Gauhar Jaan (1873-1930)the first to record music in India was just a court dancer (or tawaif) at the royal courts of Darbhanga in 1887
There was a
time when
Women acting in theatre and cinema were considered a taboo in the early 1900s. Dadasaheb Phalke was forced to cast a male actor as the female
Gauhar Jaan (1873-1930)the first to record music in India was just a court dancer (or tawaif) at the royal courts of Darbhanga Raj in 1887
so people connected with films were not viewed upon agreeably.
Gauhar Jaan (26 June 1873–17 January 1930) was an Indian singer and dancer (or tawaif) from Calcutta. She was one of the first performers to record music on 78 rpm records in India, and released by Gramophone Company of India.[1][2]
In 1879 the marriage ended, causing hardships to both mother and daughter, who later migrated to Banaras in 1881, with a Muslim nobleman, 'Khursheed', who appreciated Victoria's music more than her husband.
Later, Victoria, converted to Islam and changed Angelina's name to 'Gauhar Jaan' and hers to 'Malka Jaan'.[4]
Finally, Malka Jaan moved back to Calcutta in 1883, and established herself in the courts of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, who had settled at Matiaburj (Garden Reach), near Kolkata and within three years purchased a building at 24 Chitpore Road (now Rabindra Sarani), for Rs.40,000. It is here that young Gauhar started her training, she learnt pure and light classical Hindustani vocal music from, Kale Khan of Patiala, ‘Kalu Ustad’, Ustad Vazir Khan of Rampur[disambiguation needed], and Ustad Ali Baksh (founding members of Patiala Gharana) and Kathak from legendary Brindadin Maharaj (granduncle of Birju Maharaj), Dhrupad dhamar from Srijanbai, and Bengali Keertan from Charan Das. Soon she also started writing and composing ghazals under the pen-name ‘Hamdam’ and became proficient in Rabindra Sangeet.[6]
Gauhar Jaan gave her maiden performance at the royal courts of Darbhanga Raj in 1887 and was appointed as court musician,[4] after receiving extensive dance and music training from a professional dancer at Banaras.[5] Gauhar Jan started performing in Calcutta in 1896 and was called the 'first dancing girl' in her records.
Gauhar Jaan first visited Madras in 1910, for a concert in the Victoria Public Hall, and soon her Hindustani and Urdu songs were published in a Tamil music book. In December, 1911, she was famously invited to perform at the coronation of King George V at Delhi Durbar, where she sang a duet, Ye Hai Tajposhi Ka Jalsa, Mubarak Ho Mubarak Ho, with Jankibai of Allahabad.[5] It is said that, Begum Akhtar in her early days wanted to pursue a career in Hindi films, but after listening to the singing of Gauhar and her mother, she gave up the idea completely and devoted herself to learning Hindustani classical music, in fact, her first teacher was Ustad Imdad Khan, who accompanied the mother-daughter duo on sarangi.
Eventually, in her final days, she moved to Mysore, at the invitation of Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV of Mysore, and on August 1, 1928,[6] she was appointed as a 'Palace musician', though she died within 18 months, on January 17, 1930 in Mysore.[7]
In her lifetime, she recorded more than 600 records from 1902 to 1920, in more than ten languages,[8] including Bengali, Hindustani, Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi, Arabic, Persian, Pushto, French, and English. She would round off her performances for a record by announcing 'My name is Gohar Jan'.[1][9]
She popularised light Hindustani classical music with her thumri, dadra, kajri, chaiti, bhajan, tarana renditions, and also mastered the technique of condensing performing the elaborate melody Hindustani classical style to just three and a half minutes for a record. Her most famous song are, thumri sung in Bhairavi is Mora nahak laye gavanava, jabse gaye mori sud huna live,[10] Ras ke bhare Tore Nain, Mere dard-e-jigar[11] and Bhajans like, Radhey Krishna Bol Mukhse.
Her songs are also part of the 'Vintage Music From India' (1996) audio album, and her image forms its cover.[16]
- Gauhar Jan of Patiala;
- Miss Gohar, who was associated with Parsi Theatrical Company in Bombay (Mumbai);
- Gohar Kayoum Mamajiwala, a singer actress who was associated with and mistress of Sardar Chandulal Shah of Ranjit Films (studio), Bombay; and
- Gohar Bai Karnataki of Bijapur.
