Mushtaq Hussain Khan

Mushtaq Hussain was born in a family of traditional musicians in Sahaswan, a small town in Budaun District of Uttar Pradesh. It is where he grew up and spent his boyhood. He lisped musical notes almost before learned to speak.

Although music came to him quite early in life, he was only 10 when his father Ustad Kallan Khan held his hand and began giving him regular lessons, or rather introduced him into this art. Mushtaq Hussain Khan was twelve when he became a disciple of Ustad Haider Khan and went with him to Kathmandu, Nepal. He then began taking minimal music training from Haider Khan. Finally, after two years, Mushtaq Hussain came under the tutelage of Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan, the founder of Rampur-Sahaswan gharana. Collectively, he spent eighteen years of his life with his master, and these years were not spent in vain.

Mushtaq Hussain, at the age of thirty-five, was enlisted as one of the court musicians in Rampur. Later, he became the chief court musician of Rampur. In the twenties, when the vogue of music conferences were started in the country, Mushtaq Hussain was invited to participate in them. No music conference was considered complete without him.

During his long career, Mushtaq Hussain Khan trained many disciples including Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Padma Bhushan Smt. Shanno Khurana, his son-in-law Padma Shri Ustad Ghulam Sadiq Khan, Padma Shri Smt. Naina Devi, Smt. Sulochana Brahaspati, Padma Shri Smt. Sumati Mutatkar, Ustad Afzal Hussain Khan Nizami, as well as his own sons.

Mushtaq Hussain Khan, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Allauddin Khan and Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer with the First President of India, Rajendra Prasad at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on March 20, 1952.

When the Government of India decided to honour outstanding exponents of the arts, he was the first vocalist to receive the Rashtrapati Award in 1952.[1] He was also the first recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award. In 1956, he retired from Rampur and joined the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, New Delhi the following year and became the first vocalist to receive Padma Bhushan in 1957.

• "Great Master, Great Music" (An All India Radio Recording)
• "Khayal Gunkari" (All India Radio)
• "Khayal & Tarana-Bihag" (All India Radio)
• "Rampur Sahaswan Gharana"[2]
• "Classic Gold - Rare Gems"[3]
• "Classic Gold"[4]

Mushtaq Hussain's last concert was at the residence of Naina Devi (singer), where he had a cardiac arrest, and was brought to Irwin Hospital in Old Delhi, where he was declared dead on arrival.[5] He died on 13th of August, 1964.

• List of Padma Bhushan award recipients (1954–59)