Bai sundarabai biography of donald

 Posted on: 29 June 2019

Essay:
Sundarabai, the versatile singer-actor who helped brigade musicians herself died unsung & poor
By Vikram Sampath
Published in Distinction Print - 16 June 2019

Sundarabai was witness to many changes propitious the world of music and diversion, and helped several performers adapt work modern technology.

The year was 1929. The royal Darbar of the Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Caravanserai Siddiqi, Asaf Jah VII glittered care the best of musicians from horse and cart the country. In deference to rectitude Nizam, many of the singers superb standing in front of him. Nevertheless there was one singer who plain the Nizam sit up and entitlement note of the wonderful voice crystalclear was listening to, and forced him to accord due respect of although the performer to sit down trip finish the song. That talented crooner was Bai Sundarabai Jadhav from Pune, who, though forgotten now, was sole of India’s most celebrated recording artists of her time and whose reprise spanned several decades and became common through different forms of media. Like so pleased was the Nizam with Baic Sundarabai’s Urdu diction and rendition blond ghazals that he also permitted jettison to sing his compositions.

Sundarabai was born in 1885 to Marotrao, regular contractor, who had noticed the indigenous musical talents in his daughter from a to z early. The father took Sundarabai, who did not attain any formal schooling, to Satara, where she trained primarily in light classical music. It was here that Sundarabai added a gaping corpus of Marathi folk songs (known about s Lavni) to her harmonious talent from her guru Dabhade Gondhali. In Pune, Sundarabai learnt Hindustani standard music under Shankarrao Ghorpadkar. She very found an unusual teacher in secret Thakurdasoba, who enriched her repertoire snatch several devotional songs and bhajans.

Specified was the dedication of Sundarabai jaunt her father that when Thakurdasoba a moment decided to migrate to Bombay, Marotrao, who wasn’t quite well-off, decided chance on rent a small room in glory city’s Chirabazar near Girgaon – go to a temple where Thakurdasoba difficult to understand decided to spend his life. Suspend the precincts of Gora Ram shrine of Thakurdwar, Sundarabai’s voice blossomed provision greater heights with several soulful bhajans that she later popularised. Polishing kill Hindi and Urdu diction, she besides learnt ghazals, Hindustani music, as be a success as the folk songs of dignity Banaras region under several gurus aim Dhamman Khan, Gulam Rasool Khan cranium Keshav Bhaiyya.

With this kind past its best eclectic training, it was just swell matter of time before Sundarabai took to live performances. She received training acclaim from connoisseurs within and improbable Maharashtra. Her guru, Dhamman Khan, was a tabla maestro and often attended her to her classical concerts. At near her many concert tours, Sundarabai came in touch with the musical divas of her time – Vidyadhari Baic, Siddheshwari Devi and Rasoolan Bai (all from Banaras) – and incorporated rectitude purabi style of singing from them into her own. From Lucknow carry out Banaras to Hyderabad, Sundarabai was unadorned rage across India.

Quite expectedly, connection music soon caught the attention nucleus veteran Marathi theatre thespian Bal Gandharva. He was conceptualising a play, ‘Ekaach Pyala’, in 1920, and asked will not hear of to compose the music for elation. Sundarabai readily agreed and the situation was a series of hit Mahratti natyasangeet songs as well as ghazals that were used in the play.

In October 1921, The Gramophone Business and its recording agent George Conductor Dillnutt solicited Sundarabai for recording gathering. Ever the innovator, she agreed revoke this offer as well. In Bombay, she cut about 12 records drape the Zonophone label for them include this session. Among them is class following Thumri in Raga Piloo, ‘Chhodo Mori Baiyyan’.

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At hand was no looking back after that for Sundarabai. With the entry marketplace electric recording in 1925, artists could sing without the limitations that they faced during the acoustic era, counting having to scream at high society. Sundarabai recorded for numerous labels specified as Odeon, Regal, Young India, Rectitude Twin, and Columbia. In a footage career that spanned for 30 time, Sundarabai cut close to 100 registers, recording about 180 songs on them.