Gauhar Jaan in 1896.
In those male-dominated times, the number of women who sang on gramophones outnumbered the men.
Despite their social status, these women proved to be more daring. Gauhar Jaan led the brigade in the north while Salem Godavari was a pioneer in the south.
Some of the gramophone celebrities were: Bengali stage artists Hari Moti and Sushila, Binodini, Acheria, Kiron, Rani Kali Jaan, Peara Saheb, Bhavani, Ammakannu, Salem Papa, Vadammal, Dhanakoti Ammal and of course, Bangalore Nagarathnammal.
Wonder if anybody even remembers these trendsetters?
===================================================
My friend bought 6 original gauhar jaan 78 rpm records from the road side few years ago ;at chor bazar-mumbai ,and presented it to Nehru science museum,mumbai as a present for display .
It was original double thick ,heavy ,78 rpm records with only one side recorded
After 3 years when enquired why it is not displayed ,the stores clerk said it as not found ,probably misplaced or lost .
hope it can be found in the storage department .hope so.
Women acting in theatre and cinema were considered a taboo in the early 1900s. Dadasaheb Phalke was forced to cast a male actor as the female
Gauhar Jaan (1873-1930)the first to record music in India was just a court dancer (or tawaif) at the royal courts of Darbhanga Raj in 1887
so people connected with films were not viewed upon agreeably.
Gauhar Jaan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gauhar Jaan | |
---|---|
Birth name | Angelina Yeoward |
Born | June 26, 1873 |
Origin | Patna Village, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India |
Died | January 17, 1930 (aged 56) |
Genres | Ghazal, Thumri, Dadra |
Occupations | Musician , Dancer |
Years active | 1900–1930 |
Early life
Gauhar Jaan was born as Angelina Yeoward in on 26 June 1873 in Azamgarh, of Armenian descent.[3] Her father, William Robert Yeoward, worked as an engineer in a dry ice factory, and married her mother, Victoria Hemmings, in 1872. Victoria, an Indian by birth, had been trained in music and dance.In 1879 the marriage ended, causing hardships to both mother and daughter, who later migrated to Banaras in 1881, with a Muslim nobleman, 'Khursheed', who appreciated Victoria's music more than her husband.
Later, Victoria, converted to Islam and changed Angelina's name to 'Gauhar Jaan' and hers to 'Malka Jaan'.[4]
Career
In time, Victoria (now 'Malka Jaan') became an accomplished singer, Kathak dancer and a courtesan in Banaras, and made a name for herself, as Badi Malka Jan; she was called 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, and she was the eldest among them.[5]Finally, Malka Jaan moved back to Calcutta in 1883, and established herself in the courts of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, who had settled at Matiaburj (Garden Reach), near Kolkata and within three years purchased a building at 24 Chitpore Road (now Rabindra Sarani), for Rs.40,000. It is here that young Gauhar started her training, she learnt pure and light classical Hindustani vocal music from, Kale Khan of Patiala, ‘Kalu Ustad’, Ustad Vazir Khan of Rampur[disambiguation needed], and Ustad Ali Baksh (founding members of Patiala Gharana) and Kathak from legendary Brindadin Maharaj (granduncle of Birju Maharaj), Dhrupad dhamar from Srijanbai, and Bengali Keertan from Charan Das. Soon she also started writing and composing ghazals under the pen-name ‘Hamdam’ and became proficient in Rabindra Sangeet.[6]
Gauhar Jaan gave her maiden performance at the royal courts of Darbhanga Raj in 1887 and was appointed as court musician,[4] after receiving extensive dance and music training from a professional dancer at Banaras.[5] Gauhar Jan started performing in Calcutta in 1896 and was called the 'first dancing girl' in her records.
Gauhar Jaan first visited Madras in 1910, for a concert in the Victoria Public Hall, and soon her Hindustani and Urdu songs were published in a Tamil music book. In December, 1911, she was famously invited to perform at the coronation of King George V at Delhi Durbar, where she sang a duet, Ye Hai Tajposhi Ka Jalsa, Mubarak Ho Mubarak Ho, with Jankibai of Allahabad.[5] It is said that, Begum Akhtar in her early days wanted to pursue a career in Hindi films, but after listening to the singing of Gauhar and her mother, she gave up the idea completely and devoted herself to learning Hindustani classical music, in fact, her first teacher was Ustad Imdad Khan, who accompanied the mother-daughter duo on sarangi.
