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Home , Alladiya Khan, Aminuddin Dagar, Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal, Gharana, Girija Devi

Component-I (A) – Personal details:

Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.

Prof. R. Thiagarajan Presidency College, Chennai.

Prof. Suneera Kasliwal Vyas University, .

Prof. Anjali Mittal , New Delhi.

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Component-I (B) – Description of module:

Subject Name Indian Culture

Paper Name Indian Aesthetics and Fine Arts

Module Name/Title Vocalists and Scholars of North - 2

Module Id I C / IAFA / 29

Pre requisites An interest to know about the famous musicians who were expert vocalists and scholars of North .

Objectives To know a short biographical sketch and achievements of some eminent vocalists and scholars of North Indian Classical Music who were monumental in bringing the glory of Hindustani classical music art to the world through their performances.

Keywords Narayanrao Vyas, Ram Chatur Mallik, Devi, Mallikarjun Mansoor, Gajananrao , Amir Khan, , Prof. , D.V.Paluskar, , , Premlata Sharma, , , , Dagar Brothers.

E-text (Quadrant-I): Introduction In this module, let us get familiar with some of the greatest vocalists and scholars who lived in the past years. The biographical details, tutelage and achievements of some the vocalists and scholars have been provided. This list is not exhaustive and is presented in a chronological manner. Narayanrao Vyas (1902 - 1984) Narayanrao Vyas was a vocalist of . He was born in 1902 in . He was a disciple of Narayanrao Vyas started performing in music festivals from 1929 to1982, he cut over 150 records in the 78-rpm format for the Gramophone Company HMV in . The recorded are classical khayals, and semi-classical . He also sang using Marathi . The popularity of his records earned him HMV`s best seller gold medal several times. Narayanrao used to sing on radio too. He toured and traveled extensively and sang in prestigious music conferences and concerts throughout north India. He was also proficient in playing the harmonium, , and jaltarang. The Vyas Sangeet Vidyalaya was set up in 1937 by his brother and him, to impart lessons to students both in vocal and instrumental music. The school continues to function to this day. His duets with his gurubhai were very popular. Narayanrao Vyas was honoured with several awards, including the Akademi Award and the Award of the Government. Among his disciples are his own son, Vidyadhar Vyas, his guru’s son, D.V.Paluskar, the legendary Carnatic vocalist, M S Subbulakshmi and several others. Narayanrao Vyas remained active even in his old age and passed away in 1984.

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Ram Chatur Mallik (1902 - 1990) Ram Chatur Mallik was born in 1902 in Darbhanga, . He was an exponent of the Darbhanga gharana of the tradition, one of the oldest genres of Hindustani vocal music. Known to be the last of the court musicians of the Darbhanga court, he was a member of the Mallik family of singers. Apart from his father, Ram Chatur Mallik was trained under Kshitipal Mallik, a renowned musician of those days, who was also his father's teacher and later under Rameshwar Pathak. Ram Chatur Mallik was awarded the . He was also given the title “Dhrupad Samrat”. He passed away in 1990. (1908 - 1977) Siddheshwari Devi was a vocalist in hindustani classical music.She was born in in 1908. Siddheshwari Devi had her initial training in hindustani classical music from Siyaji Maharaj. Later, she also trained under Bade Ramdasji of Banaras. Siddheshwari Devi's music represented Banaras Gharana style of , which laid more emphasis on the intensity of feelings and expression of emotions through musical notes and voice modulations. A stalwart of thumri, Siddheshwari Devi’s music also included khayals, , , , kajris, chaitis, horis and bhajans. In thumris she specialized in "Poorabang" thumri, which is also known as the "Bol-Banav-ki thumri". Reliance on ragas was a distinctive feature of Siddheshwari Devi’s thumris. She helped in raising thumri to a classical form. She earned the title of "Thumri-Queen" and was presented the much coveted Padma Shri award. Siddheshwari Devi strongly believed in "Guru Shishya Parampara" which has been kept alive by her daughter Vidushi Savita Devi. Savita established "Smt Siddheshwari Devi akademi of Indian Music" in the loving memory of her mother in 1977, the year in which Siddheshwari passed away. Mallikarjun Mansoor (1910 - 1992) Mallikarjun Mansoor was born in in 1910. His music was a blend of three influential musical traditions. He was trained in in his childhood. In his youth, he was introduced to hindustani classical music under Neelkanth Buwa Mirajkar (Alurmath) who belonged to and had settled in and finally he migrated to - Atrauli gharana and became the disciple of Manji Khan and Bhurji Khan who were the sons of the famous . was known for his command over rare (aprachalit) ragas. His khayal repertoire featured a judicious mix of rare ragas like Basanti , Nat , or Khat, moderately uncommon -s like Sughrai, Kukubh Bilawal, or Kamod, and popular raga-s like , Deshkar, and . His vilambit and madhyalaya khayal bandishes were mostly drawn from the Jaipur-Atrauli tradition, while his drut khayal bandishes were often from other . He performed regularly on radio and television and participated in numerous music conferences. He was director of HMV for a few years. He later joined Radio Station as Music Director. His musical excellence earned him the , the Award, the Padma Shri, the , and several other titles. Mallikarjun Mansur wrote an autobiographical book in , which was translated into English as a book titled “My Journey in Music” by his son, Rajshekhar Mansur. Amongst his children, Rajashekhar Mansur (son) and Neela Kodli (daughter) are vocalists. He passed away in 1992. Gajananrao Joshi (1911 - 1987) Gajananrao Joshi also known as Gajananbuwa Joshi came from a family of musicians. He was born in 1911 in Mumbai. Gajananrao Joshi was an eminent vocalist and violinist in

