Team
The people behind the stories
हमारी टीम
A small team with a long memory, and a growing circle of artists who trust us with theirs.
Founder, Virasat-e-Bismillah and VirasatNama
Savita Anand
सविता आनंद
Savita Anand founded Virasat-e-Bismillah and VirasatNama, and works on documenting cultural heritage and musical traditions. That is how she describes herself in her own newspaper column.
Her story with Ustad Bismillah Khan Sahib began with a single meeting in Delhi in 2006. She asked whether he would teach her the shehnai. He smiled and asked, “Beti, kya tum baja paogi?” She writes that she never did learn the shehnai, but she did learn what legacy means.
Since then she has worked alongside Ustad Sahib's family for close to two decades, writing about his music, organising the 2021 Doordarshan programme, and pressing for his home in Banaras to become a museum. VirasatNama carries that work to the wider story of India's music, art and history.
Along the way
- 2006Meets Ustad Bismillah Khan Sahib at a programme in Delhi. Her column
- 2011First visit to Banaras and to Ustad Sahib's family. Her column
- 2018Authorised by the family to sign the agreement connected with Google's Doodle for Ustad Sahib's 102nd birthday. About VirasatNama
- 2021Organises Virasat-e-Bismillah, broadcast live on Doordarshan National. Events
- 2026Launches VirasatNama and its Originals series. Videos
As described in the press
Different clippings describe her role in different ways. Each is quoted with its source.
Secretary, Ustad Bismillah Khan Educational Trust; quoted on nearly twenty years of shared effort with the family.
Lucknow edition, 6 June 2026Secretary, Ustad Bismillah Khan Charitable Trust, at the meeting with the Mayor of Varanasi on the museum.
Varanasi reportAssociated with the Ustad Bismillah Khan Educational Society, Varanasi.
Subah Savere, 21 March 2022Senior vice president of the Ustad Bismillah Khan Educational Society, entrusted with writing his biography; recipient of the Talented Indian Puraskar 2018.
Profile, c. 2018
Her writing
- बिस्मिल्लाह और मैं: एक सफ़र, एक याद...Bismillah and I: a journey, a memoryColumn 'Virasat'
- शहनाई का खत उस्ताद बिस्मिल्लाह खान के नामThe shehnai's letter to Ustad Bismillah KhanPunjab Kesari, Delhi
- उस्ताद नहीं होते तो शहनाई को आज कौन पूछता!Without the Ustad, who would care for the shehnai?Subah Savere, 21 March 2022
- बनारस, बिस्मिल्लाह और शहनाई: एक अविस्मरणीय गाथाBanaras, Bismillah and the shehnaiBirth anniversary special
- A report on dhrupad and the Dagar traditionMagazine reportMagazine, page 63
Collaborators
Artists who have shared their stories
They are the reason any of this matters, and we are grateful to each of them for their time, music and memories.
Would you like to help tell these stories?
Researchers, translators, filmmakers, archivists and volunteers are always welcome to write to us.
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