Chapter 2: The Sound of Music
PART I: Evelyn Glennie
This section narrates the extraordinary story of Evelyn Glennie, a profoundly deaf Scottish girl who rose to become a world-renowned multi-percussionist, challenging the limitations of physical disability through determination, innovation, and hard work.
Evelyn was born into a simple Scottish farming family and appeared to have normal hearing until the age of eight. Her mother Isabel Glennie noticed Evelyn didn’t respond when her name was called for a piano performance. At the age of eleven, Evelyn’s marks deteriorated, and her headmistress advised a medical consultation. Specialists diagnosed her with gradual nerve damage, leading to severe hearing loss.
“Everything suddenly looked black,” Evelyn said, reflecting the despair that had initially clouded her aspirations.
Doctors recommended she attend a school for the deaf and use hearing aids. However, Evelyn refused to let this define her life. Her initial response reflected not only despair but the mental resilience to carve a different path.
Her life changed when she saw a girl play the xylophone, a percussion instrument. Evelyn expressed a desire to learn it, but most teachers discouraged her due to her hearing loss. Then came a turning point: Ron Forbes, a percussionist, saw potential in Evelyn and decided to mentor her.
He told her to "don’t listen through your ears, try to sense it some other way." This method transformed her understanding of sound. Evelyn discovered she could feel vibrations in different parts of her body:
“I could feel the higher drum from the waist up and the lower one from the waist down.”
Through repeated practice, Evelyn trained herself to sense music through vibrations — her skin, bones, and hair becoming receptors of rhythm and pitch. This unique sensory adaptation laid the foundation of her musicianship.
Evelyn toured the UK with a youth orchestra and decided by age sixteen that music would be her career. She auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she secured one of the highest marks in the academy’s history. She moved from orchestral work to solo performances and eventually dominated the global stage.
“If you work hard and know where you are going, you’ll get there.” – Evelyn’s philosophy underscored her entire journey.
With mastery over more than a thousand instruments, she became the world’s most sought-after percussionist, combining raw talent with tireless effort.
Despite her deafness, Evelyn functions with effortless ease. Her communication is flawless — “Men with bushy beards give me trouble,” she jokes, emphasizing that she reads lips, watches facial expressions, and depends heavily on eye contact.
“Music pours in through every part of my body. It tingles in the skin, my cheekbones and even in my hair.”
Evelyn's sensory world is a vivid one. She removes her shoes during performances to feel vibrations through the wooden platform, allowing sound to travel up her bare feet and legs. She leans on drums to feel the resonances, and when playing instruments like the xylophone, she senses the sounds in her fingertips.
Evelyn won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Soloist of the Year Award in 1991. Legendary percussionist James Blades noted:
“What we hear, she feels — far more deeply than any of us.”
Aside from her global concerts, Evelyn is a workaholic who gives free performances in prisons and hospitals. She also teaches young musicians, especially inspiring deaf children. As Ann Richlin of the Beethoven Fund noted:
“She is a shining inspiration for deaf children. They see there is nowhere that they cannot go.”
Her life shows that disability is not inability. Her story speaks of perseverance, talent, and boundless possibility — giving hope to millions while reshaping the world's understanding of perception and music.
PART II: Ustad Bismillah Khan
This part focuses on Ustad Bismillah Khan, the legendary Indian musician who revolutionized the use of shehnai, a traditional folk instrument, bringing it to the classical music stage.
The pungi, an ancient reed instrument, was banned by Emperor Aurangzeb due to its shrill sound. A barber from a family of musicians invented a refined version of the pungi. He chose a hollow stem, made seven holes, and the result was a softer, melodious instrument.
Since it was first played in the Shah’s chambers and was created by a nai (barber), the instrument came to be known as shehnai.
Born on 21 March 1916 in Dumraon, Bihar, Bismillah Khan belonged to a family of shehnai players. His grandfather Rasool Bux Khan and father Paigambar Bux were court musicians. As a child, he was rewarded with laddus for singing Bhojpuri songs in temples.
At the age of three, he visited his maternal uncle Ali Bux, a shehnai player at the Vishnu temple of Benaras (Varanasi). Bismillah sat beside him for hours, mesmerized. He eventually began training under Ali Bux, practicing on the banks of the Ganga and in the temples of Balaji and Mangala Maiya. The flowing river inspired him to invent new raagas, expanding the shehnai's capabilities.
At 14, Bismillah accompanied Ali Bux to the Allahabad Music Conference, where his talent was recognized by Ustad Faiyaz Khan. His national breakthrough came with the launch of All India Radio in Lucknow (1938). His shehnai began to echo across homes in India.
His most historic moment came on 15 August 1947, when he played Raag Kafi from the Red Fort, becoming the first Indian to perform after Independence. His music preceded Nehru’s “Tryst with Destiny” speech — a moment etched in national memory.
Bismillah Khan’s music resonated globally. His first foreign concert was in Afghanistan, where King Zahir Shah honored him with Persian carpets. Film director Vijay Bhatt, impressed by his performance, named a film “Gunj Uthi Shehnai” after the instrument. Despite the film’s success, Bismillah avoided the film world, saying:
“I just can’t come to terms with the artificiality and glamour of the film world.”
He performed in prestigious venues worldwide:
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Lincoln Centre Hall (USA)
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World Exposition (Montreal)
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Cannes Art Festival
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Osaka Trade Fair
An auditorium in Tehran was named “Tahar Mosiquee Ustaad Bismillah Khan”, reflecting his global stature.
He was conferred India’s top civilian honours:
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Padma Shri
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Padma Bhushan
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Padma Vibhushan
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Bharat Ratna (2001)
Upon receiving the Bharat Ratna, he said:
“Teach your children music, this is Hindustan’s richest tradition; even the West is now coming to learn our music.”
Despite global fame, Bismillah Khan never left his roots. He lived a simple life in Benaras. When offered to head a shehnai school in the USA, with temples recreated there, he refused:
“But can you transport the River Ganga there?”
This statement captures his devotion to India. He missed Benaras even when he was in Mumbai, and longed for Dumraon when in Benaras. When asked about migrating during Partition, he said:
“God forbid! Me, leave Benaras? Never!”
Bismillah Khan symbolizes India’s composite culture — a devout Muslim playing shehnai in Hindu temples, adored by all communities. His life story is a testament to secularism, heritage, and national pride.
He passed away on 21 August 2006, receiving a state funeral, and the Government of India declared one day of national mourning.