Eventually, in her final days, she moved to Mysore, at the invitation of Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV of Mysore, and on August 1, 1928,[6] she was appointed as a 'Palace musician', though she died within 18 months, on January 17, 1930 in Mysore.[7]
In her lifetime, she recorded more than 600 records from 1902 to 1920, in more than ten languages,[8] including Bengali, Hindustani, Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi, Arabic, Persian, Pushto, French, and English. She would round off her performances for a record by announcing 'My name is Gohar Jan'.[1][9]
She popularised light Hindustani classical music with her thumri, dadra, kajri, chaiti, bhajan, tarana renditions, and also mastered the technique of condensing performing the elaborate melody Hindustani classical style to just three and a half minutes for a record. Her most famous song are, thumri sung in Bhairavi is Mora nahak laye gavanava, jabse gaye mori sud huna live,[10] Ras ke bhare Tore Nain, Mere dard-e-jigar[11] and Bhajans like, Radhey Krishna Bol Mukhse.
India's first-ever record
India's first disc had Gauhar Jaan,[12] singing a khayal in Raag Jogiya,[13] recorded on November 2, 1902, by Fred Gaisberg, an assistant to Emile Berliner, the father of Gramophone record,[1] who left America to become the first recording engineer with the Gramophone Company, London. The recording was done in a makeshift recording studio in two large rooms of a hotel in Kolkata, and at the end of the trial recording Gauhar Jaan announced - “My name is Gauhar Jaan“. Gauhar Jaan agreed to do the recording session for a princely sum of 3,000 rupees.[14] By 1903, her records started appearing in Indian markets and were in great demand.Restoration & release
Saregama India (formerly the Gramophone Co. of India Ltd. or His Master's Voice (HMV)), is planning to re-release the milestone recordings of Gauhar Jaan, after retrieving them from Gramophone Company’s London archives, and restoring them to their original glory.[13][15]Her songs are also part of the 'Vintage Music From India' (1996) audio album, and her image forms its cover.[16]
Further reading
- Khayal and thumri gayaki of Late Gauhar Jan of Calcutta by S. R. Mehta, Volume 5 - January 1992, The Record News, The Journal of ‘The Society of Indian Record Collectors (SIRC).[17] All the back issues are available here.[18]
- Vintage Music from India: Early Twentieth-Century Classical and Light-Classical Music, British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 3, (1994), pp. 132–132[19]
- MY NAME IS GAUHAR JAAN! The Life and Times of a Musician - Vikram Sampath
Contemporaries
There were four singing contemporaries of Gauhar Jaan with first names pronounced the same way as hers and sometimes spelled in English in different ways:- Gauhar Jan of Patiala;
- Miss Gohar, who was associated with Parsi Theatrical Company in Bombay (Mumbai);
- Gohar Kayoum Mamajiwala, a singer actress who was associated with and mistress of Sardar Chandulal Shah of Ranjit Films (studio), Bombay; and
- Gohar Bai Karnataki of Bijapur.
photos:-
Gauhar Jaan in 1896.
In those male-dominated times, the number of women who sang on gramophones outnumbered the men.
Despite their social status, these women proved to be more daring. Gauhar Jaan led the brigade in the north while Salem Godavari was a pioneer in the south.
Some of the gramophone celebrities were: Bengali stage artists Hari Moti and Sushila, Binodini, Acheria, Kiron, Rani Kali Jaan, Peara Saheb, Bhavani, Ammakannu, Salem Papa, Vadammal, Dhanakoti Ammal and of course, Bangalore Nagarathnammal.
Wonder if anybody even remembers these trendsetters?
===================================================
Thumari By Gauhar Jaan Recordrd in 1905...
