The Memoirs of Bābur 911.9.4

911.9.4

Shāh Qulī the guitar-player was another; he was of `Irāq, came into Khurāsān, practised playing, and succeeded. He composed many airs, preludes and works (_nakhsh, peshrau u aīshlār_). Ḥusain the lutanist was another; he composed and played with taste; he would twist the strings of his lute into one and play on that. His fault was affectation about playing. He [Sidenote: Fol. 182b.] made a fuss once when Shaibāq Khān ordered him to play, and not only played badly but on a worthless instrument he had brought in place of his own. The Khān saw through him at once and ordered him to be well beaten on the neck, there and then. This was the one good action Shaibāq Khān did in the world; it was well-done truly! a worse chastisement is the due of such affected mannikins! Ghulām-i-shādī (Slave of Festivity), the son of Shādī the reciter, was another of the musicians. Though he performed, he did it less well than those of the circle just described. There are excellent themes (_ṣūt_) and beautiful airs (_nakhsh_) of his; no-one in his day composed such airs and themes. In the end Shaibāq Khān sent him to the Qāzān Khān, Muḥammad Amīn; no further news has been heard of him. Mīr Azū was another composer, not a performer; he produced few works but those few were in good taste. Banā'i was also a musical composer; there are excellent airs and themes of his.