Gauhar Jan
ramaswamy
The writer is Suresh Chandvankar
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 1902, A makeshift recording studio had been set up in two
rooms of a hotel in Kolkata by the Gramophone Company. Fredrick
William Gaisberg and his assistants had arrived just three weeks ago
from England, on their first far east recording expedition for the
company.
They had appointed a local agent for selecting and training artists
for recording on gramophone discs. But the agent selected Anglo-Indian
artists and completely ignored local talent. Gaisberg then sought the
help of the local police superintendent, visited several theatres,
attended mehfils at zamindar's palaces and found at least one
promising artist to begin with. She was a very famous dancing girl,
and her voice was very sweet, though not for European ears. She agreed
to a recording session for the handsome fee of Rs 3,000.
At around 9 a.m, a 30-year old fair, medium-built woman along with her
accompanists and relatives entered the studio. A thick wax master
record was placed on the turntable rotating at 78rpm. A huge recording
horn was fitted on the wall behind her and close to her face, and she
was asked to sing loudly into the horn.
Gaisberg requested her to sing for three minutes and to announce her
name at the end of the recording. She announced:"My name is Gauhar
Jan". This was necessary,since the wax masters were sent to Hanover in
Germany for pressing the records, and the technicians would make
proper labels and confirm the name by listening to these announcements
at the end of the performance.
Sound recording may have been invented in 1877 but it took 20 years
for the technology to mature. And 25 years later, in 1902, the first
ever recording of Indian Classical Music was engraved in the "grooves"
of a gramophone record. The song can be played even today on a shellac
record, and Gauhar Jan will sing it faithfully for music lovers as
long as the technology to playback that singing exists.
Gauhar Jan's initial name was Angelina Yeoward. Her father, William
Robert Yeoward, was an American Jew working as an engineer in a
factory producing dry ice at Azamgadh near Benares. He married a
Jewish lady, Victoria Hemming, around 1870, who was born and brought
up in India. Angelina was born in 1873.]
But her parent's marriage did not last long due to Victoria's love for
dance and music and her relations with a Muslim friend, Khurshed.
After divorce, she moved to Benares with Angelina and Khurshed and
adopted Islam as her religion. Mother and daughter adopted new names :
Malka and Gauhar.
Malka spent eight years learning the art and emerged as a well trained
baiji. She became popular as Badi Malka Jan, badi(elder) because at
that time three other Malka Jans were famous -- Malka Jan of Agra,
Malka Jan of Mulk Pukhraj and Malka Jan of Chulbuli. Around 1883, the
trio moved to Kolkata.
Little Gauhar too was found of dance and music, and Malka appointed
special teachers to teach her languages, literature, and of course,
dance and music. Kale Khan of Patiala, alias Kalu Ustad, and Ustad
Vazir Khan of Rampur trained her in pure and light Hindustani vocal
music; Ali Baksh and Brindadin Maharaj taught her Kathak. Srijanbai
taught her dhrupad dhamar and Charan Das trained her in Bengali
Keertan. She also learnt from her contemporaries--- Mojuddin Khan,
Bhaiyya Ganpatrao and Peara Saheb. She penned compostions under the
name 'Hamdam', and she also wrote, composed and recorded ghazals.
Gauhar Jan first performed in Darbghanga State at the age of 15, and
in Kolkata from 1896. She was in great demand, and Gaisberg noticed
this and made her music available to listeners through her gramophone
records.
Gauhar Jan recorded prolifically, a total of over 600 songs between
1902 and 1920, and she sang in more than ten languages. From 1903, her
records began to appear on the market. In 1908, a record pressing
factory was built at Sealdah. Gaisberg was invited for this occasion
and recorded a few more songs of Gauhar Jan. This time, the
announcement of her name at the end was not required.
The early records of Gauhar Jan are labelled 'First dancing girl,
Calcutta'. She cut records of raagdari sangeet, thumri, dadra, kajri,
chaiti, bhajan, tarana and she popularised various types of kachha
gana through her records. This was remarkable when several stalwarts
of classical music ignored the gramophone and recording medium
completely and refused to record. She mastered the technique of
presenting a musicla item in just three minutes, and this became a
model for the vocalists of the future.
Gauhar Jan lived a very wealthy life. Numerous stories are associated
with her: how, she threw a party spending 20,000 rupees when her cat
produced a litter of kittens, how she donated only half the promised
amount to Gandhiji's Swaraj Fund when he did not keep his promise of
attending the fund raising concert and deputed a representative
instead.
