stad Hussain Buksh Gullu, who passed away recently, was a vocalist who could sing the kheyal, thumri, kaafi and ghazal with great facility.

He was the son of vocalist Nathu Khan, a guru bhai of Ustad Barray Ghulam Ali Khan. He, thus, belonged to the Patiala Gharana. He came to Pakistan in the great rush of refugees that characterised the emergence of the new country. He also benefitted from the mentorship of Ustad Salamat Ali Khan of the Sham Chaurasi Gharana. The rigour and hard work that he put in his music was legendary. When asked why he pushed himself to an extreme, he said he wanted to be Ustad Salamat Ali Khan.

The taste in music changed almost overnight and there were few takers of the once very prestigious kheyal gaiki. The classical vocalists, thus, found themselves scraping the bottom of the barrel and fending for themselves by switching to lighter forms of music. Many survived, as did Hussain Buksh Gullu.

One could tell from the singing of Hussain Buksh Gullu that he was educated in the traditional manner by the ustad, that insist on “reet ki gaiki.” He then blossomed, applying the same grounding principles to experiment with other forms as well. He specialised in singing of the kaafi and rendered the kalaam of the leading poets of Punjabi such as Bulleh Shah, Shah Hussain, Ghulam Farid and Sutan Bahu, connecting with the audiences more prone to listening to this kind of music. Kheyal was probably too abstract for the lay listener who was more intent to engage with the sur wrapped in the bol. The greater portion of the bol made the ghazal and the kaafi more popular. Some of the classical vocalists thus switched over to these forms without unduly diluting the insistence on the musical exploration of the raga.

Hussain Buksh Gullu was educated in the traditional manner by the ustad that insists on reet ki gaiki. He then blossomed, applying the same grounding principles to experiment with other forms as well.

The singing of the kaafi was enriched by the Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan. It was made more acceptable among the connoisseurs by the Patiala Gharana. In Pakistan, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan focused on the kaafi during his stay in Multan after the Partition. He was then followed by many others including Hussain Buksh Gullu. It was to maintain a fine balance between the sur and the bol and expanding on the text with the help of the tonal structure of the raga. It, thus, became a byproduct of raagdari and not the rendition of bols as in a straight simple delivery. He recalled that when hosts asked them to sing together, Salamat Ali Khan allowed him the space to perform. Hussain Buksh was initially reluctant to do so due to deference but then demonstrated his great evocative talent.

Despite switching to the more popular forms of music like many others of his generation, he remained true to the intonation peculiar of our music. Later vocalists abandoned the intonation and have been greatly influenced by the lagao that is extant these days. Hussain Buksh Gullu could move with great ease from one form of music to another.

With the passage of time and a growing diaspora, Pakistani artistes were being invited abroad. This made their economic prospect a little brighter. Hussain Buksh Gullu also travelled and performed in many countries. The most memorable of these was his visit to India where he was hugely admired. He often told with great pride of the private concert at the house of Yash Chopra where he had in the audience Lata Mangeshkar who sat right through the performance stretching over many hours. He was greatly flattered when she told him that she could only leave once he had exhausted his musical possibilities and that took many hours.

His sons, Chand Khan and Suraj Khan, have been brave to choose the kheyal as their preferred form of music and insist on performing it rather than the forms more popular currently.

Gullu was also awarded the President’s Medal for the Pride of Performance.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore.