Bhopung is made of the hollow shell of dry pumpkin called tumbi. The base of the shell is cut and mounted with the dry skin of a goat. A string — ideally made out of goat intestine — is fixed in the centre. This string is stretched and relaxed by the player while striking it with his fingers to produce pleasing sound variations.

This unique musical instrument is a derivative of Lord Shiva’s damroo and for this reason Zahoor Khan and members of his community are Muslims by birth but calls themselves Shiv-yogis — living by the Koran but worshipping Lord Shiva. They do not see any contradiction and perform their namaz as zealously as they celebrate Shivratri. "Shiva is our Muse and my musical performance always opens with a raag dedicated to him," says Zahoor Khan. The only downside to their twin-identity is that despite their many applications, the government does not give them reservations under the OBC, SC or ST categories. Acategory, they say, they fall into due to their backward moorings.

Zahoor Khan also bows his head in gratitude to Dilip Kumar, Bollywood superstar of yesteryear, and the film team which plucked him from the grubby bylanes of Alwar and gave him a break in the star-studded studios in Mumbai. "I was playing the bhopung outside Newtej Talkies in Alwar one day when Dilip Kumar who was in Alwar for a film shoot heard me play and asked me to play for other film members at the hotel. They liked what I played and decided to book me for some background scores for movies," he says.

Khan was barely 18 but he gradually ensconced himself in Hindi movies as a good background player. His instrument was not much known and the new strains that flowed from it won hearts immediately. Among the popular movies in which he played his bhopung as an accompaniment were Ganga-Yamuna, Naya Dor, Son of India, etc. His music was most notable in Ankhey in which the bhopung was played solo for comedian Mahmud when he sang, "Tuj ko rahkay Ram tujko Allah rakhay" and "Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka".

Apart from his successful stint in Bollywood, Zahoor Khan joined eminent Qawaal Yusuf Azaz and stayed with his troupe for 22 long years, travelling all over the world with him. In 1977 he went to South Africa, in 1978 to East Africa, in 1984 to Paris, in 1993 to Brisbane, in 1994 to London and his last foreign jaunt was to Moscow in 1996.

Zahoor Khan has been honoured with the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Academy award for his contributions to music and his promotion of Mewati culture all over the world. Though Zahoor Khan earned recognition for himself, he did not like the fast city life, and wanted to live and play in his own birthplace. He returned to Alwar in the late nineties. He is now keen to pass on his skills to his two sons and the younger generation which he hopes will keep the music of the one-string instrument alive. His elder son Umar Farooq is already at the helm of the local folk artist group called Rhythm of the Mewat.

"I want to keep alive the music that my father spent his entire life innovating and will in turn pass it on to my sons. This is our ancestral vocation and this is all we have", says Farooq.

But the waning interests in classical arts, especially the folk instruments, has driven many of its exponents in Rajasthan to take up farming.

Some of the unique folk instruments in Alwar that face extinction for want of practitioners are jogi sarang, algoza — the single flute, kartar, ravan hatya, Mewati chirkara and Mewati tamak.

"There is no money to be made from music, as you can see", says Zahoor Khan, pointing to his ramshackle dwelling in Mungaskha village in Alwar. However Zahoor Khan says he is willing to live in poverty than give up his music.

The rag-tag musicians that form the Rhythm of the Mewat are practising for one of Alwar festivals in an open yet dingy courtyard of Zahoor Khan’s house. Zahoor Khan sits amidst them like a patriarch providing them inspiration to persevere until folk art is restored to its rightful place and glory.