But in her personal life, she was deceived by her friends and
relatives. She married her personal secretary, Saiyyad Gulam Abbas
from Peshawar, a man ten years younger than her, who soon got involved
with other women. Later, she stayed with Amrut Vagal Nayak in Bombay,
a handsome actor on the Gujarati stage. This relation lasted for 3-4
years, and she learnt several songs composed by him including the
famous Dadra Aan Ban Jiyamen Lagi.
Nayak's sudden demise was a big jolt. Relatives persuaded her return
to Kolkata but she did not stay there long, moving to Darbhanga
instead. She joined the service of the Mysore State, where she died in
1930. She left over 150 records, most of which are in safe custody of
record collectors. The Gramophone Company reissued 18 songs in 1994 on
audio tape and CD under the banner of 'Chairman's Choice', which no
one (except perhaps the Chairman) noticed due to lack of adequate
publicity.
(The writer is Honorary Secretary of the Society of Indian Record
Collectors, Mumbai)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a Question?Anybody knows abt the tape or CD??1994 was too early
(considering I developed interest in HFM somewhere in 1999 ) for me to
purchase tapes.
Surjit Singh
http://www.bajakhana.com.au/sochttp://www.bajakhana.com.au/society2.htmiety2.htm
The article with pictures is also available at
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/gauhar.htm
ramaswamy wrote:
--
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
http://hindi-movies-songs.com/index.html
naniwadekar
"Surjit Singh" <surjit...@yahoo.com> wrote -
>
> The article (on Gauhar Jan) with pictures is also available at
>
> http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/gauhar.htm
>
I had started a thread (on 03 May 2002) about the many
Gauhars who were associated with music in the first half
of the last century.
The thread can be accessed at : http://tinyurl.com/40ig
Vinayak Gore had added that Gauhar Karnataki (sister of
Amirbai) was the one who was fanatically devoted to Bal
Gandharva and whom BG left his family for. BG used to
call her 'Baba'.
Around that time, I had started an email exchange with
Suresh Chandvankar to find out more about the various
Gauhars in Hindustani / film music. He promised to
make enquiries and told me that 'Gauhar of Bijapur' was
associated with Bal Gandharva. The URL quoted by Prof SS
contains some information on the Gauhars which
Chandvankar had conveyed to me over email. His email had
referred to Bal Gandharva's companion as 'Gauhar of
Bijapur'. (His email did not mention the 'Karnataki' bit;
he seems to have added it later to his article.) His
article has mentioned that Gauhar who acted and sang in
Ranjit Movietone films and was lifelong companion of the
Ranjit Supremo 'Sardar' Chandulal Shah was known as
Gauhar Mamajiwala. She was also known as Miss Gauhar and
Gauhar Jan. (But she must not be confused with the most
famous Gauhar Jan who was among the very first Indian
artists to cut a 78 rpm record in November 1902.) Gauhar
of Ranjit studio never married Chandulal Shah. But she
did not desert him even after he became a very poor man,
thanks mainly to his fondness for gambling. I guess
'Ranjit' Gauhar's songs in Achhut - 1940 should be
available.
Last week I found independent confirmation to Vinayak
Gore's post that Bal Gandharva's devotee Gauhar
was indeed Gauhar Karnataki, called 'Gauhar Karnataki of
Bijapur' in Chandvankar's article. She did a double role
in the film Gol Nishaan (1936). She also sang songs in
the film. The entry for the film in the hfgk mentions the
singer's name as 'Gauhar Karnataki (Bijapur)'. Can some
songs in her voice be tracked down or is her voice lost
to us for ever? Did her film songs show influence of Bal
Gandharva's style of singing? She used to accompany Bal
Gandharva on tanpura. That a singer from Bijapur region
should become so devoted to Bal Gandharva underscores
how deeply popular Marathi Natya Sangeet had become in
parts of Karnatak.
- dn
kamalakar pasupuleti
The BABUL MORA penned by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was rendered by both
GAUHAR JAN and her mother MALIKA JAN around 1907.I had the single
sided disc of MALIKA JAN.
It was rendered around the same period by Inayat Khan.He was an
excellent sitar player and the thumri was also recorded as
instrumental.Inayat Khan was in the durbar of Nizam of Hyderabad till
1910 and his discs were available with some Nawabs of Hyderabad who
had interest in music.