I have been getting many warnings from the youtube, please visit my other site HameshaJawanGeet if my this account is ...-
Gauhar Jaan: Alwar ke Kanhaiya...Raag Sindh Kafi, Hori
Gauhar Jaan: Alwar ke Kanhaiya...Courtsey Vikram Sampath from a CD digitized from original 78 rpms, which comes attached to ...- HD
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Gauhar Jan _Raga Sohini_Maika Piya Bina
Gauhar Jan _ Raga_Sohini _ Maika Piya Bina. -
Gauhar Jan_ Bhupali
Gauhar Jaan (or Gauhar Jan) (Hindi: गौहर जान) (1873-1930)_ At around 9.00 a.m. a young lady entered the studio with all her ... -
Raag Pilu: Saanwariya Man Bhaayo Re (Gauhar Jaan)
My 200th Upload * * * JOIN TODAY! http://facebook.com/DesiOldies/ Title: Saanwariya Man Bhaayo Re Bhaako Yaar Vocals: ...- HD
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جمنا تت رام چلے ہو ری۔۔۔!!!۔
Janki Ba'i-The Foremost Singing Legend Of British India Who Sang At The Coronation Ceremony Of King Henry The V Along With ... -
ZDA LEWANE CHE DA HAR SA LEDAL DE LEWANE WARFASE ODANGAL II GOHAR JAAN MANERWAL
ZDA LEWANE CHE DA HAR SA LEDAL DE LEWANE WARFASE ODANGAL II GOHAR JAAN MANERWAL II KHEBER SONGS II. -
مارو پچکاری ارے کنھیا۔۔۔!!!۔
Malka Jan The mother Of Gauhar Jan-The Foremost Singing Legend Of British India & Inspiration Of singers Like Begum ...
A hundred years of unsung love | |||||
| |||||
November 8, 1902 was a milestone for Indian music history. The first 'native' gramophone recordings were made this day and celebrated vocalist Gauhar Jaan took home a princely sum of Rs 3,000 for the session. Gauhar Jaan, who sang and composed thumris, dadras and ghazals, lent her voice to as many as 600 records. This week, Bengaluru-based author Vikram Sampath's book on Gauhar, My Name Is Gauhar Jaan -- The Life And Times of a Musician, traces the life and music of the Armenian Christian who converted to Islam, rising to fame as she performed across the country. The minstrel appeased her faithful audiences in Kolkata, the courts of Datia, a princely state in Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai and Delhi, before finally settling down in Mysore. Gauhar Jaan in a recording studio. PICS /Courtesy My Name is Gauhar Jaan A photo from the archives dated 1896 And it is in the treasured archives of Mysore Palace that author Sampath first chanced upon a box of letters written by Gauhar to the palace authorities, as he researched for his book Splendours of Royal Mysore: the untold story of the Wodeyars. Sampath spent three years interviewing over 60 people to place the pieces of this puzzle together. Excerpts from an email interview with the author: What ran through your mind when you first listened to Gauhar Jaan's records? I received a CD with a couple of tracks of Gauhar Jaan from Dr Suresh Chandvankar of the Society of Indian Records Collectors in Mumbai. Though I was playing it on a modern DVD player, the full-throated and melodious voice that struggled through all the noise and the sound of the turntable, took me back a 100 years. Thereafter, I bought many of her original 78 rpm records in the chor bazaars of Mumbai and Kolkata, and of course, Dr Chandvankar, Kushal Gopalka, Vikrant Ajgaonkar, Dr Amlan Dasgupta of Kolkata's Jadavpur University and other record collector friends in Mumbai. Which was the toughest chapter to tackle? I had come across some details related to two significant court cases that Gauhar fought in her life -- a paternity suit to prove that she was indeed her mother's legitimate daughter, and another with her secretary-lover Abbas that led her to penury. While some Bengali documents and books mentioned these details, I was desperate to get the original court papers. Since there were no case numbers in the Bengali sources, I couldn't obtain the documents. It was later by sheer providence that I stumbled on the original court documents, and that opened a new window into Gauhar's forgotten life! But running around for these was by far the most difficult part of the research trail. My sojourn in Mysore to try and locate her grave was another challenge. Perhaps the one major regret I have is the fact that I was neither able to locate it in Mysore or Kolkata, nor ascertain the reason for her death. The Mysore records are meticulous. They chronicle each bill she owed to the hospital, to the baker, to the municipal body, but curiously, there is no cause of death or reason for hospitalisation accounted. After all, 57 is not that old an age to die. So I was given to assume that perhaps it was an emotional breakdown and the loss of a will to survive and put on a fight that ultimately killed the songstress ultimately. Also, no traces of her family or children could be made, though there is a stray reference of a daughter called Loila Jaan, who is mentioned in the diaries of Gauhar's student and eminent Bengali actress Indu Bala. How was it to meet 110-year-old Mahapara Begum who had heard Gauhar Jaan live? It was initially a frustrating experience at Rampur. Gauhar had stayed there for varying periods during her life and was very close to Nawab Hamid Ali. Then she left Rampur in 1926-27 following an altercation with the Nawab and his treasurer who had sought to dupe her. Perhaps it was because of this, but the Rampur records had wiped out all references to Gauhar. Even a mention of her name