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hindustani music. He took training under many illustrious gurus of different gharanas like Vazebuwa (Gwalior), Bhurji Khan (Jaipur- Atrauli) and finally from () at various stages of his musical developments. Gajananrao Joshi was extremely tuneful in both vocal or instrumental music. He was a master of laya and taal, his knowledge about ragas was based on firm footing and his presentations were methodical. He was a pioneer in establishing a close performing relationship between hindustani music and the violin. Gajananrao Joshi was a part of all the major music conferences, festivals and events all over India. He was also invited to go to and Pakistan to take part in Music Programmes. He worked as a Professor of Music in Bombay University and was Music Advisor to . Gajananrao Joshi received prestigious awards for his contribution to hindustani classical music both as a violinist and a vocalist. He was conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Hindustani Instrumental Music, Tansen Samman by the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh . He was also honoured by ITC Sangeet Research akademi. He was a great composer and teacher. His students include vocalist and violinist Madhukar Joshi, Arun Kashalkar, Vikas Kashalkar, , Padma Talwalkar, and violinist Shridhar Parsekar. He also taught vocalists like Kaushalya Manjeshwar, Shubhada Paradkar, Sahasrabuddhe and Jayashree Patnekar. His daughter Malini, sons Manohar, Madhukar and Narayan are also trained musicians. He passed away in 1987. Amir Khan (1912 - 1974) Amir Khan was a very well known vocalist in hindustani classical music. He was born in in 1912 and belonged to the . He received his early training in and vocal music from his father who was a sarangi and veena player of the Bhendi Bazar gharana in the courts of Indore. He also learnt some basic tabla from one of his maternal uncle. Although he referred to his style as the Indore Gharana, he was a firm believer of absorbing elements from various gharanas.His style was marked by an ati-vilambit or very slow khayal, often in the 14-matra Jhumra taal. Without any trace of flamboyance, the brooding and introspective nature of his music enveloped the listeners. But later, his rapidfire Merukhand taan patterns using sargam or solfège and aakaar or the vowel "aa" left listeners marvelling at the variety of permutations. Amir Khan believed that was important in khayal compositions, and with his pen name, “Sur Rang” (colored in swara), he composed several compositions. He believed in competition between the genres of classical music and film and other popular music, and he felt that classical renderings needed to be made more beautiful while remaining faithful to the spirit and grammar of the raga. Apart from concerts, Amir Khan also sang film songs in ragas, in a purely classical style, most notably for the films Baiju Bawra, Shabab and Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje. This attempt to introduce classical music to the masses through films significantly boosted Amir Khan’s visibility and popularity. Amir Khan was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1971. Some of his well known disciples include Amarnath, A. Kanan, Ajit Singh Paintal, Akhtar Sadmani, Amarjeet Kaur, Bhimsen Sharma, Gajendra Bakshi, , Kamal Bose, Kankana Banerjee, Mukund Goswami, Munir Khan, Pradyumna Kumud Mukherjee and Purabi Mukherjee, Shankar Mazumdar, Singh Brothers, Srikant Bakre and Thomas Ross. Amir Khan died a premature death in a car accident in Calcutta in the year 1974. Gangubai Hangal (1913 - 2009 ) Gangubai Hangal was born in 1913 in Karnataka. She was a vocalist and an exponent of the . Other than her mother Ambabai, who was a vocalist of Carnatic Music,

