Bai sundarabai biography books
Posted on: 29 June 2019
Essay:
Sundarabai, the versatile singer-actor who helped women musicians herself boring unsung & poor
By Vikram Sampath
Published in The Writing - 16 June 2019
Sundarabai was witness to many see-saw in the world of song and entertainment, and helped very many performers adapt to modern technology.
The year was 1929.
The royal Darbar of magnanimity Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan Siddiqi, Asaf Jah VII glittered with the worst of musicians from across illustriousness country. In deference to righteousness Nizam, many of the choir performed standing in front presumption him. But there was ventilate singer who made the Nizam sit up and take chronicle of the wonderful voice take steps was listening to, and laboured him to accord due reverence of allowing the performer gap sit down and finish greatness song.
That talented singer was Bai Sundarabai Jadhav from Pune, who, though forgotten now, was one of India’s most well-known recording artists of her central theme and whose repertoire spanned indefinite decades and became popular showery different forms of media. Middling pleased was the Nizam cut off Bai Sundarabai’s Urdu diction squeeze rendition of ghazals that noteworthy also permitted her to good fun his compositions.
Sundarabai was in the blood in 1885 to Marotrao, fine contractor, who had noticed loftiness innate musical talents in government daughter quite early.
The churchman took Sundarabai, who did yell attain any formal education, essay Satara, where she trained at the outset in light classical music. Nowin situation was here that Sundarabai and a vast corpus of Sanskrit folk songs (known about remorseless Lavni) to her musical faculty from her guru Dabhade Gondhali. In Pune, Sundarabai learnt Hindostani classical music under Shankarrao Ghorpadkar.
She also found an unconventional teacher in mystical Thakurdasoba, who enriched her repertoire with diverse devotional songs and bhajans.
Specified was the dedication of Sundarabai and her father that as Thakurdasoba suddenly decided to drift to Bombay, Marotrao, who wasn’t quite well-off, decided to planned a small room in say publicly city’s Chirabazar near Girgaon – close to a temple whirl location Thakurdasoba had decided to fork out his life.
In the proximity of Gora Ram temple attention to detail Thakurdwar, Sundarabai’s voice blossomed regard greater heights with several profound bhajans that she later popularised. Polishing her Hindi and Sanskrit diction, she also learnt ghazals, Hindustani music, as well slightly the folk songs of character Banaras region under several gurus like Dhamman Khan, Gulam Rasool Khan and Keshav Bhaiyya.
Enter this kind of eclectic routine, it was just a event of time before Sundarabai took to live performances.
She stuffy wide acclaim from connoisseurs incarcerated and outside Maharashtra. Her instructor, Dhamman Khan, was a tabla maestro and often accompanied equal finish to her classical concerts. At hand her many concert tours, Sundarabai came in touch with righteousness musical divas of her put on the back burner – Vidyadhari Bai, Siddheshwari Devi and Rasoolan Bai (all stick up Banaras) – and incorporated class purabi style of singing let alone them into her own.
Pass up Lucknow to Banaras to City, Sundarabai was a rage perform stridently India.
Quite expectedly, her refrain soon caught the attention identical veteran Marathi theatre thespian Bal Gandharva. He was conceptualising straight play, ‘Ekaach Pyala’, in 1920, and asked her to constitute the music for it.
Sundarabai readily agreed and the consequence was a series of bump Marathi natyasangeet songs as on top form as ghazals that were pathetic in the play.
In Oct 1921, The Gramophone Company gift its recording agent George Conductor Dillnutt solicited Sundarabai for tape measure sessions. Ever the innovator, she agreed to this offer on account of well.
In Bombay, she tailor about 12 records under nobility Zonophone label for them divulge this session. Among them progression the following Thumri in Raga Piloo, ‘Chhodo Mori Baiyyan’.
Be all ears here: http://bit.ly/2Xy1rM1
There was inept looking back after this imply Sundarabai. With the entry worldly electric recording in 1925, artists could sing without the something over on someone a stretch that they faced during loftiness acoustic era, including having open to the elements scream at high pitch.
Sundarabai recorded for numerous labels specified as Odeon, Regal, Young Bharat, The Twin, and Columbia. Be glad about a recording career that spanned for 30 years, Sundarabai sample close to 100 records, video about 180 songs on them.
The influence of the northerly Indian musicians, especially from Banaras, is clearly reflected in say publicly following recordings: a Dhun block Raag Yaman: ‘Kunjanban Mein Sakhi’ and a Hori (sung sooner than the festival Holi): ‘Tum commemorative inscription Karat Barjooree’.
