PM Modi also praised Padma Shri awardees Ahmed Hussain and Mohammad Hussain’s Ganesh Vandana. Both these artists had chosen Sanskrit in school. They told that Gulshanji had put a condition that no musician or recordist would come wearing shoes for the recording because it is a matter of faith.
Should have been honored 30 years ago
We got Padma Shri, it is not our ability, it is God’s grace. he/she makes things happen. There, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also praised us for Ganesh Vandana. There were other awardees with us. One of them came to us, whom we did not know. he/she told Modi sahab that the person whose hand is in your hands and whose hand is in yours, this is a music university and I am its student. I am sad that I am getting this honour as well as he/she. he/she should have got this honour 30 years ago and I have got it now.
Gulshan Kumar had placed a condition
Gulshan Kumar ji first called us to sing ghazals but asked us to sing bhajans. We said that we have pillars like Surdas ji, Tulsidas ji, Meera ji. When he/she agreed, we composed Ganesh Vandana. Gulshan ji put a condition that no musician or recordist will come wearing shoes for the recording. This is the atmosphere and faith. We have taken music lessons from our father-guru Ustad Afzal Hussain Khan sahab. he/she had said that you should not sing classical music, sing light music, especially ghazals. You will get name and fame in this. When we were in school, prayers used to be held there. All the teachers of the school recognized us. From that time we started singing bhajans. This is about 1960. That series continued. Then we also sang duas along with bhajans.
If they don’t call us then why should we go to their house?
Music, Shayari and humanity have no limits. They cannot be divided. Pakistan was also one with us once. Just like we divide things between young and old children in our homes, the same has happened here as well. What happens is that when artists from there come to India, they are respected a lot because this is our religion. Then it is sad that in our own home, our artists are suppressed so much and they are elevated so much that it is beyond understanding what they are trying to do. We are not speaking ill of them. I don’t know why, if they don’t invite us now, why should we go to their homes. Amir Mirai has said it beautifully,
What is the point of mentioning a rich man’s party,
We won’t even go to God’s house without being invited
If there is a second birth, it should be in India only
Muslims do not have a second or third birth, but our wish is that our every birth should be in India. We went to America twice, but did not stay. They tried to stop us by luring us with 20-25 times more money, but we cannot live anywhere leaving our land. You can get us to perform anywhere because a foreign land is always a foreign land.
‘We built a house here and live in this paradise,
We are lucky that we live in India.
‘A brother’s appreciation is for both’
Hussain Brothers tell that their father had instructed them to always maintain understanding among themselves. If one of them gets appreciation in any program, stage or recording, the other should not be jealous of him/her because appreciation of one of them will be for both of them. We are children of the same parents, our hearts, tongues and thoughts are similar, when so many things are similar then how can we be different. Yes, there are definitely attempts in the world to separate them. They have fed these things to us and that is why we have been singing for 60 years and we are sitting in front of you.
Go and find your own way
Unless you go step by step, you will not reach your true destination. If you do not cross all the steps, then how will you know how to walk, what is the path. Even today, our children do not have to go anywhere and they can reach their destination with just one phone call from us, but we say that go yourself and find the path. Understand how people behave. What all you get to hear and understand. Wherever your car stops, take help from us. If you are taken directly to the destination, then you will not know the importance of that stage. We want our disciples to work so hard that they know what life is and how much journey has to be done to reach Bollywood.
The identity of today’s music remained for a short time
People from the industry would put the blame on the public that they like filmy and noisy songs more than ghazals. The public is also listening to Tulsi, Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir. Then why is the responsibility being put on them. You are responsible for what you are presenting. We can also change anything according to the new generation. We can sing today’s compositions but after a few days it will not be seen because there will be no words, no meaning, no strength in the composition. These will not give you an identity in singing. If you see today, only a few people have made an identity. Earlier, it was not known who was singing. We have sung for many music directors. In the old times, whichever music director was there, he/she would tell the singer to sing in his/her own way and say that do what I am saying. Whether it is good or bad, leave it to me. Today’s music directors call us and say that Ustaad, you see for yourself. If we see for ourselves, what will be their work. This is the reason that the identity of today’s music has remained for a short time only. Things are not able to reach there. They themselves do not have any knowledge. They say nonsense things like this is good, this is bad. They say that ghazals have ended, you sing this. Brother, why did they end? If ghazals had ended, how would we be sitting in front of you.
No show is complete without ‘Main Hawa Hoon…’
In 1978, we went to Ambikapur (Surguja, Chhattisgarh). The singer-director there was Amik Hanfi sahab, who had also lived in Lucknow. he/she wrote the ghazal ‘Main hawa hoon, kahan watan mera…’, it was composed at that time and it became our identity. There is another specialty in it. If we look at it in Sharad, then this Raag becomes Madhyam Bhairavi and if we consider Madhyam as Sharad, then it becomes Darbari. In this ghazal, we used western, melody, harmony for the first time, which became our identity. This composition was made in 1978, recorded in 1979 and released in 1980. The amazing thing is that none of our programs was complete without it.
