Women singers in Patiala Gharana

[shan...@yahoo.ca]

Dear Group Members....

I was listening to a recording by Kaushiki Chakraborty this evening on
the Sense World Music label and this had me wondering about how many
female classical singers are there who claim be representatives of the
Patiala Gharana style ? Right now, the only one that comes to mind
outside Kaushiki is Parveen Sultana or am I wrong about her ?

Thanks in advance...
sandip

[Sanjeev Ramabhadran]

Sandip,

I believe Parveen Sultana is "officially" a Patiala rep, based on her
original gurus (though word is that post-marriage she has incorporated
elements of Kirana et. al. - less said the better). Her pyrotechnics
are also something in common with many of the Patialites. While Bade
Ghulam Ali Khan had some female disciples, can't offhand think of other
*well-known* women Patiala singers - was Lakshmi Shankar's guru
originally from Patiala gharana?

Sanjeev

[Town Crier]

Meera banerjee
http://www.itcsra.org/aom/artist_ofthe_month.asp?aomid=37

[MAUSAM]

Actually I was pleasantly surprised listening to Meera Banerjee on itcsra.
Before her appearance on the website, I had no knowledge of her existence
in the music world. And her singing is so truly Patiala.

http://itcsra.org/aom/artist_ofthe_month.asp?aomid=37

The website says that she released a lot of music, both solo and with her
husband. Are any of the tapes still available (commercial or in personal
collections)?

Mausam
**********************************************

[shan...@yahoo.ca]

Dear Group Members,

Thank you very much for your responses. I have not heard Meera
Banerjee's commercial recordings of Khyals at all. Prasun Banerjee if I
remember correctly sang for some Bengali movies. The one that comes to
mind at the moment is Basant Bahar under the direction of Jnan Prakash
Ghosh. I think he sang a couple of solos and one duet with Sandhya
Mukherjee.

I know that in the 70s she and her husband contributed a few bhajans in
praise of Satya Sai Baba on an album for what was known then as
Polydor. They were all raga based (the ragas were actually named on the
album) and were done by the Calcutta-based Sai devotee and composer
Kalyan Chowdhury. I have the album at home, but these are the typical
short group sankirtan type songs. They are not the longer, extended
type of devotional songs that one associates with Bhimsen's recordings
of Abhangs.

Lakshmi Shankar's guru was Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan who was indeed from
Patiala Gharana, but she also completed her B.A in music under Prof.
B.R. Deodhar. I suppose that some female singers in Pakistan (Farida
Khanum comes to mind) could claim to be part of the Patiala lineage
even though they sing ghazal and not khayal.

It seems Kaushiki -- according to the CD liner notes I have -- got a
ringing endorsement from Bhimsen that was similar to the one he gave
Rashid Khan early in his career. The Sense World Music liner notes
quoted Bhimsen as stating that Kaushiki would be one of the few singers
who would make a mark on the classical music scene during the 21st
century. I guess this is another example of a singer appealing to
Bhimsen's authority to legitimize -- in this case -- her career.

Thanks again....
Sandip.

Sandip.

[JitendraGore]

I take the opportunity to suggest a name of Ms. Maya Motegaonkar from
Mumbai who is really a good vocalist of patiala style. Her name is not so
popular but she is having great spark. http://mayamotegaonkar.tripod.com
audio clips are available. Thanks

[prat...@gmail.com]

Dear sandip....you mentioned about an album on sathya sai baba bhajans composed by a calcutta-based sai devotee kalyan chowdhury. I searched a lot for it but could not get. Please let me know how to get a copy of that.

Regards
Dr.sai shankar prathap
Visakhapatnam
Mobile- +91 9440937678

[vi...@ieppltd.com]

Mrs Premila Puri who now lives in Chandigarh.

[dipesh...@gmail.com]

Any other information about her plz