in the heavy registers that documented visiting and palace musicians was not to be found. I thought I had made a wasteful trip in the peak of summer and an impending Parliamentary election to this little town in UP. That was when a friendly staffer of the Raza Library directed me to the house of Mahapara Begum. In a narrow by-lane of Rampur, her house is nestled amid several others that make up a perfect scene of deprivation. Reluctant to speak to this stranger who came in from a distant South Indian city, Mahaparaji was not willing to talk too much. She was also quite disgusted by the fact that I train in Carnatic music, which she thought lacks in all aspects of creativity and musical 'ras'. It took a lot of effort to get her to open up about Gauhar's stay at the zenana in Rampur. There too, I found a sense of subtle rivalry. After so many years, she derided Gauhar as being a tawaif who perhaps seduced the Nawab with her charm rather than hail her for her musical talent. But for herself, she claimed that she was just a musician who worshipped music and that she would change her name if someone told her that the Nawab's fingernails had touched her! It was valuable first-hand information about the musical splendour of Rampur, the Nawabi era and of course, of Gauhar too. She even volunteered to sing in a fragile and scratchy, yet beautiful voice, several songs of the Rampur tradition. My Name Is Gauhar Jaan -- The Life And Times of a Musician is published by Rupa Books and priced at Rs 595. The book launches in Mumbai on June 16 and will be available in bookstores thereon | |||||
=================================================Tawaif
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A tawaif (Urdu: طوائف) also Kanjri or Kanjari was a courtesan who catered to the nobility of South Asia, particularly during the era of the Mughal Empire. The tawaifs excelled and contributed to music, dance (mujra), theatre, film, and the Urdu literary tradition,[1] were considered an authority on etiquette.
Tawaifs were the influential female elite, were largely a North Indian
institution that became prominent during the weakening of the Mughal
rule in the mid-18th century.[2] They were part of the feudal society of Northern India.
Tawaif by mail: These postcard images were in circulation around the end of the 19th century
HistoryThe patronage of the Mughal court before and after the Mughal Dynasty in the Doab region and the artistic atmosphere of 16th century Lucknow made arts-related careers a viable prospect. As well as the demand for (mostly) male music and dance teachers, many girls were taken at a young age and trained in both performing arts (such as Kathak and Hindustani classical music) as well as literature (ghazal, thumri) to high standards.[3]Once they had matured and possessed a sufficient command over dancing and singing, they became a tawaif, high-class courtesans who served the moneyed and the nobility.[4] It is also believed that young nawabs to be were sent to these "tawaifs" to learn "tameez" and "tehzeeb" which included the ability to differentiate and appreciate good music and literature, perhaps even practice it, especially the art of ghazal writing. By the 18th century they had become the central element of polite, refined culture in North India. These courtesans would dance, sing (especially ghazals), recite poetry (shairi) and entertain their suitors at mehfils. Like the geisha tradition in Japan,[5] their main purpose was to professionally entertain their guests, and while sex was often incidental, it was not assured contractually. High-class or the most popular tawaifs could often pick and choose between the best of their suitors. Some of the popular tawaifs were Begum Samru - who rose to rule principality of Sardhana in western UP, Moran Sarkar - who became wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Wazeeran - Prot of Lucknow’s last nawab, Wajid Ali Shah, Umrao Jaan Ada, Gauhar Jaan etc. DeclineThe annexation of Oudh by the British in 1856 sounded the first death-knell for this medieval institution. It soon was not favoured by the British empire for their consolidation and were branded as prostitutes to defame them.Popular cultureThe image of the tawaif has had an enduring appeal, immortalized even in Bollywood movies. Films with a tawaif as a central character include Devdas (1955), Sadhna (1958), Pakeezah (1972), Amar Prem (1972), Umrao Jaan (1981), Tawaif (1985), Devdas (2002),[6] and Umrao Jaan (2006)[7] and documentary film, The Other Song (2009). Other films depict a tawaif in a supporting role, often in situations where a man goes to them in loveless marriage or life.[8]Today, the term in Urdu has undergone semantic pejoration and is now synonymous with a prostitute. Discussion & Website ================================================
I had been visiting Benaras since 2002 to conduct research for a film that would document the journey of the tawaif,
or courtesan, within the cultural, social and political landscape of
late 19th- and 20th-century North India. It was an uphill task – the
history of the arts in India, and especially music is largely based on
oral narratives and material traces, and these, when it comes to tawaif
artistes, are even more fragmentary since this community has always
stood on the margins of society.