A music lover of mine who became friendly on Napster and was
living in Hungary had all the above discs mentioned by me and I did
listen to them over telephone.
KL Saigals BABUL MORA was a filmi version.
kp
Surjit Singh
1. gauhar jan, the early recording artist, daughter of malika jan
2. gauhar karnaaTakii, sister of AmirBai, BG devotee,
3. Miss gauhar mamaajiivaalaa, preyasii of Chandulal Shah of Ranjit Studios.
Are there any others?
naniwadekar wrote:
Sreenivas Paruchuri
The series "Chairman's Choice" was made in 1994 and well advertised in
"India Today" (Intl. edition). Thatshow I was made aware of the series
and could get hold of some of the releases. The product was
nicely-packed and a well-produced booklet providing information about
the artist/gharaanaa was part of the package. However the quality of the
tapes was very disappointing and the price very high.
I donot have the set of Gauhar & Malka Jan's cassettesinfrontof me right
at this moment to give you the correct lable numbers. Going by the order
they 'd be: CMC 882517 and CMC 882518.
Some other releases in this series were:
Great Gharanas: Maihar (CMC 882501, 02), Kirana (03,04), Atrauli-Jaipur
(05,06), Imdadkhani (07,08), Agra, Rampur-Sahaswan and Patiala (11,12).
Great Thumris (Does any one have this set?)
Great Memories: Gauhar Jan & Malka Jan, Abdul Karim
Khan-Mohd.Bandi-Achhan Bai, Peara Saheb & Majooddin Khan, Zohra Bai &
Janki Bai (CMC 882523, 24)
Apparently 2 volumes each of "Great film favourites" and "Great
Devotional Music" were released. Similarly a volume each of "Great
Ghazals" and "Great folk songs". But I have seen none of the last 4.
Regards,
Sreenivas
Sreenivas Paruchuri
> Last week I found independent confirmation to Vinayak
> Gore's post that Bal Gandharva's devotee Gauhar
> was indeed Gauhar Karnataki, called 'Gauhar Karnataki of
> Bijapur' in Chandvankar's article. She did a double role
All the printed material (ofcourse only in English) I read clearly
mention the name as Gohar (/Gauhar) Karnataki. Off-hand I can give you
one reference which you 'd be able to get hold of.
_Balgandharva and the Marathi theatre_, Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, Roopak
Books, Bombay, January 1988.
> Gandharva on tanpura. That a singer from Bijapur region
> should become so devoted to Bal Gandharva underscores
> how deeply popular Marathi Natya Sangeet had become in
> parts of Karnatak.
In parts of Karnatak ... just?! Do you know how popular BG and Marathi
Natya Sangeet was in the Telugu speaking areas? The visiting Parsi and
Marathi drama troupes (from Bombay, Pune and Dharwar) from 1870s through
1890s had drwan large crowds wherever they went and the early Telugu
stage plays drew heavily from Marathi stage. Literally everyone (with
few exceptions like Addanki Srirama Murthy, P. Suribaabu) tried to sing
like BG and Narayanarao Vyas. Jonnavittula Seshagiri Rao of Eluru, a
famous singing star of 1920s and 1930s, was popularly called as "aandhra
baalagaandharva". There are stories about Telugu artists singing Naatya
Sangeet moving native Marathi audience (cited by none other than P.L.
Deshpande). You see this influence even in film music directors like P.
Adinarayana Rao and Pendyala Nageswara Rao who earlier worked for drama
troupes. On the other hand, its said that the earliest Marathi drama had
its origins in the South, in the court of Tanjavur (aka Tanjore, ruled
at that time by Marathi rulers) and people like Vishnudas Bhave
(considered to be the father of the Marathi theatre) drew inspiration
from the "bhaagavata" players of Karnataka. How about doing a pan-Indian
study how different cultures and languages influenced each other!
Regards,
Sreenivas
naniwadekar
"Sreenivas Paruchuri" <sre...@gmx.de> wrote -
>
>
> > Gandharva on tanpura. That a singer from Bijapur region
> > should become so devoted to Bal Gandharva underscores
> > how deeply popular Marathi Natya Sangeet had become in
> > parts of Karnatak.