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Gangubai Hangal owed her musical training to Shri Acharya, Shri Dattopant Desai and most significantly to . Another strong influence on Gangubai Hangal’s music, though indirect , was the singer from Agra, . She performed all over India and for All India Radio stations. Gangubai Hangal served as honorary music professor of the Karnatak University. In 2008, The State Government of Karnataka decided to name the proposed Karnataka State Music University after Gangubai Hangal. Presently the Karnataka State Gangubai Hangal Music and Performing Arts University operates from Mysore, Karnataka. The Government of Karnataka has also converted the birthplace of Gangubai Hangal into a museum. Dr Gangubai Hangal Gurukul in , Karnataka trains artists in traditional Guru-Shishya parampara to become performing artists. She received a number of awards, which include Karnataka Sangeet Nritya akademi Award, Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, Padma Vibhushan. She passed away in 2009. Prof. Sumati Mutatkar (1916 - 2007) In the 20th century many women became proficient in classical music and dared to sing publicly. Several women studied music with great ardour and persistence. Among them was Prof.Sumati Mutatkar, a distinguished vocalist of . She was born in Madhya Pradesh in 1916. She studied under a number of eminent musicians like Raja Bhaiya Poonchwale, Anant Manohar Joshi, Dr.S.N.Ratanjankar, Mushtaq Husain Khan and Vilayat Hussain Khan. She was a student of Bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyapith, . Prof.Sumati Mutatkar was also trained by the great Pakhawaji Govinda Rao Devrao of Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh. Prof. Sumati Mutatkar had been a performer, teacher, and administrator. Known for her wide performing range from the dhrupad-dhamar and khayal, to the lighter -thumri, she had been a broadcaster and concert artiste for decades. At All India Radio in 1953 she had been Director of Music and subsequently became Deputy Chief Producer of Music. She worked as Head of the Department and Dean of the Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, University of Delhi for 11 years before retirement. She supervised numerous research programs in the field of music while she was working in Delhi University. She loved English language as well as and its literature. Prof. Sumati Mutatkar was elected a Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1979. In 1991, she was awarded the Padma Shri and the following year she received the ITC award. The Kalidas Samman came in 2001 and she also received the Akashvani Samman. Widely travelled and widely published, she was looked upon as a treasure of knowledge and information on matters related to music. She was a frequent visitor and a regular participant of seminars organised by the ITC Sangeet Research akademi. She passed away in 2007 in and is survived by her daughter. Acharya Kailash Chandra Dev Brihaspati (1918 - 1979) Born in 1918, Rampur, Acharya Brihaspati was trained in music and shastras by scholars and maestros at his birth place. He taught dharma shastra, and sanskrit. He retired as the Advisor to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. His books in hindi - “Bharat Ka Sangeet Siddhant”, “Sangeet Chintamani”, “Dhruvapada Aur Uska Vikas”, “ Khusroo, Tansen Aur Anya Kalakar”, “Sangeet Samay Saar”, “Musalman Aur Bhartiya Sangeet” established him as the leading exponent of ancient music. He invented “Brahaspati Veena”,“Brahaspati Kinnari” and “Shruti Darpan” to elucidate the ancient musical scale. He created several bandishes with the name “Anang- Rang” and regularly wrote articles on music in the monthly magazine “Sangeet” published by Hathras. He was a Fellow, Sangeet Natak akademi, was awarded with the title “Sangeet Mahamahopadhyaya” by Akhil Bhartiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal. Some of his

