“I, an unemployed minstrel, was given the task / Sing of time, day and night, it has been ordained,” says Baba Guru Nanak about himself in his humility.

It’s plausible to say that Guru’s image of himself as a divinely inspired celestial bard was inspired by his much loved companion Mian Mardana, a musician, who sang his verses in the villages, towns and the wild called Sandal Bar that surrounded their ancestral home. It’s the Bar that has produced some of the greatest legends and poets of the Punjab. It has been the abode of immortal Heer Ranjha and Sahiban Mirza. Apart from Guru Nanak, poets like Hafiz Barkhurdar, Sultan Bahu and Waris Shah and freedom fighters such as Dulla Bhatti and Bhagat Singh emerged from its sprawling bush. Mian Mardana must have played Rubab, a stringed instrument, which later became his family’s identity as it came to be known the Rubabi family of musicians associated first with Guru Nanak and later with the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar.

Qadir Shaggan, a sweet vocalist, and refined music composer, was a descendent of this illustrious family. Two other celebrated music composers Rasheed Atre and Wazir Afzal were from the same clan. Qadir Shaggan’s family is also associated with the Gwalior Gharana (the Gwalior School of Classical Music). When Mian Bunnay Khan of this Gharana came to Amritsar, the elder of the Rubabi family Bhai Ata Muhammad genuflected before him and became his formal disciple. Now the family became the exponent and the custodian of Rubabi and Gwalior music traditions. The proud legacy was carried forward by Bahi Lal (Sangeet Sagar), the grandfather of Qadir Shaggan who became a legend in his own life as a singer and composer. His son Ustad Ghulam Hassan Shaggan followed in the footsteps of his celebrated father.

The elder Shaggan was a classical vocalist of great vigour who could lift the music lovers to another plain with his charged scintillating voice, which was capable of touching three octaves in a jiffy. He religiously practised music till his last breath. He lived a very clean and disciplined life shunning all the pleasures that normally prove to be the bane of many a musician in our part of the world. He treated his music as if it was a ‘Kirtan’ (sacred singing/singing of hymn), the reminiscent of his historical background.

Qadir Shaggan learnt music from his family as has been the tradition spread over centuries. His grandfather Bhai Lal passed away in 1962 when he was a child. So practically his father taught him music. His music life had multiple dimensions as he was a classical vocalist, a music composer and music teacher. It wasn’t surprising because all these things have been a part of his legacy. His forefathers played music as the very name Rubabi hints at. Since they were musicians of Baba Nanak and other Sikh Gurus, they would sing their verses. In order to sing verses, they had to compose them. In Sikh religious tradition ‘shabd’ (sacred word) has great significance. Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture comprising verses of Sikh Gurus and non-Sikh saints, is venerated as a living Guru. What it contains is part of faith as well as guidebook for the mundane and spiritual matters important for the community. In the Golden Temple, Granth Sahib is sung daily for the votaries of the Gurus and visitors. Till the Partition of the Punjab in 1947, Rubabi clan was custodian of this sacred repertoire.

It’s pertinent to note that Guru Nanak’s verses are set in classical ragas, which means any singer seriously devoted to sing him must have training of classical music. Qadir Shaggan inherited all such strands of tradition. As a young man he turned to entertainment industry where creative talent of a tune maker and music composer was valued because it was treated as something that could be sold lucratively. He worked as an assistant with some of the reputable composers of film music such as A. Hameed, Rasheed Attre and Safdar Husain. After his apprenticeship, he came off very well as an independent film composer. He composed music for more or less a dozen and half films. At the same time, he continued his other creative activities.

Qadir Shaggan started working for the Pakistan Television and Radio Pakistan as a music director and stayed with the former so long that he became its permanent fixture. He was much loved for his understanding of music, dedication to his work, creativity, affable nature and civilised manners. Any challenging creative assignment could be entrusted to him as he would take it seriously and prove himself equal to the task. He was a sought after musician in the corridors of PTV station and Radio Pakistan by producers and directors who had some sense of music. Unfortunately, there weren’t many.

Despite being in the thick of glamourous world of film and television, Qadir Shaggan didn’t neglect his classical singing as he regularly performed along with his father and guru Ustand Ghulam Hassan Shaggan at all available platforms which kept increasingly dwindling in our ever expanding cultural wasteland.

His last creative spell was witnessed at Sachal Studios, a non-profit cultural entity set up to produce high quality non-commercial acoustic music, where he composed for all the bigwigs such as Farida Khanum, Mehnaz Begum, Humaira Channa and Gul Bahar Bano. He also did several melodious recordings for the Sachal Studios in his own classically trained softly mellifluous voice.

Sadly, the fag end of his creative life was full of listlessness and ennui; the world of music had almost nothing to offer him. This was a blow to a man who dedicated all his life to making what was celestial – music. But one is solaced by the fact that his family is doing all it can to keep the tradition of serious music alive. His younger brother Mazhar plays Rubab and nephew Muslim Shaggan is an upcoming classical and light singer with great promise. Qadir Shaggan lived unobtrusively and unobtrusively he slipped away in the third week of October. But his music would continue to resonate in the air for long like the reverberations produced by the lightning ‘Taan’ of his inimitable father.