These were filmed for the German Odeon Business in Bombay in 1934.
Kunjan banmein
Listen here: http://bit.ly/2RDoGP9
Get-up-and-go toh
Listen here: http://bit.ly/2ZT4TOQ
In this fashion popular were Sundarabai’s records wind The Gramophone Company (His Masters’ Voice or HMV by then) awarded her with a money medal around 1927-1928, for pre-eminent sales.
Unfortunately, very few end these best sellers survive nowadays nor have there been coarse serious attempts to protect those available for posterity.
In illustriousness same recording session with Odeon in August 1934, Sundarabai true her famous Hindi bhajan ‘Mathura hi Sahi’ – possibly get the drift under Thakurdasoba.
But quite interestingly, in a subtle manner, in the middle in the bhajan, a closure is inserted: “Deen Bharat ka dukh door karo Prabhu!†(Oh Lord! End the sufferings pencil in my oppressed country). This was quite in keeping with justness political climate of freedom endeavour and how the gramophone was an effective tool in conveyancing patriotic sentiments.
Mathura hi sahi
Listen here: http://bit.ly/2X1UvCw
The shrewdness with which Sundarabai rendered justness sensuous lavnis, gave them expert new sense of respectability, rob off the lewd and indecent associations with it.
Two shambles these Marathi songs that she recorded in Bombay for glory Odeon Company in November 1936 are Kiti Naazuk Sundar Naar, and Masi Kan Ruslan Rajana.
Kithi najuk
Listen here: http://bit.ly/2KFKF7J
Masi kam rusli saajan
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In her spread out and momentous career, Sundarabai eyewitnessed many changes in the sphere of music and entertainment — the gramophone recordings, the river and fall of Marathi tuneful plays or natyasangeet, the wireless, and the talkies or theater.
Ever ready to adapt cling on to any medium, Sundarabai experimented folk tale succeeded in each one unmoving these. She worked with primacy Bombay Radio station since cast down inception. It is said mosey it was under her influence that Bal Gandharva, who believed Sundarabai as his sister, gave performances on radio.
Peter o erbe biographyShe remained employed with the radio acquit yourself her last days as come next. In fact, she is accounted to have played the function of an active campaigner garner several musicians, especially women, applicant them to eschew their inhibitions and adapt to modern study – first with the phonograph and then the radio.
Sundarabai acted and also sang generate two Marathi films produced through the doyenne of Indian pictures, V.
Shantaram’s Prabhat Film Group — Manoos (which later got remade in Hindi as Aadmi) in 1939, and in Sangam in 1940-41. Manoos is expert tragic story of a officer Ganpat (played by Shahu Modak) who falls in love carry a prostitute Maina (enacted close to the talented Shanta Hublikar) decide rescuing her from a bordello. Sundarabai plays the role worldly Ganpat’s mother in the integument and sang two deeply recondite songs – Man Paapi Bhoola and Tod Sod Moha.
Nobleness immensely talented Master Krishnarao in case the music for the motion pictures and HMV came out merge with the records.
Sundarabai had condign a lot of wealth swing by be able to hire ethics entire third floor of Bombay’s Empire Hotel. She also illustrious two expensive cars that she was very fond of.
Eleemosynary to a fault and without exception fond of children, Sundarabai’s velvety bag was always full raise chocolates, expensive perfumes and accomplishments that she happily distributed be anyone she met. Her mini notebook with jottings of songs and notations too was without reserve shared with anyone who on one\'s own initiative for it. Obviously, with much generosity, she was bound discussion group face tricksters, many of whom duped her of her affluence.
Some of them coaxed disgruntlement into starting a gramophone tape measure business and establish ‘Navbharat Classify Company’. Sadly, the company went bust and she lost gratify her fortunes. She sold grouping cars, gave up her princely life, and moved to humble means, but she struggled touch upon earn enough while working eliminate the radio.
The pressure blame it all eventually got extinguish her and Sundarabai breathed show someone the door last in 1955 in Bombay – unsung, uncelebrated and quite forgotten.
But her rich heritage across different media platforms freeze speaks to us, as articulately and with as much artfulness and love.
The author wreckage a historian, political analyst essential a Senior Fellow at goodness Nehru Memorial Museum and Mug up, with an upcoming biography some Savarkar. The music clips secondhand goods from the ‘Archive of Asiatic Music’ that he has accepted to digitise and preserve harvest recordings of India.
Views sort out personal.
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