>
> In parts of Karnatak ... just?! Do you know how popular BG and
> Marathi Natya Sangeet was in the Telugu speaking areas? The
> visiting Parsi and > Marathi drama troupes (from Bombay, Pune
> and Dharwar) from 1870s through > 1890s had drwan large
> crowds wherever they went and the early Telugu stage plays
> drew heavily from Marathi stage. Literally everyone (with
> few exceptions like Addanki Srirama Murthy, P. Suribaabu) tried to sing
> like BG and Narayanarao Vyas. Jonnavittula Seshagiri Rao of Eluru, a
> famous singing star of 1920s and 1930s, was popularly called as "aandhra
> baalagaandharva". There are stories about Telugu artists singing Naatya
> Sangeet moving native Marathi audience (cited by none other than P.L.
> Deshpande). You see this influence even in film music directors like P.
>
Thanks for the information.
Marathi Natyasangeet was very popular indeed in Andhra
Pradesh. Bal Gandharva has touched most people interested
in music (except me). Dinanath performed his plays in the
Hyderabad region for an extended period. IIRC, he even
had a Telugu play written which his company performed.
His Telugu song 'nabhu brovani' was released during his
birth centennary celebrations.
The influence of Natya Sangeet did not remain confined to
the regions near the border. Pu La Deshpande has recalled
how he played a little piece on Harmonium in BG's style.
A musical stalwart from Tamil Nadu (I have forgotten the
details) immediately exclaimed : 'Ayyayyo! Bal Gandharva!'
But things reached a stage in Karnatak that Krishnarao
Harihar, owner of The Ritz Theatre in Belgaon in the
1940s who has been immortalised in PLD's essay titled
Raosaheb, chose to register Marathi as his language in a
friendly round of voting. When somone pulled his leg
reminding him that his mother-tongue was Kannada,
Raosaheb asked him : 'But which songs do we listen to?
Marathi or Kannada?'
> How about doing a pan-Indian study how different cultures
> and languages influenced each other!
>
Prabhat Films roped in Husnlal Bhagatram and Shyam Sundar
to compose music for Chaand and Nai Kahani. How different
cultures have influenced each other in India is a fascinating
subject. Today they all strive to copy the worst aspects of
each other. Things were very different 75-100 years ago.
- dn
Surjit Singh
> "Sreenivas Paruchuri" <sre...@gmx.de> wrote -
>
>>
<GONE>
>>
>
> Prabhat Films roped in Husnlal Bhagatram and Shyam Sundar
> to compose music for Chaand and Nai Kahani. How different
> cultures have influenced each other in India is a fascinating
> subject. Today they all strive to copy the worst aspects of
> each other. Things were very different 75-100 years ago.
In old days, everybody went to Calcutta, e.g. Saigal, Prithviraj, Noor
Jehan, Kidar Sharma, to name a few Panjabis. Part of the reason may be
the existence of the recording company there.
> - dn
naniwadekar
"kamalakar pasupuleti" <p_kam...@hotmail.com> wrote -
> >
>
> The BABUL MORA penned by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was rendered
> by both GAUHAR JAN and her mother MALIKA JAN around 1907.
> I had the single > sided disc of MALIKA JAN.
>
This (Malika / Malka) Jan who recorded Babul Mora in 1907
should not be confused with Gauhar Jan's mother who was
also named Malka Jan. Most probably Gauhar's mother
never recorded anything. This is the conclusion SIRC fellows
have reached, IIRC. Check my posts on Gauhar made
in Nov 2002.
- dn
Surjit Singh
Sreenivas Paruchuri wrote:
> Hope the following information helps in getting hold of the recordings.
>
> The series "Chairman's Choice" was made in 1994 and well advertised in
> "India Today" (Intl. edition). Thatshow I was made aware of the series
> and could get hold of some of the releases. The product was
> nicely-packed and a well-produced booklet providing information about
> the artist/gharaanaa was part of the package. However the quality of the
> tapes was very disappointing and the price very high.
The gauhar jan 2-CD set and some others in the series are apparantely
available at indiplaza.com and shrimatis.com. I just ordered the gauhar
jan set from indiaplaza.com.
<GONE>
>
> Regards,
> Sreenivas
>
> ramaswamy wrote:
>
>>Just a Question?Anybody knows abt the tape or CD??1994 was too early
>>(considering I developed interest in HFM somewhere in 1999 ) for me to
>>purchase tapes.
