That was MUSIC, my jaan
shooganpr...@yahoo.co.in
‘gramophone' songstress of India, writes Vidyadhar Date (HT Café
dated July 12, 2008)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently, the large turn-out at the Durbar Hall of the Asiatic Society
was thrilled to hear the old gramaphone records of Gauhar Jaan
Calcutaawali. The Evening was a tribute to the legendry but almost
forgotten songstress.
Gauhar Jaan Had sung in the same hall 101 years ago. This is mentioned
on the lables of one of her records.
The audio-visual presentation was made by record collector Dr. Suresh
Chandvankar, a scientist at the Tata Insitute of Fundamental Research,
on behalf of the Society of Indian Record Collectors.
ON RECORD
Perhaps the last time, he Durbar Hall was so packed was for a lecture
by the French philospher Jacques Derrida.
Guahar Jaan (1873-1933) was the first gramaphone celebrity of India.
She had cut over 600 songs on 78 rpm records during 1902-28. She was
extremely popular and would sing at concerts all over India..
Born Angelia Yeoward to an Armenian father and Jewish mother, she
became Gauhar Jaan after her parents separated. She converted to
Islam.
Her mother, too, became a very popular singer called Badi Malika. The
word ‘Badi' was used to distinguish her from several other singers
whose names also happened to be Malika.
PLAY TO THE END
Gauhar was married for a while to Amrit Keshav Nayak, a popular
Gujarati-Urdu actor. A road is named after him in the Fort, Mumbai
neighbourhood.
Incidentally, every gramophone record ended with the singer saying, "I
am Gauhar Jaan."
This was essential because her recordings would be sent to Germany for
technical processing. This facilitated the engineers there to identify
the singer and make a suitable label.
During the presentation, Dr Chandvankar displayed a picture of a
colourful theatre in Mumbai where Gauhar Jaan once gave a concert.
This was the Capitol Cinema, which is in a state of neglect today.
FLAMBOYANT PERSONALITY
Gauhar Jaan was a flamboyant personality. She was very fond of
attending the horse races. Often, she donated a part of her concert
earnings to the freedom movement.
She encouraged a number of singers and influenced many, including the
legendary Bal Gandharva.
Dr Chandvankar makes audio-visual presentations of other prominent
classical musicians as well, including Ameer Khan, Gangubai Hangal and
Abdul Kareem Khan.
shooganpr...@yahoo.co.in
Any senior citizen members have any more info / facts / data on gauhar
Jaan?
Regards
Sukesh
surjit singh
Start with the wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauhar_Jan
and follow hundreds of links.
>
> Regards
> Sukesh