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Kesarbai Kerkar | |
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 Kesarbai Kerkar receivingSangeet Natak Akademi Award in March 1953 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Kesarbai Kerkar (1892-07-13)13 July 1892 |
| Origin | Keri,Goa |
| Died | 16 September 1977(1977-09-16) (aged 85) ?? |
| Genres | Hindustani classical music –Khayal |
| Occupation | Hindustani classical vocalist |
| Years active | 1930-1964 |
Kesarbai Kerkar (13 July 1892 – 16 September 1976 (?)) was an Indianclassical vocalist of theJaipur-Atrauli gharana.[1] A protege ofUstad Alladiya Khan (1855–1946), the founder of the gharana, she went on to become one of the most notedkhayal singers of the second half of the 20th century.[2][3][4]
She was 67 when she was awarded theSangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1953, followed byPadma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in India, in 1969.[5]
Born in the tiny village of Keri (also spelled "Querim"), in a family fromPondataluka ofNorth Goa,Goa (then a Portuguese colony), at the age of eight Kerkar moved toKolhapur, where she studied for eight months withAbdul Karim Khan. Upon her return to Goa, she studied with the vocalist Ramkrishnabuwa Vaze (1871–1945), during his visits to Lamgaon.[2][6]
Meanwhile, Mumbai (then Bombay) under British Raj, was fast developing as a business and trade centre of the country. Several musicians and singers from North India and Central India, facing declining patronage from princely states started migrating to the city. At the age of 16, she too moved toMumbai with her mother and uncle. A wealthy local businessman Seth Vitthaldas Dwarkadas helped her study under with Barkat Ullah Khan, sitar player and court musician at Patiala State. He taught her intermittently for two years, during his visit to the city. However, when Khan, became court musician at Mysore State, she trained underBhaskarbuwa Bakhale (1869-1922) and Ramkrishnabuwa Vaze for short periods.[7]
Eventually ending up as disciple toUstad Alladiya Khan (1855–1946), the founder of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, beginning in 1921, and trained rigorously under him for following eleven years. Though she started singing professionally in 1930, she continued learning from Khan, despite his failing health, till his death in 1946.[6][7]
Kerkar eventually achieved wide renown, performing regularly for aristocratic audiences. She was very particular about the representation of her work and consequently made only a few 78 rpm recordings, for theHis Master's Voice and Broadcast labels. In time, Kerkar became an accomplishedKhayal singer of her generation, and seldom sang light classical music, often associated with female vocalists. Her success as a public singer, along with that ofMogubai Kurdikar (mother ofKishori Amonkar),Hirabai Barodekar andGangubai Hangal, paved the way for the next generation of female vocalists, away from singingmehfils or private gatherings that women of previous generations had to settle for.[2]
Kerkar was awarded the 1953Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, given by theSangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama, as the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists[8] This was followed by the decoration ofPadma Bhushan by the government of India in 1969,[9] and in the same year the government of the Indian state ofMaharashtra conferred upon her the title of "Rajya Gayika." IndianNobel laureateRabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) is said to have been very fond of Kerkar's singing. Her honorific title "Surashri" (or "Surshri") literally means "one with a mastery over notes" (sur meaning "notes" in Indian classical music andshri which is an honorific title used in this context aslord ormaster), and was bestowed on her in 1948 by the Sangeet Pravin Sangitanuragi Sajjan Saman Samiti of Calcutta. She retired from public singing in 1963–64.[6]
In her ancestral village of Keri, the Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar High School now occupies the site of Kerkar's former second home, and the house where she was born still stands, less than one kilometer away. A music festival called the Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Smriti Sangeet Samaroha is held in Goa each November, byKala Academy, Goa.[10] and a music scholarship in her name is awarded annually to aUniversity of Mumbai student byNational Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) via Kesarbai Kerkar Scholarship Fund.[6] Unlike her Guru, Kerkar was not fond of teaching, and thus taught only one disciple,Dhondutai Kulkarni, who has previously learned from Ut. Bhurji Khan, the son of Alladiya Khan and Ut. Azizuddin Khan, grandson of Alladiya Khan.[11][12]
Kerkar has the further distinction of having one of her recordings, "Jaat Kahan Ho", duration 3:30 (an interpretation ofragaBhairavi) included on theVoyager Golden Record, a gold-plated copper disc containing music selections from around the world, which was sent into space aboard theVoyager 1 and2 spacecraft in 1977.[13] The recording was recommended for inclusion on the Voyager disc by the ethnomusicologistRobert E. Brown, who believed it to be the finest recorded example of Indian classical music.
Since 2000, several CDs of her archival recordings have been released, including one on theGolden Milestones series, which contains several of her most famous songs.
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