‘People in my community can’t read or write their names; everything we sing is in our heads’: Bagga Khan

In 1976, on a hot evening in the village of Chhatangarh bordering Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, an eight-year-old Bagga Khan began a rhythmical ritual. The beat went so: every evening, he would walk to the temple near his home, sit, and len intently to the bhajans being sung within the premises. The music at the temple ranged from Ram, Krishna, Kabir, and Meerabai and Khan would stay for hours, rapt in attention. He wanted to sing like the priest who sang there and decided to become his pupil and immerse himself in his guru’s teachings.
At 53, with a long career of bhakti, Sufi, and bhajan music behind him, and after having performed all over the world, including in France, Australia, Singapore, and the US, Khan wants to continue making music that is traditional to his community. The conversations often veer around his belief in god and how music is the way to reach a higher spiritual consciousness. “When Lord Ram was asked for his address a dressed follower, he said that it’s only the musicians who know where he lives,” says Khan.
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Khan is from the Manganiyar community of Rajasthan that has performed devotional music for the past several generations, under the patronage of their jajmaan, earlier the rulers in the state and later arocratic families. Before the children of this community pick up a pen or textbook, they pick up an instrument. That is their occupation and sole source of earning.Best of Express PremiumPremiumPremiumPremiumPremium
“Be it a wedding or a birth or any other auspicious occasion, musicians from my community are called so that the gods can be pleased… There are no toys in my home for kids. Instruments like the dhol, dholak or harmonium are abundant, so that’s what children pick up. Even when they cry, they cry in tune,” says Khan over a video call. Wearing a red turban and his mustachioed smile, Khan is busy rehearsing for a concert organised Amarrass Records at Sundar Nursery on May 28. After this, he’s headed to the Ancient Trance Festival in Germany and the prestigious World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) festival in the UK in July. His concert in Delhi will be followed one from Barmer Boys – a Manganiyar group that also headed to WOMAD Festival this year.

“When 10 children sit in a line to study, their knowledge should be one. In my group, if there are five musicians, they should have one breath, one tune, one note,” says Khan, who is proud of the oral legacy that’s at the heart of the Manganiyars’ music. “People in my community don’t even know how to read or write our names, let alone read music. Everything we sing is in our heads,” he says.
But lately, Khan has seen a change in the public’s attitude towards his music. While he is still appreciated everywhere he performs, he doesn’t like the new styles that musicians of today blend into traditional devotional music. “Someone like me prefers bhajans and devotional sangeet in its pure form, not with fusion and all the instruments of the world,” he says.
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