>>
xss
>
> Marathi Natyasangeet was very popular indeed in Andhra
> Pradesh. Bal Gandharva has touched most people interested
> in music (except me). Dinanath performed his plays in the
> Hyderabad region for an extended period. IIRC, he even
> had a Telugu play written which his company performed.
> His Telugu song 'nabhu brovani' was released during his
> birth centennary celebrations.
>
How exactly did Natyasangeet come about as a musical
idiom? What was its precursor? Which was the first
sangeet natak? Who invented this wonderful thingy?
Any info will be appreciated.
s.
Srinivas Ganti
>"Surjit Singh" <surjit...@yahoo.com> wrote
> In old days, everybody went to Calcutta, e.g. Saigal, Prithviraj, Noor
> Jehan, Kidar Sharma, to name a few Panjabis. Part of the reason may be
> the existence of the recording company there.
For many years I and my Bengali & Marathi friends used to wonder
whether I was a Bengali in my "Pichla" Janam or was I a Marathi.
Finally Sreenivas Paruchuri laid all those thoughts to rest by telling me
about the influence of Bengali & Marathi music / drama on Andhra ppl.
esp. that of Bengali on the ppl. of Costal Andhra in the 30's. Howeve
I find it a little odd that while my parents, Aunts / Uncles grew up in
Coastal Andhra they don't have Bengali music influence on them.
I grew up far away from Costal Andhra in Hyderabad and I have so
much influence.
There have been exchanges in the opposite direction too.Sometime back
Dinesh Krishnajois had posted an article where Tagore had invited
a famous veena player Sangameswara Sastry ? to Calcutta.
Prominent Telugu Music directors like Saluri Rajeswara Rao & Ramesh
Naidu spent time in Bengal.
sg.
naniwadekar
"xss" <xs...@yahoo.com> wrote -
>
> How exactly did Natyasangeet come about as a musical
> idiom? What was its precursor? Which was the first
> sangeet natak? Who invented this wonderful thingy?
>
> Any info will be appreciated.
>
> s.
>
You will find lot of information in rmim and rmic archives.
The useful search strings are - Bal Gandharva, Dinanath,
Abhisheki, Vasantrao (Deshpande).
Vishnudas Bhave used to perform music-dramas in the 1840s.
After him, there was a lull. Annasaheb Kirloskar saw an Urdu
(or Parsi) musical in 1879/80 and decided to write a Marathi
play. His Shaakuntal is considered the first Sangeet-Natak.
The last quarter of the 19th C marked a recrudescence
in cultural activity in Maharashtra and other parts of India.
The person most responsible for breathing life in the moribund
Marathi world was Justice Mahadeo Govind Ranade, according
to Lokmanya Tilak. Tilak it was who later called Narayanrao
Rajhans 'Bal Gandharva'. (Tilak knew nothing about music
and in fact hated it. But musical gatherings presented him with
a platform to meet people.)
Kirloskar, Deval, Moroba Waghulikar, Balkoba Natekar,
Bhaurao Kolhatkar, Vasudeorao Dongre, Pandoba Gurav
were among the first batch of famous Sangeet Natak artists.
I had made a post on Balkoba or Pandoba. A few more posts
are planned. The next batch of artists is quite well-known.
Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale, Govindrao Tembe, Krishnaji Prabhakar
Khadilkar, Ram Ganesh Gadkari, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar,
Veer Wamanrao Joshi, Vasudeo-shastri Khare, Narayanrao Bal
Gandharva, Dinanath, Rambhau Sawai Gandharva, Keshavrao
Bhosale. For women to appear on stage was taboo. Men used
to play female parts, with Bal Gandharva being the most famous
case. Hirabai Barodekar / Badodekar and Kamalabai Gokhale
were among the first women to start acting. I doubt whether
Karishma and Kareena know what enormous debt they
owe Hirabai.
The advent of the talkies spelled the death of Sangeet Natak
just as the advent of Shankar-Jaikishan orchestra spelled
the death of good film music. In the 1960s, Sangeet Natak
enjoyed a brief renaissance with Vasantrao and Abhisheki
being its brightest stars. About the same time, Asha Bhosle
sang some of her great father's songs. Today Rajeev Paranjape
keeps resurrecting the classic plays. But he says there is no
money in it which prompts talented artists to stay away
from the genre. For all that, watching Sangeet Natak still
makes for a great experience.
- dn