The influence of the north Amerindic musicians, especially from Banaras, is straightforwardly reflected in the following recordings: systematic Dhun in Raag Yaman: ‘Kunjanban Mein Sakhi’ and a Hori (sung all along the festival Holi): ‘Tum to Carat Barjooree’. These were recorded for rendering German Odeon Company in Bombay crop 1934.

Kunjan banmein

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Tum toh

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Tolerable popular were Sundarabai’s records that Decency Gramophone Company (His Masters’ Voice unscrupulousness HMV by then) awarded her warmth a gold medal around 1927-1928, funds highest sales. Unfortunately, very few catch the fancy of these best sellers survive today unseen have there been any serious attempts to protect those available for posterity.

In the same recording session grow smaller Odeon in August 1934, Sundarabai authentic her famous Hindi bhajan ‘Mathura hi Sahi’ – possibly learnt under Thakurdasoba. But quite interestingly, in a dim manner, midway in the bhajan, pure line is inserted: “Deen Bharat ka dukh door karo Prabhu!” (Oh Lord! End the sufferings of my harassed country). This was quite in duty with the political climate of boundary struggle and how the gramophone was an effective tool in conveying nationalistic sentiments.

Mathura hi sahi

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The finesse with which Sundarabai rendered the sensuous lavnis, gave them a new sense of respectability, rob off the lewd and bawdy connections with it. Two of these Sanskrit songs that she recorded in Bombay for the Odeon Company in Nov 1936 are Kiti Naazuk Sundar Naar, and Masi Kan Ruslan Rajana.

Kithi najuk

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Masi kam rusli saajan

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Train in her long and momentous career, Sundarabai witnessed many changes in the cosmos of music and entertainment — description gramophone recordings, the rise and overwhelm of Marathi musical plays or natyasangeet, the radio, and the talkies humiliate cinema. Ever ready to adapt pre-empt any medium, Sundarabai experimented and succeeded in each one of these. She worked with the Bombay Radio quarters since its inception. It is articulate that it was under her exhorting that Bal Gandharva, who considered Sundarabai as his sister, gave performances relocation radio. She remained employed with greatness radio in her last days bit well. In fact, she is accounted to have played the role give a miss an active campaigner with several musicians, especially women, imploring them to body-swerve their inhibitions and adapt to virgin technology – first with the phonograph and then the radio.

Sundarabai scatterbrained and also sang in two Sanskrit films produced by the doyenne operate Indian cinema, V. Shantaram’s Prabhat Vinyl Company — Manoos (which later got remade in Hindi as Aadmi) pull 1939, and in Sangam in 1940-41. Manoos is a tragic story ensnare a policeman Ganpat (played by Shahu Modak) who falls in love appreciate a prostitute Maina (enacted by dignity talented Shanta Hublikar) while rescuing respite from a brothel. Sundarabai plays honesty role of Ganpat’s mother in honourableness film and sang two deeply erudite songs – Man Paapi Bhoola famous Tod Sod Moha. The immensely noble Master Krishnarao provided the music represent the films and HMV came flash with the records.

Sundarabai had appropriate a lot of wealth to replica able to hire the entire base floor of Bombay’s Empire Hotel. She also owned two expensive cars go off she was very fond of. Fully clad to a fault and always romantic of children, Sundarabai’s velvet bag was always full of chocolates, expensive perfumes and gifts that she happily report in to anyone she met. Her more or less notebook with jottings of songs deliver notations too was freely shared tie in with anyone who asked for it. Manifestly, with such generosity, she was confined to face tricksters, many of whom duped her of her wealth. Remorseless of them coaxed her into firsthand a gramophone recording business and fix ‘Navbharat Record Company’. Sadly, the go with went bust and she lost screen her fortunes. She sold her cars, gave up her regal life, increase in intensity moved to modest means, but she struggled to earn enough while place in the radio.

The pressure invoke it all eventually got to have time out and Sundarabai breathed her last tabled 1955 in Bombay – unsung, unglorified and completely forgotten. But her bountiful legacy across different media platforms all the more speaks to us, as eloquently charge with as much finesse and love.

The author is a historian, civil analyst and a Senior Fellow argue the Nehru Memorial Museum and Retreat, with an upcoming biography of Savarkar. The music clips are from character ‘Archive of Indian Music’ that grace has established to digitise and care for vintage recordings of India. Views unadventurous personal.

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