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disciples are Sulochana Brihaspati(wife), Sumitra Anandpal Singh, Ghulam Mustafa Khan. He passed away in 1979. D.V.Paluskar (1921 - 1955) Dattatreya Vishnu (D.V.) Paluskar , a great vocalist of Gwalior gharana was born in in 1921. He was the twelfth child of the saint -vocalist V.D.Paluskar and was gifted with an unusually mellifluous voice.He was a child prodigy. In addition to a brief training from his father, he also received training from Chintamani Rao, Narayanrao Vyas and Vinayakrao Patwardhan. Within his short span of life, he established himself as the most popular vocalist of his time. He was a master at presenting an attractive and comprehensive picture of a raga in a very short duration. Besides pure classical music, he was also a great singer. His bhajans like “Payo Ji Maine”, “Thumak Chalat Ram Chandra”, “Hari Ke Charan Kamal” are masterpieces and are sung even today. He was also famous for an unforgettable duet with Amir Khan in the film Baiju Bawra. The only other film he sang for was a Bengali film called Shaap Mochan. He passed away at an early age of 34 in 1955. Bhimsen Joshi (1922 - 2011) Bhimsen Joshi, one of the celebrated vocalists of the 20th century was born in 1922 in Karnataka. He was a descendant of Kirana gharana. His initial training was from Vinayak Rao Patwardhan. He received further extensive training from the renowned Dhrupadiya, Bhakt Mangat Singh of .He learnt about 300 dhrupads. Later he came under the training of Sawai Gandharva. Bhimsen Joshi was known for the khayal form of singing and was also known for singing bhajans in hindi. kannada and marathi. This versatile singer also recorded Kannada Dasa Krithis in Dasavani, which are usually sung by Carnatic musicians. One of his most memorable performance that is remembered till date is the national integration "". He collaborated with many other renowned musicians like , Shankar and Dr. Balamuralikrishna and came out with many albums. Bhimsen Joshi sang for several films, including Basant (1956) with , Birbal My Brother (1973) with Jasraj. He also sang for the films Tansen (1958) and Ankahee(1985) where latter fetched him National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer. Bhimsen Joshi along with his friend Vasantrao organised the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival as an homage to his guru, Sawai Gandharva, along with the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal in 1953, marking Gandharva's first death anniversary. Joshi conducted the festival annually since 1953, until his retirement in 2002. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1976, the Padma Bhushan in 1985 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1999.. Some of his best performances had been at Savai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav, which is held in annually. Some of his well known disciples were Madhav Gudi, Narayan Deshpande, Shrikant Deshpande. He passed away in 2011. Kumar Gandharva (1924 - 1992) One of the most famous classical vocalist in India was undoubtedly Kumar Gandharva. His real name was Shivaputra Siddharamayya Komkali. He was born on 8th April, 1924 in Karnataka.The most unique thing about him was that he refused to be tied down by any kind of Gharana and believed in being innovation and trying out his own new styles. He was an innovative genius and was called “Kumar Gandharva” because he was a child prodigy. He received his training from Dr. B. R. Deodhar and grew into an expert classical and light classical singer. In 1948, he became a victim of T.B but he soon recovered. Kumar Gandharva experimented with other forms of singing such as devotional and folk songs.His innovative approach toward music led him to the creation of new ragas from combinations of older ragas.His style of singing attracted considerable controversy. His

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singing in faster tempos, particularly his mastery over madhya-laya, was widely revered.During the course of his career, he discovered new ragas out of folk music of Malwa, which are now accepted and can be found in various modern texts such as ‘Raga Nidhi’. Kumar Gandharva was a musicologist as well. During his period of illness he spent time contemplating on different aspects of music. He had his own thoughts about many different ragas, styles of rendition and different types of composition. His remarks about composite ragas , thumri and were quite different from the conventional one. He was honored with Padma Vibhushan. Some of Kumar Gandharva's ideology is carried forward by his son, Mukul Shivputra and daughter, Kalapini Komkali Math as well as by his students such as , , Vijay Sardeshmukh and Satyasheel Deshpande. Kumar Gandharva’s grandson Bhuvanesh (Mukul Shivaputra's son) has also made a name for himself as classical singer. He passed away in 1992. Premlata Sharma (1927 - 1998) Born in 1927, Punjab, Premlata Sharma was a distinguished vocalist, teacher and scholar of Musicology, Sanskrit, and Hindi. She received her advanced training in vocal music from the illustrious . She headed the Department of Musicology at the . She was chairperson Of U.P Nataka akademi, Lucknow and Vice- Chancellor of the Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh(M.P). She was selected as Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademy, New Delhi. She was the Vice Chairperson of Sangeet Natak akademi. She edited and wrote commentaries on many sanskrit texts including Sangeet Ratnakar. Author of several books, including the critical edition of “Rasa Vilasa”, “Sangeeta Raja”, ”Sahasarasa”, “Ekalingam Mahatmya”, “Brahddesi” (vol 1, 2). She also translated many notable works in hindi from bengali; supervised the english translation of “Sangeet Ratnakar”(two volumes of which have already been published). She passed away in 1998. Girija Devi (1929) Girija Devi is a classical singer and a noted exponent of the Banaras gharana. She was born in Varanasi in 1929. Girija Devi is a proficient singers of various different genres of hindustani vocal music like Khayal, Thumri, , and but her forte lies in singing Thumri. She is thus called the “Queen of Thumri”. Girija Devi’s father was a famous harmonium player. At the tender age of five she began taking lessons in music from teachers like Sarju Prasad Mishra and Shrichand Mishra. Girija Devi performs regularly on the radio and at music conferences in India and abroad. She worked as a faculty member of the ITC Sangeet Research akademi in Kolkata in the 1980s and of the Banaras Hindu University during the early 1990s, and taught several students to preserve her musical heritage. Numerous prestigious awards have been conferred to her like the Padma , Padma Bhushan which are among the highest civilian awards of India, the Tansen award. She has also served as member of many important committees related to music in India. Jasraj (1930) Jasraj is a famous vocalist and the foremost exponent of the in hindustani classical music. He was born in to a musical family. Jasraj was initiated into music by his father, Motiram, until the age of three, when his father passed away. Thereafter he underwent intensive tutelage under his elder brother and guru, Maniram. Later, he was guided by his spiritual guru Maharaja Jaiwant Singh. Jasraj’s greatest contribution to hindustani classical music is his conception of a unique and novel , styled on the ancient system of murchanas, between a male and a female vocalist, each singing in their respective scales and different ragas at the same time. He is

