Mirabai was an aristocratic Hindu mystical singer and devotee of Rajasthan and one of the most significant figures of the Sant tradition of the Vaishnava bhakti movement. Some 12-1300 prayerful songs or bhajans attributed to her are popular throughout India and have been published in several translations world-wide. In the bhakti tradition, they are in passionate praise of Krishna.
Meera, a Rajput princess was born in Kudki (Kurki), a little village near Merta, which is presently in the Pali district of Rajasthan in northwest India. Her father, Ratan Singh, was a warrior of the Rathore clan, the son of Rao Jodha of Mandore (1416-1489 CE), founder of the city of Jodhpur in 1459. Meera’s marriage was arranged at an early age, traditionally to Prince Bhoj Raj, the eldest son of Rana Sanga of Chittorgarh. Her new family did not approve of her piety and devotion when she refused to worship their family deity and maintained that she was only truly married to Krishna.
Meera's songs are in a simple form called a pada ("foot" or verse"), a term used for a small spiritual song, usually composed in simple rhythms with a repeating refrain. Her collection of songs is called the Padavali. The extant versions are in a Rajasthani dialect of Hindi, Braj, a dialect of Hindi spoken in and around Vrindavan (the childhood home of Krishna), sometimes mixed with Rajasthani, and in Gujarati.
She renounced the luxuries of royal life and became an ardent devotee of lord Krishna. Meera composed many devotional songs in praise of Lord Krishna which are sung to this day with great reverence throughout the country. She died at the feet of Lord Krishna of Dwaraka at the age of 67.
Jaddan Bai
Jaddan Bai Jaddan Bai, mother of famous actress Nargis, was the first woman music director in Indian film industry. Jaddan Bai made a film Talash-e-Haq in the year 1935 and composed the music for it herself. In the same year Saraswati Devi scored the music for Mumbai Talkies' Jawaani Ki Diwani.
Jaddan Bai was a struggling artiste in Calcutta. It was the legendary singer K.L. Saigal who noticed her talent and encouraged her. So, from a gramophone singer, Jaddan Bai became an actress, music director and film producer
The movies in which Jaddan Bai worked are:
Raja Gopichand (1933)
Insaan Ya Shaitan (1933)
Prem Pariksha (1934)
Talash-e-Haq (1935)
Madam Fashion (1936)
M.S.Subbalakshmi(1916-2004):
Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor. MS Subbulakshmi was the first musician to get Padma Bhushan (1954) and Padma Vibhushan (1975). She was also the first musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award for Public Service in 1974.
Subbulakshmi was born in the temple town of Madurai, Tamil Nadu to Shanmukhavadivu, Veena Vidwan and Subramania Iyer, a lawyer, in a devadasi musical family. Her grand mother Akkammal was a violinist. She started learning Carnatic music from an early age. She released her first album at the mere age of 10. M.S gave her first public performance at Kumbakonam during Mahamaham festival. Then M.S went to the Madras Music Academy and gave a stunning performance at the age of 17. Apart from her mother tongue Kannada, M.S sang in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Gujarati and Marathi.
In the year 1936, she met Sadasivam who was a freedom fighter. They both got married after four years in 1940. Sadasivam already had children from his last marriage and did not have any further children with M.S. She treated his kids like they were her own and showered them with love and affection. She was affectionately called "Amu Paati" by the kids Radha, Viji and Thangam (Sadasivam's orphaned niece adopted by M.S).
M.S also did her stint as an actress and one of the most memorable films was Bhakta Meera (1945). The versatile singer sang all famous Meera bhajans in her melodious voice and these bhajans are enjoyed by people even today.
She traveled to London, New York, Canada, the Far East, and other places as India's cultural ambassador. Her concerts at Carnegie Hall, New York, the UN General Assembly on UN day in 1966, the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1982, and at the Festival of India in Moscow in 1987 were significant landmarks in her career. In 1969 she was accompanied by Indian Railways Advisor SN Venkata Rao to Rameshwaram, where she famously sang several songs in front of each idol in the Rameshwaram temple.
After the death of her husband Sadasivam in 1997, she stopped all her public performances.
Some of her most famous works include Suprabhatam (Early Morning Hymns), Bhajagovindam (composed by Adi Shankaracharya praising Lord Krishna), Kurai Onrum Illai (composed by Rajagopalachari), Vishnu Sahasranamam (1000 names of Lord Vishnu), Hanuman Chalisa (Prayers to Lord Hanuman), etc.
She was widely honored, praised and awarded. Some of them more popular ones include Padma Bhushan in 1954, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1956, Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1968 (literally, Treasure Chest of Music. She was the first woman recipient of the title), Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974, the Padma Vibhushan in 1975, the Kalidas Samman in 1988, the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 1990, and the Bharat Ratna in 1998. She was also honored as the court-singer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) has installed a bronze statue of M.S.Subbulakshmi at the Poornakumbham circle in the temple town. It was unveiled by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on May 28, 2006. She donated many of the royalties on several best sold records to many charity organizations. This great soul passed away on 11th December 2004 in Chennai at the age of 88.
Asha Bhosle:
Asha BhosleAll her life she had to play a supporting role for her "Didi". She has a sensuous voice that even Lata can't match. Nobody young or old can match her allure. She is a great songstress who can beat the new generation singers as well.
Asha Bhosle (born September 8, 1933) is an Indian singer. She is best known as a Bollywood playback singer, although she has a much wider repertoire. Her career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over 1100 Bollywood movies and sold many records. She is the sister of the equally accomplished Lata Mangeshkar.
Bhosle is considered one of the most versatile South Asian singers — her range of songs includes film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian Classical music, folk songs, qawwalis, Rabindra Sangeets and Nazrul Geetis. She has sung in over 14 languages including Assamese, Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, English, Russian, Czech, Nepali, Malay and Malayalam. Bhosle is believed to have sung over 12,000 songs.
Asha Bhosle has won seven Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards. 1996 - Special Award Rangeela (1995), 2001 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, 2000: Singer of the Millennium (Dubai).
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar ,She is India's most recognizable voice. Some of her songs are pure and full of pathos that would move us with tears.
Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in the Hindi film industry. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has sung songs in over twenty regional Indian languages. Lata is the second vocalist ever to have received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. Mangeshkar was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for having made the most recordings in the world.
Lata Mangeshkar was born in Madhya Pradesh on September 28, 1929. In 1942, she started her carrer with playback singer. Later she composed music for the first time in 1955 for movie "Ram Ram Pavhane" and some movies. She won Maharashtra State Government's Best Music Director Award for the film Sadhi Manase. The song Airanichya deva tula from the same film received best song award.
Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honors, including Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1989), NTR National Award (1999), Bharat Ratna (2001), three National Film Awards, and 12 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. She has also won four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards. In 1969, she made the unusual gesture of giving up the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award, in order to promote fresh talent. She was later awarded Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. In 1984, the State Government of Madhya Pradesh instituted the Lata Mangeshkar Award in honor of Lata Mangeshkar. In 1974, The Guinness Book of Records listed Lata Mangeshkar as the most recorded artist in the history, stating that she had reportedly recorded "not less than 25,000.Even at this age Lata, enthralls everyone despite a number of new generation singers coming up. Nobody can replace this singing Queen.
