatched Nizakat and Salamat to Allahabad to take part in the All India Music Conference. It was here that the boys first brushed shoulders with celebrities like Rajab Ali Khan, Faiyyaz Khan, Bismillah Khan, Hafiz Ali Khan and many other Ustads and Pandits. Once again they received   full marks in the prestigious conference. From here the father took them to another conference at Gorakhpur. Here, Wilayat Ali Khan fell seriously ill and wanted to return home. The three boarded the train at Lucknow and the father told Salamat: "I think     my time has come. I advise you, my son, never to stop your reaz (practice)�keep singing, and give due respect to your         elders � remember your God ... I will not live to see you progress but the world will watch your performance and respect you for your art.     " It was one O'clock in the morning. Somewhere near Rampur the sick man asked his son to go to sleep. The next moment he was himself sleeping - eternally. Salamat had lost not only a father but a benevolent teacher too. The journey was cut short at Moradabad where Ustad Wilayat Ali Khan was laid to rest.

In 1945 the brothers were invited to sing at the Gwalior Music Conference. They performed before the Maharaja of Gwalior alongside Ustad Rajab Ali Khan, Pandit Krishnarao and Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan. The Maharaja offered them employment but they politely declined. They had not forgotten their father's advice: "You don't have to sit in one place; you must go forth and spread the fragrance of your song all over the world." The same year they were invited by Omkarnath Thakur to attend the most prestigious
8-day Calcutta Music Conference. They stayed in Bengal for more than a month and performed at many places, including the New Theatres where the programme was organized by the great composer, R.C. Boral.

The whole of 1946 saw the brothers touring India extensively and performing at Delhi, Allahabad, Banaras, Lucknow, Bikaneer, Cawnpore, Jallundhar, Amritsar, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, Sahiwal, Jhung, Sukkur, Rohri, Jammu, Pathankot, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur and, finally, at the royal court of Hyderabad Deccan.

The young singers could not bask in the sunshine of their success for long. Hindu-Muslim riots engulfed the entire country and Salamat had to say goodbye to the land of his ancestors. The family joined one of the caravans coming to Pakistan and it reached Lahore in September 1947, barefooted and in tatters. There was chaos all around. The boys, however, were anxious    to restart life; they headed for Radio Pakistan. The Director in charge of the Lahore station gave them cold shoulder and the young artistes were heart-broken. They decided to leave the city and go somewhere else. They went to Multan. The period from 1947 to 1950 was one of obscurity for Nizakat and Salamat. But they spent their time wisely; they did a lot of reaz and perfected their art. Soon some people in Multan and adjoining Bahawalpur began to take notice of them. The youngsters sang at marriage functions, at the mazars and in private mehfils. Finally - and after three years - the invitation from Radio Pakistan Lahore arrived. During this time many people in India, having no news of the two brothers, had started to think that the career of the gifted duo might have been sacrificed at the altar of religious intolerance.

Salamat got married in 1954.The following year he toured India again and performed at Music Conferences in Calcutta, Benaras, Nagpur, Allahabad etc. In one of these conferences only six artistes were invited to perform. Nizakat Salamat were among the six! These artistes were: Abdul Halim Jaffer, Vilayat Khan and Ravi Shankar (to play sitar) and Ustad Baray Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan and Nizakat Salamat.

Bombay was the next big occasion where the music conference continued for 21days! Salamat and his brother performed      on   the last day and apart from the great Ustads, those who came to hear them were: Lata Mangeshkar and her sisters,    Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar, Madan Mohan, Shankar Jaikishn, Vasant Desai, Sajjad Husain,    Kalyanji Anandji and others. In this function they sang raag Kalawati for two hours and the famous sarangi player Ram       Narayan accompanied them. Later, they also performed at the homes of Lata Mangeshkar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor.

In 1958 the brothers toured Afghanistan and greatly impressed King Zahir Shah, a great lover of classical music.

According to Ustad Salamat Khan the decline of classical music in Pakistan started from 1965 after the Indo-Pakistan war. A deliberate propaganda was launched against this genre of music and neither the government nor the people patronized it any longer. Even some classical singers turned to ghazal singing. A further blow was caused with the separation of East Pakistan     in 1971. Even the two brothers separated from each other in 1974. In September 1978 Salamat suffered a stroke while performing at the Ravi Shankar Hall in London. He took a long time in recovering and managed to make a comeback with a    new partner - his son, Sharafat. But the period of glory was almost over. Ustad Salamat Ali Khan was no more the Tansen        that he once was. The great singer called it a day on 11 July 2001.

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