Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Bangalore: "My Name Is Gauhar Jaan!" The First Voice Recorded On Gra

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Bangalore: "My Name Is Gauhar Jaan!" The First Voice Recorded On Gra

    "MY NAME IS GAUHAR JAAN!" THE FIRST VOICE RECORDED ON GRAMOPHONE
    Sahar Adil

    MyBangalore
    http://mybangalore.com/article/0410/quotmy-name-i s-gauhar-jaanquot-the-first-voice-recorded-on-gram ophone.html
    April 13 2010
    India

    Vikram Sampath's "My Name is Gauhar Jaan" captures the life of
    feisty and eminent Hindustani classical vocalist Gauhar Jaan. India's
    first vocalist to record on the gramophone. The book was launched by
    Pandit Jasraj

    "My name is Gauhar Jaan!" The earliest recordings of Indian music are
    distinguished by this high-pitched and flirtatious announcement, made
    towards the end of the rendition. This declaration would then epitomize
    a milestone in the history of Indian classical music, one that would
    change forever its content, structure and style of presentation.

    Author Vikram Sampath in his second book "My Name is Gauhar Jaan: The
    Life and Times of a Musician, captures the life and times of feisty,
    colourful and eminent Hindustani classical vocalist Gauhar Jaan who
    was India's first vocalist and musician to record on the gramophone.

    Sangeet Martand, Padmavibhushan Pandit Jasraj, to launch the book in
    Bangalore on April 12, 2010 at Alliance Francaise.

    Speaking about the book, Pandit Jasraj said, " It is so interesting
    that I feel that any music lover who gets his or her hands on the book
    will read it through in one sitting." He reminisced that many thumris
    composed by Gauhar Jaan like Kaise Yeh Dhoom Machayi Arrey Kanhaiya
    Re as well as thumris sung by her like Jiyaa Mein Laagi Aaan Baan,
    are still sung today by many across India. However, in most cases
    the singers aren't even aware that they are singing her compositions.

    Vikram is doing just that, for people to reconise the thumris as
    those that originally came from Gauhar Jaan.

    The musical scene in India at the turn of the 20th century witnessed
    tumultuous changes. The traditional custodians of the art form-the
    devadasis down South and the nautch girls/tawaifs up North, had for
    generations nurtured the art form. But successive laws passed against
    their ilk, ensured that many of them died in abject poverty or were
    faced with the abominations of the flesh trade. But, Gauhar Jaan
    emerged on the sheer strength of their art and personalities.

    Gauhar Jaan's was the first Indian voice to be recorded in 1902. In
    her illustrious career she cut close to 600 records. Gramophone
    Company's India agent Frederick William Gaisberg decided that she
    would be the first Indian voice that he would record. He writes
    glowing details about her flamboyance and appearance, as well as of
    the wonder with which he heard her sing like a dream on his 3.5 min
    long gramophone discs. Most of these discs end with a high-pitched
    flirtatious announcement by the singer herself - "My name is Gauhar
    Jaan" she screams out in most of these early records!

    This book traces the story of her life with all its attendant myths,
    legends and folklore, some of which are recorded, some apocryphal; as
    well as the times during which she lived and created exquisite music.

    According to Vikram, who says's he could have well been possessed by
    the ghost of Gauhar Jaan as he put together her life over two years
    with intensive research.

    "I discovered Gauhar Jaan originally during the research of my first
    book, "Splendours of Royal Mysore: The Untold Story of the Wodeyars",
    where I discovered she spent the last years of her life. It was
    fascinating to see the life she lived and the contribution she made to
    Hindustani Classical Music, "according to Vikram, the male singers at
    the time were superstitious of recording their voice. Harbouring fears
    that they might lose their voice once it was recorded. Gauhar Jaan,
    with her flamboyant irreverence for these beliefs, paved the way, with
    many women singers following her. This shift to technology ensured that
    women performing artists could emerge from the clutches of their often
    abusive rich patrons. Born in Azamgarh as Eileen Angelina Yeoward,
    an Armenian Christian who later converted to Islam, Gauhar Jaan was
    a nationwide celebrity in her times. Gauhar's life is replete with
    numerous such anecdotes. She is touted to be among the few people in
    Calcutta in those days that flouted Government regulations and went
    around the city in a four horse-driven buggy, for which she even paid
    a penalty of Rs.1000 a day to the Viceroy! She was even known to have
    thrown a lavish party worth Rs.20,000 when her cat produced a litter
    of kittens! Her photograph is supposed to have (even) appeared on
    match boxes (of those days) which were manufactured in Austria!

    But as everything that goes up also comes down, Gauhar had her fall
    too. She was duped by her near and dear ones, had cases filed against
    her in the courts and she lost most of her property and wealth in
    Calcutta. At this point, the Maharaja of the princely state of Mysore
    in South India decided to invite her as a state guest to Mysore in
    1928 and she was given a mansion and an annual pension there. An
    emotionally broken Gauhar, whose personal life and love life were in
    ruins, sought her final refuge in Mysore. But the tragedies of her
    life ensured she didn't live long and the first Empress of Indian
    music breathed her last in Mysore in 1930.

    Bangalore based author Vikram Sampath is an Engineer/mathematician
    and MBA by educational background is currently a Financial Analyst
    with Hewlett Packard. "This allows me to go off on my numerous
    research travels, to different parts of the country." His first book,
    "Splendours of Royal Mysore: The Untold Story of the Wodeyars" has
    won critical acclaim. The interest for this book was piqued with the
    popular series "the Sword of Tipu Sultan", when he was all of 12-13
    years old. He was perplexed that the Wodeyar's were shown in very
    poor light, which he would much later prove wrong, with his book. .

    With messages from eminent classical musicians of India like Pandit
    Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pandit. Arvind Parikh, the book
    includes a CD of select original sound tracks of Gauhar Jaan's music.
Working...
X