Benaras was home to a large community of tawaifs till the mid-20th century. It was also the centre of an exclusive musical style of bol banao thumri and its associative light classical forms, such as the hori, chaiti, kajari and dadra, practised and preserved almost exclusively by women from courtesan backgrounds. The city continues to have a self-image of being a centre of Hindustani classical music, validated no doubt by the presence of well-known male musicians, patrons, music schools and music societies. It has, however, long since been deserted by tawaif singers and the music that once echoed in their kothas, salons. So where does the courtesan live in the city’s memory? At musical mehfils (gatherings) hosted by wealthy merchants and at concerts held on the ghats of the Ganga, I received the same answer: the tawaif is dead, she sings no more those beguiling melodies that made men forget their way back home. Other custodians of memories had been more forthcoming. Guided by them I was able to map the city of Benaras from the late 19th to early 20th century when tawaifs had occupied quite literally the central space, the Chowk, the main square of the old city of Benaras, and its adjoining localities, Dal Mandi, Nariyal Bazaar and Raja Darwaaza. Many tawaifs owned property in these areas, and their kothas were resplendent with elegant furniture and gilded mirrors. Attracting wealthy patrons as well as musicians and members of the literati, these kothas were vibrant musical and cultural institutions. A ‘devouring’ sexuality As self-made women, tawaifs had to cultivate a range of skills that included, besides music and dance, ilme majlisi, or knowledge of the intricacies of social etiquette, as well as grounding in literature, politics and the arts of erotic stimulation. Their patrons came from the ruling elite – the king, the merchant aristocracy and the gosains or priests who controlled the resources of temples. Tawaifs were invited to perform at the court, at family celebrations in merchants’ homes, in prominent temples and on the ghats on important religious occasions. They sang of ecstatic passion, pangs of separation, sexual longing, jealousy and anger that imbue the poetry of thumri, and its associated forms. The poetic text of thumri is from a feminine perspective, and is usually centred on the emotions experienced by the woman in love and the celebration of the romantic play between lovers. In the style associated with the bol bano thumri in Benaras, a tawaif singer’s performance was judged to a great extent by her ability to tease out the differing perspectives and multiple meanings embedded within any given phrase of the song. This she would achieve through voice modulation and abhinaya, which included dance gestures and facial expressions. The tawaif’s mehfil allowed for intimate eye contact between her and the predominantly male audience, some of who might also share a sexual liaison with the singer. Not all tawaifs performed exclusively in courts and patrician homes, however. Unlike ‘elite’ tawaifs whose art practice defined the aristocratic culture of Benaras, other kothas were open to patrons from humbler backgrounds. While they did sing thumri, their repertoire mainly consisted of ghazals, dadras, folk music and songs performed in Parsi theatre and, much later, even film songs. As exponents of the culture of the bazaar, these tawaifs were dismissed by most of my informants as ‘mere prostitutes’, not worthy of discussing in relation to music and music practice. I also noticed that while the famous ‘elite’ tawaif singers were feted, they were also simultaneously removed in subtle ways from their courtesan backgrounds. Most people, for instance, avoided using the term tawaif in their context. Instead, the preferred term was gayika (female singer). Attempts at recasting sexual morality go deep in the political and cultural history of Benaras. They go back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the city witnessed the rise of Hindu nationalism. Articulating the anxieties of a subjugated patriarchy, a major concern for the Hindu nationalists was the need to regulate existing female sexualities and control spaces of ‘dangerous excess’. For the newly emerging Hindu nationalists, colonial morality ironically became the parameter by which they were to define and differentiate the ‘moral’ from the ‘immoral’. After the revolt of 1857, colonial authorities spared no effort to depict Indian princes as effete and profligate, steeped in decadent pleasures symbolised by the ‘prostitute’ tawaif. This period also coincided with the imposition by the colonial government of the Contagious Diseases Acts and other prostitution-related laws (see accompanying review by Rakesh Shukla). In the main, they branded tawaifs as ‘common prostitutes’ and pathologised