"After Partition, I had forgotten how to sing, including poetry and lyrics of the songs I used to sing before. For survival after 1947, I did odd jobs like secretly cutting wood and selling it and other forms of day labor. 

"My music came back to me when I crossed the border again and returned to my hometown a decade after Partition. Since then, I have continued to sing," shares Vilayat Khan, who was born in 1919 in Goslan, East Punjab.

"I was born into a family of balladeers/folk musicians with musical prowess dating back at least two generations from my birth. My father and my grandfather were both dhaddis (practitioners of folk music rendered on a percussion instrument in Punjab). Instead of school, I received training in folk singing, music, and ballads from a very young age. 

"When Partition took place, I was living with my family in Goslan, East Punjab. We initially moved to Malerkotla, where my maternal grandmother lived. We were sent to a refugee camp about a month after we reached Malerkotla. After a long migration journey, we settled in Sargodha.

"For 10 years, from 1947 to 1957, I never once laughed. In 1957, my father and I decided that we would return to our former hometown, with hearts full of hope. We sold jewelry, even antique, to accumulate 9,000 rupees, the amount of money we needed to make this journey from Sargodha to Goslan, a distance of over 400 kilometers with all sorts of bureaucracy and border controls. It took us three days to cover the distance between Sargodha and Goslan. 

"Today, I have my music; it came back to me when I returned to my hometown. Since then, I have continued to sing." 

Vilayat Khan is one of the most senior and formidable exponents of dhaddi music across Punjab today. His contributions to his art form have been recognized by India’s national academy for music, dance and theatre, Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), in the form of the highly prestigious SNA Award in 2009. Today, he lives with his children (some of whom have inherited his art form from him) and grandchildren in Goslan. 

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This interview was conducted by Story Scholar Manleen Sandhu with support from musician Bhai Baldeep Singh and funded through a scholarship by the American India Foundation. Vilayat Khan's full interview is available via online streaming through Stanford University Libraries.