NCPA presents the music of Gauhar Jan

NCPA offered a guided listening session on the music of India’s first-ever artiste to cut a gramophone record – the celebrated vocalist Gauhar Jan on July 22. The National Centre for the Performing Arts,India’s premier arts and culture institution,in collaboration with the Indian Musicological Society presented this for its July edition of Nad Ninad – From Our Archives.
Nad Ninad shares some of the priceless archival recordings (both from NCPA archives and external sources) of the great masters of music with classical music aficionados. This time round,Nad Ninad was presented by Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan,both well-known exponents of Indian music,on July 22,at the NCPA- Experimental Theatre in Mumbai.

This session treated the audience to the music of the alluring Gauhar Jan who recorded over 150 discs in 20 different languages and dialects. Born in Allahabad as Angelina Yeoward,Gauhar Jan (1873-1930) received her initial training in music from Kale Khan of Patiala and in dance from Ali Bakhsh. Many teachers followed,including the great thumri singer and harmonium player Bhaiya Saheb Ganpat Rao,and the famous Kathak maestro Bindadin Maharaj of Lucknow. With her unusually large repertoire of songs,ranging from khayal,thumri,dadra,tappa and horis to ghazal,Gauhar Jan became one of the most sought-after and wealthy singers of her time.

“Gauhar Jan was the first major gramophone celebrity and her impressive personality and musical style had an enormous impact on her contemporaries. She was one of the few vocalists who managed to commercialise her music without really compromising on the quality,” says Dr Suvarnalata Rao,Head – Programming (Indian Music),NCPA.
With almost 5,000 hours of audio recordings and 1200 hours of film footage of musicians,the NCPA Archives ranks among the world’s finest documentary resources for Indian vocal and instrumental art music and folk music from different regions of India. With sessions of this calibre,the NCPA endeavours to share the great recordings that they have preserved over time,with budding music students and lovers as well thereby bringing them close to the rich and varied tradition of Indian music.