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also known for presenting a wide variety of rare raags including Gyankali, Abiri , Dhanashree,Gunji Kanada and Charju Ki etc. Jasraj has been honoured with several prestigious awards like Padma Vibhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Sangeet Kala Ratna, Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Award, Puraskar, Marwar Sangeet Ratna Award, Samagana Matanga Award are to name a few. As a mentor and guru, Jasraj has already presented to the world an impressive number of illustrious disciples whom he has nurtured and trained in accordance with India’s rich tradition of the Guru-Shisya Parampara, , some of his disciples include Rattan Mohan Sharma, , Girish Wazalwar, Ankita joshi,, Suman Ghosh, , Pritam Bhattacharjee, Kala Ramnath and . Kishori Amonkar (1932) Kishori Amonkar is a hindustani classical singer of Jaipur gharana who performs in the classical genre and the light classical genres thumri and bhajan. Kishori Amonkar’s mother was the well-known vocalist , who trained under Alladiya Khan Saheb, the doyen of the Jaipur gharana. While learning the finer points and techniques of the Jaipur gharana from her mother, Kishori Amonkar also developed her own personal style, which reflects the influence of other gharanas and has generally been regarded as an individual variant of the Jaipur tradition. Kishori Amonkar has created many compositions for a number of ragas. Apart from being a renowned musician, Kishori Amonkar was a popular speaker and traveled throughout India giving lectures, most notably on the theory of rasa (feelings, emotions) in music. For a brief period, Kishori Amonkar did playback singing in films but soon returned to hindustani classical music. Kishori Amonkar received national awards like Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.She was also awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. Kishori Amonkar's students include , Meena Joshi, Suhasini Mulgaonkar, Arun Dravid, Raghunandan Panshikar, Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, Devki , Mira Panshikar, Shivraj Shitole and her granddaughter Tejashree Amonkar. Dagar Brothers- Nasir Zahiruddin (1933–1994) and Nasir Faiyazuddin (1934–1989) Dagar brothers represent the unbroken chain of Dhrupad tradition of Dagarvani. The Dagar Brothers, Nasir Zahiruddin (1933–1994) and Nasir Faiyazuddin (1934–1989), were born in Indore (Madhya Pradesh). Their father, the great vocalist Nasiruddin Khan died in 1936, consequently they learned dhrupad from their elder brothers, the senior Dagar Brothers, Nasir Moinuddin Dagar and Nasir . Dagar Brothers played a very important role in the revival of Dhrupad tradition. They took dhrupad to and America and Japan. In India they formed the Dhrupad Society to popularise dhrupad inviting all gharanas exponents to share their platform. They also trained many students including Faiyaz , the son of Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar who is keeping the family tradition alive along with other dagarvani exponents. Subhadra Chaudhary (1936 - 1995) Subhadra Chaudhary was a known musicologist.She was a lecturer in 1985,and then Reader at Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh. She was Professor at Banaras Hindu University and Bhatkhande Music College, Lucknow.She had authored several books, research papers and articles. She had to her credit three books - “Bhartiya Sangeet Mein Taal Aur Rupavidhan”, “Bhartiya Sangeet Mein Anusandhan Ki Samasyayen Aur Kshetra”, “Sangeet Sancayana”, “Times Measure and Compositional Types in Indian Music” and more than 45 articles and papers on music and allied subjects. She has been credited for her contribution of research papers in more than thirty seminars. She gave

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lectures on Indian Music in Holland. She was awarded Kaka Hathrasi Sangeet Samman. She passed away in 1995.

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