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.[1]
Although music came to him quite early in life, he was only 10 when his father, Ustad Kallan Khan, began giving him regular lessons, or rather introduced him into this art.[1]
Mushtaq Hussain Khan was twelve when he became a disciple of Ustad Haider Khan and went with him to Kathmandu, Nepal.[1] 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.[2] Collectively, he spent eighteen years of his life with his trainer, Inayat Hussain Khan.[1]
Musical career
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 1920s, when the vogue of music conferences were started in India, Mushtaq Hussain was invited to participate in them. In addition, he started performing on All India Radio.[1]
Mushtaq Hussain's last concert was at the residence of Naina Devi, where he had a cardiac arrest, and was brought to Irwin Hospital in Old Delhi, where he was declared dead on arrival. He died on 13 August 1964.[5]
