A Lost Gem of Indian Music - Master Madan
“Rahiman ochhey naran soun, bair
bhalo na priti;
kaatein chatein swaan ke, dou bhanti vipreet’
“Rahim, let not a petty man be your
friend or foe. A dog’s lick or bite will only lead
to woe”.
This couplet is attributed to Abdul Rahim Khankhana (popularly known as
Rahim) the sixteenth century poet and philosopher who was one amongst the
‘Navratnas’ of Akbar’s Court. Rahim was also warrior of fame and
the township of Khankhana, in present day Nawanshahar District of Punjab was
rewarded to him and named in his honour.
It was at Khankhana that on 27th December 1927, centuries after Rahim, that Madan, a child prodigy destined to rise as a blazing comet across the
skies of Indian Music and sadly, burn out too soon.
Madan’s orthodox and deeply religious Sikh parents were quick to see his
talents. The family had a tradition of
music. Mohan, his elder brother Mohan, sang and played instruments at
local religious congregations and it was not long before Madan too joined him,
enthralling his audience with his very first performance - at the age of three.
A mature voice with heavy timbre at so young an age was a divine Gift. Madan’s
perfect devotional renditions, always with a portrait of Guru Nanak
wrapped in silk and a pocket copy of the Granth Sahib by his
side, moved his audiences closer to the
very ‘Rab’ whose presence they experienced through his singing.
Madan’s name and fame soon went beyond Khankhana and into Palaces and
mansions of the Royals and the Rich. Soon to be known as ‘Master’ Madan, besides
fame, he also received gifts and offerings in appreciation of his talent.
Very soon, Master Madan’s acquired the status of a national celebrity,
showered with accolades and was a recipient of many more cash and gold gifts.
Yet Madan continued to be the very child he was in fact, unaware of how
big a ‘brand’ he had come to be. He saw his role as doing what he was told to
do – sing. His controllers realised his
commercial worth and he became for them a veritable cash cow. The fruits of his success resulted in his
being committed to more and more performances. Though billed as joint
performances with Mohan who, besides
also played the violin, it was the genius of Madan that audiences craved
for.
At the age of seven Madan, already a celebrity, moved to Shimla for
formal training in music under Pandit Amar Nath, the elder brother of the
reputed duo of music composers Husnalal and Bhagatram. The
house in which the brothers stayed, named ‘Butail Building’ in Shimla’s Lower
Bazaar, soon became a centre of great musical activity. Even KL Saigal who too
lived in Shimla at the time, frequently joined Madan and his brother for long
evening sessions of mesmerizing music.
Shimla too recognized the worth of these young new residents. A
story that goes that the attendance at a public meeting Mahatma Gandhi
addressed there in 1940 saw thin attendance as a performance of Master Madan was
scheduled at the very time.
It had become a status symbol to invite Master Madan. In return, Madan continued
to received medals, gold, cash and gifts. As the lucre rolled in, so did
the avarice of his controllers who booked up more and more performances, far
beyond the limits of endurance and stamina of one who was yet a child.
The strain then began to tell. At
first, Madan complained of exhaustion, but his packed calendar did not leave
time even for a medical check up. Then came bouts of fever, and throat
problems. By the time he received due medical attention, his lungs had severely
damaged. Rapid deterioration in his
condition followed culminating in his death on 5th June 1942, a few weeks short of his fifteenth birthday.
Intriguingly, the cause of his illness was attributed to mercury
poisoning. Rumours abounded as to the
‘real’ cause of Madan’s death. There was
one such of his being invited by a lady
of Ambala to her Kotha and feeding him poison-laced paan.
Another was of a slow acting poison being put into his milk while at Kolkata
for a radio performance at which he rendered a stunning thumri ( Bintee
suno meri, in Raag Bageshwari). The acclaim for this rendition was so
great that it eclipsed the performances of other perfoemers, one of who had him
poisoned. The latter theory acquired some credence as it was after that
Kolkata performance that Madan’s health deteriorated disabling him to sing any
more.
Among the mere eight classic recordings of Master Madan publicly
available today is the famous Sagar Nizami ghazal ‘Yun na
reh reh kae hamein tarsaaiye’, sung by madan at just nine years of
age.
Do listen to it in tribute to Master Madan - a lost gem of Indian Music.
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