their sexuality as ‘diseased’. Internalising this Victorian moral code, nationalist discourse too seems to have cast the non-marital sexuality of the courtesan as ‘devouring’, and her arts as ‘obscene’. It was argued that Hindu society needed to be cleansed of its degenerate practises, including the practice of patronising tawaifs, in order to regain back its stamina and vitality. One of the issues taken up by Hindu-nationalist leaders of early 20th century was the demand that Hindi be declared the official language, as opposed to Urdu. During my research of Hindi pamphlets from the time, I came across a series of popular cartoons that presented the tawaif as ‘Begum Urdu’, the embodiment of the alien, exotic, untrustworthy, decadent, morally corrupt Muslim ‘other’ – in direct contrast to ‘Mother Devanagari’, the upper caste, respectable, honest and homespun mother of every true Hindu son. This attack was coupled with the anti-nautch movement of early 20th century, which had a strong presence in Benaras. It attacked the tradition of holding ‘nautches’ (dances) by the upper classes and the open presence of tawaifs on public occasions. Demands were also made in various North Indian cities to change municipality laws so as to regulate the tawaifs’ place of residence within certain specified areas of the city. Morality, morality It was not only the tawaif who was under attack in this period. Art practices linked closely with her also came under hostile scrutiny. With an increasing sense of nationalism came the need for a music that was classical, morally uplifting and reflective of India’s great Hindu cultural heritage. The problem was that Hindustani music practice at the turn of the 20th century did not quite conform to these notions. The antiquity of most of its major genres like khayal and thumri in their present form could not be traced beyond a few centuries, and its close links with court-based patronage imbued Hindustani music practice in the eyes of middle-class nationalists with bawdy associations and an unacceptable pleasure-seeking morality.
Locating Hindustani music in ancient shastra-based
principles and mode of learning, early cultural nationalists (such as
Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande and Vishnu Digamber Paluskar) focused their
attacks on the corrupting influence of its present practitioners,
‘dancing girls’ and ‘ignorant and narrow minded’ Muslim ustads,
both seen as interlopers to a sacred tradition. Increasingly under the
influence of cultural nationalists, music learning, practice and
performance became cast in a spiritual, Hindu mode, and simultaneously
moved out into newly established music schools and colleges, music
societies and public concerts largely patronised by the middle classes. A
natural trajectory was the attempts to locate thumri within a
devotional, spiritual framework. This ‘cleansing’ process continues to
the present times. The explicit or implied presence of Krishna in a
large number of thumri texts is given as proof of the ‘inherently’
devotional nature of thumri – undermining the ambiguity that exists
within thumri texts of the erotic and the spiritual coexisting.
With their traditional spaces and modes of music practise under attack, many tawaifs found space as performers in the newly emerging industries of mass entertainment, such as the gramophone, theatre and later films. The earliest singers to record for the gramophone, in the early 20th century, came from tawaif backgrounds, as did the first actresses of Parsi theatre and, later, the ‘talkies’, films with sound. A majority of tawaifs could not make this transition, however, and continued to perform within their kothas to a dwindling group of patrons. Later, the anticolonial movement led by Mohandas K Gandhi defined by a more inclusive politics, was also deeply influenced by his ascetic sexual morality. Gandhian nationalists castigated the practice of patronising tawaif musicians as ‘degenerate’ and, under their influence, large sections of the old aristocracy put an end to patronising tawaif performers. On the eve of Independence in 1946, Sardar Patel, the veteran Congress leader and minister of home and broadcasting in the interim government, banned women artistes whose ‘private lives were a public scandal’ from singing on All India Radio. This left AIR with almost no female Hindustani music singers, since most hailed from courtesan backgrounds. Though it was eventually revoked, the ruling had far-reaching implications. I got to hear of tawaifs in Benaras who immersed their musical instruments into the Ganga and stopped singing altogether. Many others, dependent on the radio for a regular income, entered into marriages, mostly with their accompanist sarangi and tabla players, so as to be considered respectable for the state-controlled airwaves.
