Kishori Amonkar Biography In English Life Story – 1932-2017

• Kishori Amonkar was an Indian classical singer who belonged to the Jaipur gharana, or community of musicians sharing a distinctive musical style. She is considered one of the leading classical singers of India.
• She was a performer of classical genre Khayal and light classical genre Thumri and Bhajan. Amonkar received training from his mother, Jaipur Gharana classical singer Mogubai Kurdikar, but he experimented with a variety of singing styles in his career.

Kishori Amonkar Biography In English

Birth Details –

Place – Bombay

Date of Birth – 10 April 1932

Marital Status: Married

Nationality – Indian

Family –

Mother – Mogubai Kurdikar

Husband- Ravindra Amonkar

Son – Vibhas and Nihar

Early Life –

• Kishori Amonkar was born on 10 April 1932 in Bombay. Her father died when she was 7, leaving Amonkar and her two younger siblings to be raised primarily by their mother, classical singer Mogubai Kurdikar.

• The girl was married to school teacher Ravindra Amonkar. The couple had two sons, Vibhas and Nihar, both now in their sixties.

Career-

Training-

• Amonkar’s early musical training was given by his mother, classical singer Mogubai Kurdikar.
• He has said in an interview that his mother was a strict teacher, who initially taught him by singing phrases and asking Amonkar to repeat them.
• Early in her career, she would travel for performances with her mother, playing the tanpura with her while Kurdikar sang.
• In the early 1940s, young Amonkar began receiving singing lessons in Hindustani classical music from Anjanibai Malpekar of the Bhendibazar gharana and later received training from teachers from several other gharanas.
• His teachers included Anwar Hussain Khan of the Agra Gharana, Sharadchandra Arolkar of the Gwalior Gharana and Balkrishnabuva Parvatkar.
• Amonkar specifically credits Anjanibai with teaching him the technique of meandering or gliding between notes.

Technique And Style

• Amonkar’s later work in light music improved his classical singing and he modified his Jaipur Gharana performance style by applying features of other gharanas.
• He has been both praised and criticized for pushing the boundaries of the Jaipur tradition.
• She was a romantic and her approach prioritized emotional expression over tradition, so she often broke with the rhythmic, melodic and structural traditions of the Jaipur Gharana.
• Amonkar criticized the idea that schools or gharanas of music determine or constrain a singer’s technique.
• Amonkar has said that while the techniques and methods of Jaipur gharana form the basis of her style, she makes several changes to it, including the adoption of alapachari, or loosening of the relationship between laya and sura.

Award-

• Padma Vibhushan

Other Information –

• Date of death-3 April 2017
• Place – Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

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