Classical musician and the recipient of Padma Awards Ghulam Mustafa Khan died on Sunday. He was 89. Khan belonged to the Rampur-Sahaswan-Gwalior gharana of music.
His daughter-in-law Namrata Gupta Khan shared the news of his death on Facebook. “With a very heavy heart, I inform you all that my father-in-law the pillar of our family and a legend of our nation, Padma Vibhushan Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan sahab has left for his heavenly abode,” she wrote.
Khan’s daughter-in-law added that the family was shocked by the musician’s death since he had been keeping well, according to PTI. “Today morning he was fine,” she said. “We had a 24 hour nurse at home.”
She said that Khan became unwell during a massage. “I tried connecting to doctors and when they came he had already died,” she said. He passed away at 12.37 pm at his home in Mumbai’s Bandra area.
Khan, who was born on March 3, 1931 in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa was initiated into music by his father, Waris Hussain Khan.
“He was groomed by Ustad Fida Hussain Khan, father of the famous Maestro Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan,” according to a note on Khan’s website. “Later, Nissar Hussain Khan himself took him over under his wings. The traditional Styles of Rampur, Gwalior and Sahaswan gharana are therefore distinctly to be observed in his performance.”
It adds that that Khan “evinced particular interest in the history of Indian music and studied ancient Indian music (jati gayan) with Acharya K.C Brahaspati, besides doing research work with him. He sang compositions derived from the Natyashastra and Brihat Deshi written by Matang Rishi and from sharing Dev’s Sangeet Ratnakar based on jati gayan.”
Khan won several awards for his music, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2003. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 2006 and Padma Vibhushan in 2018.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several musicians took to Twitter to pay their tributes to Khan. “The passing away of Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan Sahab leaves our cultural world poorer,” Modi tweeted. “He was a doyen of music, a stalwart of creativity whose works endeared him to people across generations. I have fond memories of interacting with him. Condolences to his family and admirers.”
Musician AR Rahman remembered Khan as the “sweetest teacher of all”. He also shared a video of his performance with Khan.
Singer Lata Mangeshkar also expressed grief over Khan’s death. “I am saddened by his death,” she tweeted. “He was a great singer and also a very good human being.”
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