Saba Dewan is a documentary filmmaker based in New Delhi. She is
currently researching a book on the ‘tawaif ’ tradition under a
fellowship from the New India Foundation.The last nails in
the coffin of the tawaif tradition in Benaras were struck just a decade
after Independence. I came across reports published in Aaj in the
summer of 1958, accounts of the introduction in that year of the
anti-prostitution law, the Suppression of Immoral Trafficking Act
(SITA). They report the frequent police raids on the houses of tawaifs,
followed by arrests. Tawaifs responded to the raids with legal petitions
and letters to newspapers, asserting their identity as artistes and not
‘prostitutes’. There are also reports of tawaifs forming associations
in order to protect themselves. From late 1950s, however, courtesan
families began vacating Dal Mandi’s adjoining mohallas. By the early
1980s, the last of the surviving kothas in the area had shut down for
good.
Today’s tawaifs Few contemporary musicians who I met in Benaras would admit to any past link with courtesans, and certainly not of any knowledge about their present whereabouts. Nonetheless, I was able to contact some women from tawaif families. In deference to the morality of the cultural elite, they now refer to themselves as gaanewaali, and have generally moved into the lifestyle associated with middle-class ‘respectability’. Their daughters are not exposed to any training in music or dance, and have mostly been married off. Sons have been educated and are encouraged to seek jobs or begin their own businesses. The descendents of less-well-off tawaifs, however, have had to make different life choices. Over the last 25 years, girls from these families have moved on to perform in the better-paying dance bars of Bombay and Bangalore, in ‘orchestra parties’ that are in great demand in smaller towns, and dance troupes. Still, none of the tawaif families I met showed any inclination to speak of a past they feel is best forgotten. It was at this point that I was introduced to Saira Begum, a practicing thumri, ghazal and hori, chaiti, dadra singer based in Benaras, who proved to be far more receptive than the others in her community. Saira a soft-spoken woman in her mid-50s, and belongs to a well-known family of tawaif singers from Bihar. There were several women in her family who had made their way to Benaras before her and set up kothas there. Saira and, over time, her extended family opened for me a world little known to outsiders. Daughters in tawaif households were pampered in much the same way as boys in patriarchal families are for being future bread-winners. The head of the household was always the senior-most tawaif, the nayika, who functioned as the matriarch. This inversion of gender norms proved to be reflected within the wider kotha community as well, which comprised of tawaifs along with male accompanist musicians. Traditionally, tawaifs provided leadership within this community as choudharayins, empowered to resolve all internal disputes and issues. Through Saira I understood that only those girls who showed signs of having the requisite musical talent or beauty would be selected for the expensive training and grooming necessary to become a successful tawaif. They did not get married but instead entered into long- or short-term sexual relationships with wealthy patrons. Those daughters perceived as less gifted would be married off to boys within the community. Their status as purdah-bound dependent wives was so unattractive compared to the power and independent income enjoyed by the tawaifs that few girls aspired to it of their own will. Born at a time when the tradition was in decline, Saira lives with the disappointment of not having the opportunity to ‘learn and live music’ as had the older women in her family. But she is one of the few remaining tawaif performers of her generation who insisted upon learning and performing forms such as the thumri, kajari and hori. Although rising to become an extremely popular singer, Saira stopped performing in Benaras once her children were born, preferring instead to sing outside the city where few people knew her personally. Later, for several years, Saira stopped performing altogether, eventually putting her efforts towards ‘respectable’ performance platforms such as the radio, television and concerts. She has not taught any of her three daughters music, preferring to marry them off. In many ways, Saira’s choices have been tempered by the need to navigate stigma. In this, they are reflective of the ways in which nearly all tawaif performers have had to reinvent themselves through euphemisms and lifestyle changes, in order to negotiate the changed cultural economy of post-Independence India. The tapestry offers articles that come up in the course of the work done by Himal’s sister organisations. This piece comes from Film South Asia.
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It was original double thick ,heavy ,78 rpm records with only one side recorded
After 3 years when enquired why it is not displayed ,the stores clerk said it as not found ,probably misplaced or lost .
hope it can be found in the storage department .hope so.